Alessio Barbagli (Senior Hydrogeologist) is graduated in geoscience (MSc at the University of Siena) with expertise in Hydrogeochemical groundwater characterization, GIS, Applied Hydrogeology, Environmental Monitoring. In 2017 he got a PhD at the Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies of Pisa with a thesis on “Analysis of groundwater interaction in drainage water phyto-treatment and in aquifer recharge schemes”. During his PhD, he participated and contributed to several international projects (H2020 FREEWAT, FP7 MARSOL, Italo-Israeli join project PHARM-SWAP MED, EU-MED E2STORMED) improving his knowledge in: hydro-geochemistry, emerging pollutants, managed aquifer recharge, groundwater numerical modeling and ecosystem services.
While following research activity at the University of Ferrara (Department of Physics and Earth Science) and being consultant for Geoexplorer Impresa Sociale S.r.l. (Italy), he is involved, thanks to a joined collaboration network, as collaborator in the Geophysics & Hydrogeology group at CGT Center for GeoTechnologies of University of Siena (Italy) and as collaborator, within the framework of the REWAT project, together with the Institute of Life Sciences, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa).
Bernagozzi, graduated in Bologna in 1994 with a grade of 110/110, in 1995 he obtained the qualification to practice as a self-employed geologist. Between 1995 and 1999 he was engaged in the activities of a PhD in Earth Sciences, developing a thesis on the creation of landslide hazard maps. Since 1999 he works as a freelance in the field of hydrogeology and modeling of groundwater flows, working mainly for design and construction companies. He had a relationship of over 12 years as a consultant with CAVET and with other companies involved in the construction of the Bologna-Florence high-speed railway line for the study of hydrogeological problems connected with the excavation of deep underground tunnels. He has consulted with Fiatengineering and Tecnimont for the study of hydrogeological environmental problems along the Bologna-Florence line. With the engineering company Enser, he contributed as a consultant to the realization of hydrogeological models with Modflow and to the study of filtration problems connected with the construction of engineering works.
In 2004 he was professor of the course of Technical Geology held at the University of Ferrara and, in order to make the most of his professional skills, he focused his lessons on the study of the water-terrain relationship.
Between 2003-2005 he held some technical seminars at the University of Bologna and Modena on hydrogeological problems that can arise during the construction of tunnels and underground excavation.
In 2009-2011, in collaboration with a computer scientist, he developed the internet blog www.idrogeologia.net.
Steffen Birk holds a PhD from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and is Full Professor of Hydrogeology at the University Graz, Austria, where he teaches hydrogeology within the Bachelor Master programmes in Geosciences. His research focus is on the development and application of quantitative approaches for the simulation and analysis of groundwater systems. He has been particularly interested in the characterization of karst aquifers and the simulation of flow and reactive transport processes in these settings. For this purpose, he has developed and employed various research codes and cooperated with the USGS in the release of the Conduit Flow Process (CFP) for MODFLOW. He has authored around 60 peer-reviewed papers addressing a variety of topics such as karst hydrogeology and modelling, impacts of climate change on water resources, evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge. He is member of the International Association of Hydrogeologist, of the hydrogeological associations of Germany and Austria, and an Associate Editor of the journal Groundwater since 2004.
Full Professor of Applied Geology at the Environmental Sciences Department of the Milano-Bicocca University, she is in charge of the DISAT Environmental Hydrogeology research group. Her research activity has always been aimed in particular at the use of groundwater modeling for the study, enhancement and management of groundwater and its relationship with surface waters; the approach provides for a synergy between databases, mathematical models, statistical tools for data processing and mapping with territorial information tools.
She is the author of over 50 papers published in international and national journals, and numerous contributions presented at national and international conferences. Since 2000, research has been focused on 3D reconstructions related to the parameterization of bodies in loose deposits, aimed at improving the input data in flow and transport models. Interchange procedures were applied between various software, databases, GIS and models, aimed at the applications of models. In particular, geological data processing methods and techniques have been developed for the 3D reconstruction of the parameters in lowland deposits.
