[Meet our faculty] Back to EURECOM for Matteo ZECCHIN

From Padua to Taipei, from London to Sophia Antipolis, Matteo's journey has been driven by a constant curiosity for research and innovation. A former EURECOM PhD student, he returned to the School in January 2026 as an Assistant Professor, following a postdoctoral fellowship at King’s College London, with a clear guiding ambition, to make artificial intelligence more reliable in complex and uncertain environments.

After studying at the University of Padua, he was first exposed to international research during a visiting programme at National Taiwan University. This experience, in a radically different academic and cultural setting, played a decisive role in shaping his desire to pursue an academic career. In 2019, he joined EURECOM as a PhD student, where he explored the intersection of artificial intelligence and wireless networks, with a precise goal, understanding how to deploy high-performance AI systems while ensuring their reliability in real-world, often unpredictable networks.

After completing his PhD, he continued along this path during a postdoctoral stay at King’s College London, deepening the theoretical aspects of uncertainty quantification. His return to EURECOM felt natural: 

“The level and breadth of research at EURECOM are exceptional. Being able to continue working in this environment, alongside such talented colleagues, was a major draw.

Today, his work relies on an interdisciplinary approach at the crossroads of machine learning, information theory, statistics and optimization. His ambition is to turn AI, often seen as a “black box”, into a predictable, safe and trustworthy tool that can be deployed in the networks of the future.

Looking ahead, his vision is clear: to help build autonomous and reliable communication systems, while opening bridges to emerging fields such as quantum communications. But beyond technology, it is the human dimension that motivates him most: 

“EURECOM feels like returning home, and I am genuinely excited to mentor the next generation of researchers.”

 An international career, a strong attachment to EURECOM and a forward-looking ambition, an inspiring example of what the EURECOM Alumni network makes possible.

Read the interview