Alessandro Grelli

Alessandro Grelli serves as Associate Professor in the Gravitational and Subatomic Physics (GRASP) group within the Faculty of Science at Utrecht University. His primary research affiliation is with the ALICE Collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, where he investigates heavy-quark energy loss and hadronization in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

His research focuses on heavy-quark physics in extreme nuclear environments, particularly through analysis of charm and beauty quarks as probes of quark-gluon plasma properties. Grelli specializes in heavy-flavor production mechanisms, in-medium energy loss phenomena, and detector development for high-energy nuclear physics experiments. His work bridges theoretical QCD predictions with experimental measurements from the LHC.

Recent publications demonstrate strong trends in heavy-flavor production in small collision systems (2019), quarkonium suppression patterns (2018), and detector upgrade initiatives for future LHC runs. His research spans both proton-proton and heavy-ion collision environments, with particular emphasis on D-meson spectroscopy and nuclear modification factors.

As Dutch project leader for the ALICE tracker upgrade, Grelli coordinates national efforts toward next-generation detector systems for LHC Run V (planned for 2030). He previously served as coordinator of the ALICE D2H group (2014-2017) and convener of the ALICE heavy-flavour physics working group (2017-2019).

• Coordinator of Hisparc project for Utrecht region
• Mentor for high school final projects
• Instructor for masterclasses in particle physics

Grelli actively teaches in both bachelor and master programs at Utrecht University, with courses including Computational aspects of machine learning and Quantum Chromodynamics and dense matter 2. His outreach activities demonstrate strong commitment to science communication and education at multiple levels.