Among the numerous coordinated research projects, since 1998, the online database TANGRAM (www.tangram.samit.unimib.it) is continuously being developed and expanded with organized and codified data relating to water wells. Currently almost 40,000 data in the Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta areas are recorded Another online database developed is TANCHIM (www.tanchim.samit.unimib.it), in which the chemical analyses relating to the water wells stored in TANGRAM are organized and codified. TANCHIM is constantly updated, currently including the hydrochemical data from ARPA Valle d’Aosta.
Iacopo Borsi has more than 18 years of experience in modelling industrial and environmental processes. His specific skills include: (A) scientific programming for environmental data processing, even GIS-embedded (he is author of QGIS plugins for data analysis and numerical modelling). (B) modelling hydrological/hydrogeological processes (hydrological modelling, climate data analysis, groundwater flow and solute transport); (C) modelling impact and risk probability of hazard accidents in industrial plants.
He is skilled on using software tools: modelling and numerical software (MODFLOW, MT3DMS, HEC-RAS, HEC-HSM, MATLB, SciLab, COMSOL, GIS software, relational databases, etc.) and programming languages (Python, Fortran, C++).
Teaching experience at national and international level.
Project Manager of international and national projects in research and development, technological transfer and industrial innovation.
He is author of one monograph, more than 25 papers in international journals and is reviewer for international journals on applied and industrial mathematics, environmental and chemical engineering.
Since 2012, he is Co-Editor in Chief of Acque Sotterranee – Italian Journal of Groundwater.
Presently he is Senior Environmental Modeler at TEA SISTEMI S.p.A., where he oversees environmental data analysis, modelling, and Project Management of R&D projects (national and international). He is developing ICT, GIS-integrated, environmental modelling tools (water resources estimation, wastewater treatment, air pollution, risk assessment, etc.) even connected to real-time sensing technologies and relational databases.
In 2012 she got an MSc degree in Physics at Università del Salento (Lecce, Italy) and in 2016 a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at Università degli Studi di Milano (Milan, Italy).
Since April 2020, she works at AECOM URS Italia S.p.A., a large company established as a leader in environmental consultancy services, where she is part of the “Water & Risk” group. Main tasks include participation in civil and environmental engineering projects through the development of environmental, geological, hydrogeological and geotechnical characterizations, in order to acquire data needed for the design, installation and management of remediation systems.
Between October 2015 and March 2020, she was part of the Water Nexus Group of the Institute of Life Sciences at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy), being involved in relevant EU-funded and National projects dealing with water management, especially focusing on issues related to quality and quantity of groundwater resources. The main objectives included: (i) management and protection of water-related ecosystems; (ii) analysis of the resilience of groundwater resources, due to impacts of climate change and human pressure; (iii) producing tools to support decision-making, in view of making the use of ground- and surface-water resources more sustainable.
The wide range of experiences allowed her to develop technical skills related to the knowledge and ability to use: (i) tools for the analysis, storage and visualization of hydrological, hydrogeological and climate data; (ii) modelling tools for the simulation of processes related to the hydrologic cycle; (iii) GIS and programming languages for development of software tools aimed at integrated water management.
Graduated in Environmental Engineering at Politecnico of Turin, Antonio di Gennaro has nearly twenty years of experience in environmental engineering, hydrogeology, characterization & remediation of contaminated sites.
GIS enthusiast, he has worked both for private and public companies and carried out projects in most of Italy with government agencies, including: cleanup of spills and releases, groundwater flow & contaminant transport modelling, Risk-Based Corrective Actions (RBCA), containment of municipal wastes, groundwater resources development and protection, regulatory permitting.
For over six years he worked with the Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA) of Lazio region, focusing on characterization/remediation of the contaminated basin of Lago di Vico and a former chemical weapons production & filling plant in the same ares.
Currently, he is senior consultant at Sogesid SPA for the Italian Ministry of the Environment in Rome, within the L3 line of FESR project MIR (Mettiamoci In RIGA, Rafforzamento Integrato della Governance Ambientale), aimed at improving the public governance of contaminated SIN (Italian Sites of National Interest).
