This paper focuses on results of an interview based survey of first-year university physics
students, carried out within the EU Horizons in Physics Education (HOPE) project (
http://hopenetwork.eu/ [http://hopenetwork.eu/] ). 94 interviews conducted in 13 universities have
been analyzed to investigate the factors that inspire young people to study physics. In particular,
the main motivational factor, which was proven to consist of personal interest and curiosity, was
unfolded into different categories and detailed interest profiles were produced. The results are
arguably useful to help academic curriculum developers and teaching personnel in physics departments
to provide guidance to students in developing and focusing their interest towards specific
sub-fields and/or to design targeted recruitment and outreach initiatives.