  Descriptions of heavy-ion collisions at Fermi energies require to take into
account in-medium dissipation and phase-space fluctuations. The interplay of
these correlations with the one-body collective behaviour determines the
properties (kinematics and fragment production) and the variety of mechanisms
(from fusion to neck formation and multifragmentation) of the exit channel.
Starting from fundamental concepts tested on nuclear matter, we build up a
microscopic description which addresses finite systems and applies to
experimental observables.