He is also an independent consultant to the Water Resources Office at Apulia region administration, in Bari, advisor on issues relating to regional management of sewage sludge and treated wastewater reuse.
He is licensed as a “Professional Engineer” under the Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Bari and certified “Tecnico Superiore” in renewables and energy efficiency by Regione Piemonte.
Lucio Di Matteo is Associate Professor since 2018 at the University of Perugia, where he graduated in Geological Sciences in 1999 (110/110 cum laude). From 2007 to 2018 was a Researcher at the University of Perugia. In 2003, he obtained the PhD in applied hydrogeology and sustainable water resources use, with a six-month training period at the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Lancaster (UK). Since 2012 he has been the scientific head of the Applied Geology and Geophysics laboratory of the Department of Physics and Geology. Since 2017 he is a member of the PhD Course in Physics and Geology at the University of Perugia and participates in several national and international research projects. He is a member of AIGA (Italian Association of Applied and Environmental Geology), IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologists) and IAEG (International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment). He is Member of the Editorial Board of the journals “Geotechnical and Geological Engineering” and “Sustainability”. Lucio Di Matteo published more than 50 scientific papers in international and national journals. He holds the following courses at the University of Perugia:
– Environmental Geology (M.Sc. in Geosciences for Risk and Environment Management and M.Sc. in Geology for Energy Resources);
– Geo-engineering techniques for surveying and monitoring (B.Sc. in Geology);
– Hydrogeological Risk (M.Sc. in Protection and Safety of the Territory and the Built Environment).
John Doherty, PhD, is the author of PEST and its supporting utility software suites. He is a self-employed consultant at Watermark Numerical Computing, he has held positions with the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Flinders University, Australia, and with University of Queensland, where he has undertaken research and supervised PhD students. He started his career as an exploration geophysicist, then moved to environmental modelling. He has since worked in the government, private and tertiary sectors. His research interests include the continued development of software and methodologies for solution of inverse problems using environmental models, quantification of model predictive uncertainty, and appropriate use of models in the decision-making context. He is currently active part of the GMDSI initiative.
Walter Dragoni, former Full Professor of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, retired in 2015; at present, he is in charge of the Hydrogeology course in the Master Course of “Petroleum Geology” at Perugia University.
He graduated in Geological Sciences from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 1969. Up until 1977 he worked in the fields of mineral prospecting and applied geology, in Italy and abroad.
W. Dragoni carried out visits of study and research in USA, France, Spain, Israel, China, Morocco. From 1977 to 1988 W. Dragoni worked as a researcher at the CNR-IRPI (National Research Council – Institute for Protection against Hydro-Geologic Hazards). In 1988, he obtained a professorship at the University of Perugia, where between 1988 and 2015 he taught various courses in Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology, Geological Hazards.
During his tenure at Perugia University, he served as:
– Chairman of the Council for B.S. and M.S. courses in Geological Sciences (2000-2005).
– Coordinator of Doctorate School in “Applied Geology, Geomorphology, and Hydrogeology” (2000- 2004).
– Director of the Department of Earth Sciences (2006-2010 and 2013-2015).
W. Dragoni served as an expert consultant for Italian Civil Defense, dealing with landslides, floods, and groundwater pollution. He has carried out and coordinated research on hydrogeology (Darcy and non-Darcy systems), hydrology, limnology (studies on several lakes in Central Italy), karst (in temperate and arid climates), erosion and landslide phenomena. At present, he mainly works on mathematical modelling of hydrogeologic and hydrologic systems and the problem of the influence of climate variations on the water cycle. He is also interested in the archeology of water works and management.
W. Dragoni was responsible for several public research contracts (ENEL, ENEA, local authorities, etc.). Between 2000 and his retirement, W. Dragoni has been an external reviewer for IPCC. He is a member of the Accademia delle Scienze dell’Umbria and honorary member of the “Watershed Management Society” of Iran. W. Dragoni is author or co-author of more than one hundred publications.
