Perhaps they are, we have no way of knowing, unless they chose experts we know too, and the chosen are happy to announce the fact.. On the other hand I do suspect that there might be a few people not well known to any of us as 'LENR friends' in Upsalla who know which end of a candle you are supposed to light.
So - you are now speculating beyond the perfectly good information.
You state that the Lugano team are experimenting with Ni-H and claim to have positive results, however they will not release any details at this stage.
That is fine - material information of an unknowable sort - since the same team have shown very bad previous judgement and it must be a leap of faith to think they have got better when they do not recant past mistakes.
That (you imply) they are gaining useful input from others at Upsalla more competent than them is always possible but speculative, as is the use they make of such better advice. It is as with me356 "I've got good results but you can't know what they are yet" is not helpful, and history shows no credence should be given to it.
They are under no obligation to publish any details, but it would be unwise to take their claims of positive results seriously till they do. When they do, all will depend on the quality of the results. More IR thermography is a big no-no.