Daniela Ducci is Full Professor of “Engineering Geology” and “Engineering and Environment Geology” at the Federico II University of Naples, Italy. She received the Diploma in Geology from the University of Naples in 1982, and in 1983 she obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Groundwater Hydrology (CIHS) from the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain (UPC-Barcelona-ES). She joined the Department of Applied Geology in 1986, after studying groundwater modelling at the Technical University of Catalonia, as a fellowship recipient. Her research activity covers a wide variety of engineering geology topics and resources evaluation in karstic environments, hydrogeological mapping, hydrogeochemistry and aquifer contamination, and groundwater-pollution vulnerability and risk assessment and mapping. She mainly focuses on hydrogeological studies about: protection, management and planning of groundwater resources, also in the framework of the European legislation on groundwater; hydrogeochemical characterization; evaluation of groundwater-resources and impact of climate change; hydrogeological mapping through GIS/3D innovative techniques. The methodological aspects have been developed to investigate the functioning of alluvial-pyroclastic plains and karst systems. In the last few years, her research interests have concentrated especially around the use of the GIS in groundwater-protection assessment. In this field she participated since 1990 in many researches in Hydrogeology funded by Italian and European Institutions. She is author of more than a hundred publications relating to a) groundwater-resources evaluation and groundwater-flow studies in different geological settings; b) groundwater protection from contamination; c) impact of climate change on groundwater-resources and d) use of Geographic Information System for aquifer vulnerability and risk assessment and mapping. She is the President of the Italian Chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (AIH/IAH).
Marco Falconi holds two degrees in Environmental Sciences (2001) and in Geology (2010) at the University of Urbino (Italy). Since 2003 he works at ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research). His main activity in ISPRA is to support the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea in the technical control of the Characterization Plans, Risk Analysis, Remediation Projects, Monitoring Plans, Emergency safety in national interest contaminated sites.
He is author of several reports and guidelines on land and contaminated sites management theme, with Italian and international institutions. He is coordinator of the experts group IMPEL “Water and Land”, member of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) as an NRC for soil. He collaborates or has collaborated with various international institutions such as EEA, European Commission, JRC, UN Environment, FAO, on various aspects concerning soil and groundwater, as well as with various universities in Italy and abroad (Georgia State University-USA, University of Paris East Marne la Vallée- France, Hebei Safea-China, Rajagiri-India, University of Madison-USA, University of Liege-Belgium).
D. Feinstein has worked in the field of quantitative hydrogeology for 30 years. He studied ground-water modeling at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before working as a consultant on remediation projects for Papadopulos & Associates and Geraghty & Miller. In 1997 Mr. Feinstein joined the USGS where he specializes in interpretive studies involving regional ground-water modeling, simulation of groundwater/surface-water interactions, and simulation of transport of natural contaminants. He recently headed up a pilot modeling study of the Lake Michigan Basin as part of the recently initiated USGS program to determine the status, trends, and prospects of water availability in the United States. His current research interests include statistical models which emulate process-driven simulations of groundwater age or stream depletion by wells, and transport models which forecast heat flow under climate change. Mr. Feinstein is an adjunct professor at the Geosciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and teaches modeling courses in Italy.
Mike Fienen is a Research Hydrologist at the USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center, and an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The mission of Dr. Fienen’s research is to provide decision-making support for environmental managers that considers uncertainty in all aspects of decisions and strives to extract the most information from the data. The mission is expressed through the main research threads of model parameter estimation and inference of environmental systems. Specific applications include groundwater quantity and quality; statistical inference and prediction of recreational water quality on beaches; mercury in water and fish; and the groundwater and habitat impacts of sea-level rise. In support of these threads, aspects of computational efficiency, statistical analysis, and data management also play important roles. He co-founded CrowdHydrology together with Dr. Christopher S. Lowry, a crowd-sourcing platform aimed at developing innovative methods to collect spatially distributed hydrologic data.
Giovanni Formentin is an environmental engineer graduated at Politecnico di Milano.
He is a founding partner of Tethys srl, which is a consultancy firm specialized in hydrogeology, and he is president of IT2E srl, an isotope laboratory providing services to the environmental and oil&gas sectors.
He has been working since 2002 as a consultant and researcher in the fields of hydrogeology and water management. In particular, he applies flow and transport models to the management of water resources and contaminated sites, aimed at qualitative and quantitative characterization, planning of remediation, and saltwater intrusion. With regard to contaminated sites, it has carried out activities and built models for the main Italian petrochemical sites and refineries. He has also carried out water management studies and numerical models on regional aquifers, in Italy and abroad, including the Bekaa valley in Lebanon and the Central Dry Zone in Myanmar. Other studies were aimed at stochastic forecasting of the effect generated by the interventions on aquifer systems, assessing the interaction between groundwater and infrastructures and designing dewatering interventions.
Formentin held groundwater modeling courses using Modflow and FEFLOW at the Politecnico di Milano and Federico II University of Naples, as well as modeling and uncertainty analysis courses with PEST together with John Doherty and Francesca Lotti. Since January 2021 he is part of the Scientific Committee of SYMPLE.
Vincenzo Francani, born in Milano in 1939, graduated in Geology in 1963 and specialized in Engineering Geology in 1968. He has been professor at the Engineering Faculty of Politecnico di Milano, where he taught Engineering and Environmental Geology from 1984 to 2011. His teaching, research, and consulting cover the areas of geology applied to groundwater, of management of water resources, and of subsurface contamination and remediation.
Geology applied to groundwater: his research includes conceptual modelling of groundwater flow and contaminant transport in aquifers, saltwater intrusion, groundwater storage, management of groundwater resources, and water quality assessment. Conceptual, mathematical and numerical modelling of flow and transport in the saturated zone are applied to the study of contamination by hazardous and toxic materials, and remediation techniques to remove pollutants from the subsurface. The research outcomes have been applied to cases of fate and containment of pollutants in industrial plants, both in porous and in fractured aquifers.
Moreover, some hydrogeological problems of wide karstic watersheds of several important water sources in Italy have been examined (for example Fiumelatte in Grigne Group, Nossana in Seriana Valley, Mompiano spring in Brescia Prealps), and a new stochastic model of recharge has been tested, to assess the risk of depletion. Several drainage problems have also been faced by means of hydrogeologic and geophysical methods, both in Alpine and Apennine areas, in the design of infrastructures and tunnels, and to improve stability of slopes and river banks affected by piping and subterranean erosion.
Policy research and management of water resources in urban areas: Francani has developed, since 1987, a general approach in policy making aimed at achieving specific goals in the protection of national and regional water systems, in particular for the assessment of well protection areas in urban environments. Moreover, for twenty years (1990-2010) the geological research group that he led at Politecnico performed several studies for the recognition of hydrogeological features of every province of the Lombardy, reaching, by means of mathematical models, suitable knowledge on groundwater reserves in Lombardy, on their hydrogeologic budget, and their evolution in time.
His work has been summarized in over 150 papers in scientific journals, research reports, and textbooks on Environmental Geology and Hydrogeology.
Francani is currently president of the environmental consultancy Tethys s.r.l., based in Milano.
Chief Operating Officer and partner of GEOexplorer Impresa Sociale S.r.l. (Italy), head of the Geophysics and Hydrogeology sector at the CGT Geotechnology Center of the University of Siena; Chairman of CGT SpinOff S.r.l. (Italy) and partner of the Société Marocaine de GéoTechnologies (Marrakech, Morocco). He is enrolled in the Order of Geologists of Tuscany (n.1885). He coordinates consultancy and research activities mainly in the fields of hydrogeology, environmental geology, applied geophysics. He holds a degree in Geological Sciences at the University of Siena in November 1999 and a Master of Sciences in Mining and Environmental Geostatistics (University of Leeds, UK). In November 2005 he obtained his PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Siena. During his 20 years of experience, he has acquired experience and skills in various fields as a geologist and as a hydrogeologist, as a specialist in Environmental Hydrology, Statistics and Geostatistics, Spatial Analysis, Remote Sensing, GIS, Natural Radioactivity, Environmental Contamination and Remediation. Since 2005 he is a lecturer at the University of Siena at the CGT.
Rui obtained a MSc in Environmental Engineering and PhD in Geoscience from the University of the Algarve (Faro, Portugal). He is currently a Research Fellow at Flinders University (Australia). His research interests centre on numerical modelling and their application for sustainable resource development, with a particular focus the appropriate use of models for decision-support. A groundwater modeller with a history of working in both consulting and research environments across Europe, southern Africa and Australia, he has skills in data analysis, Python, Feflow, MODFLOW and is currently deep diving into the wonderful world of PEST/PEST++. He is currently part of the Groundwater Modelling Decision Support Initiative (GMDSI) team, which aims to improve the role that groundwater modelling plays in supporting environmental management and decision-making. Rui is primarily involved with the development and demonstration of data assimilation and uncertainty analysis methodologies and software for decision-support modelling. He is now part of the of the Scientific Committee of SYMPLE.
Randy Hunt, Ph.D., is Research Hydrologist and Associate Director of Science at the Wisconsin Water Science Center, US Geological Survey, and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison. With more than 30 years of experience, his work focuses on groundwater flow, and its effect on natural systems. This research uses a variety of approaches such as numerical modeling, ion and isotope chemistry, tracers, parameter estimation, and stochastic methods. It emphasizes a range of groundwater – surface water systems including wetland, stream, and lake interactions. More recently this work has been extended to research investigating ecohydrology of aquatic systems, effects of climate and landuse drivers, and source and transport of enteric viruses to drinking water wells and through watersheds. He is author of over hundred publications, including important contributions in the PEST++ development and in the second edition of the book “Applied Groundwater Modelling” (Anderson, Woessner and Hunt, 2015).
He graduated in Geology applied to Engineering, Territory and Risks at the “Sapienza” University of Rome. During his course of study he specialized in Hydrogeology and Hydrogeochemistry. He currently works in the HG sector of Kataclima srl, where he mainly deals with hydrogeological numerical modeling, field investigation, data analysis and processing, and GIS processing. He has collaborated on scientific articles on the field of hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical characterization of Ischia Island. As an external collaborator, he taught the “Introduction to QGIS” course at the Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences of the University of Tuscia. Since January 2021 he is among the founding members of SYMPLE.
Graduated in Economics and Commerce with a specialization in Environmental Economics, she completed a thesis on the economic mechanism of emission trading applied to the Tuscan tanning district. After a Master’s degree at Bocconi in Economics and Management of the Environment, she moved to China for two and a half years where she worked for Enel and for the Italian Ministry of the Environment in the scouting of energy efficiency and renewable energy production projects eligible as the so called flexible mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol (Clean Development Mechanism – CDM and Joint Implementation- JI). After back to Italy, she worked for the Ministry of the Environment in European and international negotiations on the climate change. As a representative of the Italian Designated National Authority for the approval of CDM / JI projects of the Kyoto Protocol, she was also responsible for verifying compliance with the technical-legal requirements of hydroelectric energy production projects with respect to the provisions of the World Commission on Dams. She then worked for an in-house body of the Ministry of Economic Development for the creation and financial reporting of the Energy Renewables POIn PO-FESR 2013-17. Today she works as a trainer and consultant in the economic-environmental sector.
Francesca Lotti, PhD, is hydrogeologist, modeler, trainer and partner of Kataclima. In 2021 she started SYMPLE, an Innovative Start-Up, together with 4 other partners. She has nearly 20 years of experience in field investigations and numerical modeling with MODFLOW and FEFLOW of contaminated sites, mines, geothermal plants, coastal aquifers, dewatering projects and more. She collaborates with national and international research institutions and companies. From 2001 to 2014 she carried out research at the University of Tuscia; since 2008 she is professor at the University of Camerino, where she has followed numerous MSc and PhD theses. She regularly holds professional courses, corporate tutoring and lectures at II level Masters. She has always dreamed of founding a school of hydrogeology with priority given to the sharing of experiences, knowledge and operative tools.
Eric Martin holds a PhD from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario Canada in Civil Engineering (Environmental), focusing on In-Situ Thermal Treatment (ISTT) of groundwater and soils impacted by Dense, Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLs). He has lectured at both Queen’s University Department of Civil Engineering and The University of Birmingham School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences in the United Kingdom. Eric is a subject matter expert in the field of Hydrogeology at the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in Ontario, Canada, where he provides technical analysis and guidance to regulators regarding groundwater quantity, impacts and contamination.
Lucia Mastrorillo is an Assistant Professor at the Sciences Department of the Roma Tre University. She obtained her degree in Geological Sciences at La Sapienza University of Roma, where she completed her PhD in Earth Sciences in the 1994, dealing with the Hydrogeology of the Umbria Marche carbonate ridge. Her initial research field was the hydrostructural study of the carbonate aquifers aimed at the assessment of water resource and definition of the groundwater flowpath, at regional scale. In time, she applied the regional hydrostructural approach to other geological frameworks, collaborating with different Universities to develop the hydrogeological conceptual models of dolomitic, volcanic and coastal aquifers. Since many years, she is teaches Hydrogeology (Field and Natural Resources Geology master’s degree Roma Tre University) and Applied Geology (Environment and Field Engineering master’s degree Tor Vergata University). She is currently elaborating a new line of research in the Earthquake Hydrology field, carrying on the study of the earthquake effects on the Apennine carbonate hydrostructures, after the 2016 seismic events.
Bruna Matturro is graduated in “Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology” (University Sapienza of Rome) with a thesis titled “Application of biomolecular methods for the characterization and monitoring of sites contaminated by chlorinated solvents”. In 2014 she got the PhD in “Chemical and Industrial Processes” at the Sapienza University of Rome with a thesis on the “Reductive dechlorination processes: correlation between biodegradation kinetics and dechlorinating biomass activity”. She is a Researcher at the Water Research Institute of the National Research Council (IRSA-CNR) carrying out research in the field of bioremediation of contaminated environmental matrices. The research activities concern: the study of microorganisms involved in the biodegradation processes of pollutants in contaminated environmental matrices using advanced biomolecular tools; the development of specialized and / or isolated microbial cultures of interest for environmental remediation and for the development of innovative technologies for in situ bioremediation; the study of the metabolic and functional potentials of microorganisms of interest for remediation using –omic approaches. She is the author of scientific publications in international journals and books and of communications at national/international conferences. She has been involved in several research projects both national (Ritmare, SusBioRem) and international (Model Probe, Kill Spill, Electra) in the field of environmental bioremediation. She is a partner of the innovative start-up Trireme srl, established as a joint spin-off between CNR and Sapienza University of Rome.
In 2016 she concluded a Double Degree Program and graduated in Environmental Engineering at the University of Trento and at the Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa. In 2020 she completed an executive PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of Padua, in collaboration with Sinergeo (discussion in March 2021). The PhD project investigated the groundwater system of the Bacchiglione basin by applying statistical analyzes to a large timeseries dataset of groundwater levels and the implementation of a flow model in FEFLOW. Over her studies and with the master and doctoral theses, she focused on hydrology, modeling, statistics and geostatistics. This knowledge was applied in three different internships: the first, in a company that designs industrial wastewater treatment plants (2016); the second in the Dutch research center Deltares (2017) and the third in the U.S. Geological Survey (2019). Both abroad internships focused on the implementation of 3D models describing the interconnected dynamics of groundwater and salt water in coastal areas: Mekong Delta (Vietnam) and Long Island (NY). Since October 2020, she works as an environmental consultant, specialized in the hydrogeological sector. The main activities consist in geological and hydrogeological characterization, management and optimization of monitoring networks and statistical analysis of the available chemical and hydrological data. Several technical skills have been developed in these work experiences: the use of different groundwater modeling softwares and the organization, management and analysis of datasets with GIS tools and different programming languages.
Antonio Menghini graduated in Geological Sciences, University of Rome “La Sapienza” (1989). He joined the Course “Processing and Interpretation of SkyTEM Data”, helded by the Hydrogeophysics group of the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
During the 2008-2009 Academic Year he was Professor of “Applied Geophysics to the Sedimentary Successions” in the University “Gabriele D’Annunzio” of Chieti (Italy).
He has participated to these following international projects: Mars-MUSES (2001), as TDEM expert, to perform electromagnetic prospections of the shallow Martian sub- surface, in order to detect the presence of water or ice in the ground (with CNR, University of Rome and other institutions). He has participated at the Research Project (2008-09) on the use of IP method for groundwater characterisation and pollution detection, with University of Ferrara (Italy) and Council for Geoscience (South Africa). He was Committee member of the Workshop on Dead Sea Sinkholes (EAGE), Amman, Jordan; He taught lectures on AEM at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and at the NGRI in Hyderabad, India.
He also performed these consultancy activities: Free-lance activity as geologist and geophysicist (1990-2008) for engineering, hydrogeological, environmental and archaeological applications, with experience in EM, DC current, Magnetic methods. Hydrogeologist activity, with pumping test, groundwater balance, groundwater detection. He was geophysical consultant (2006-2009) for Rocksource and Nordic Mining, two Norwegian companies involved in oil and mining exploration.
He is currently employed by EMergo (Italy) as expert of Airborne EM data processing and interpretation. With specific reference to hydrogeological projects, he processed and interpreted the following AEM dataset:
Venice Lagoon, Italy (CNR), Ticino River-Magenta, Italy (CAP Holding), Johor, Malaysia (NIRAS), Lower Sassony, Germany (LBEG), Peace River, British Columbia, Canada (Geoscience BC), Rethink Water Project, Denmark (Danish Government), Cheyenne, Wyoming, US (Geotech), Dunea, the Netherlands (Artesia), Guadaloupe, Martinica and Reunion Islands (BRGM), Perth, Western Australia (Department of Water).
Oleksandra Pedchenko is a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS) in Quebec City, Canada, working in the research fields of hydrogeology and thermogeology. Current research project is focused on modelling of thermal transport in aquifer for low-carbon space conditioning applications. Oleksandra was awarded a PhD by the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, UK in 2019. The aim of her PhD project was to estimate the extent of possible groundwater influence on the long-term thermal performance of vertical borehole heat exchangers installed in fractured aquifers. Oleksandra was graduated with Master of Environmental Science with First Class Honours in 2015 from the University of Southampton, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment. Her passions aside from work include various sports (volleyball, cross-country skiing, acroyoga, windsurfing) and arts (poetry, drawing and sculpturing).
Marco Petitta is Full Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Rome Sapienza, where he teaches Hydrogeology, Underground Hydrodynamics and Applied Hydrogeology.
He is author of about 80 international publications and over 100 articles in national journals and conference proceedings.
He holds a PhD in Earth Sciences on the subject of hydrogeological modelling and carries out researches in the field of groundwater management, influence of human activities on the quality and quantity of groundwater, remediation of contaminated sites, role of hydrogeology in environmental and ecological studies, relationships between hydrogeology and earthquakes.
He has been a member of the board of the Italian Geological Society, coordinator of the Group of Experts in Hydrogeology of the European Federation of Geologists, chair of the Italian chapter of the International Hydrogeologists Association (IAH), coordinator of the UNECE Geneva working group for the implementation in the water field of the UNFC classification of natural resources.
He currently holds the role of vice-president of IAH for Western and Central Europe and he is a member of the Working Group on Groundwater of the European Commission in Brussels for the Water Directives.
He coordinated (2015-18) the European project HORIZON2020 KINDRA on the importance of groundwater for man and the environment. He is currently the national manager of the KARMA project (H2020 PRIMA program) on the evaluation and protection of groundwater resources in the karst environment.
Graduated with honors in Industrial Chemistry in 1990 and PhD in “Chemical Sciences” in 1994. Full Professor in the disciplinary sector ING-IND/25, “Chemical Plants”, at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Rome “Sapienza” where he holds the course in “Chemical Processes and Plants” and “Dynamics of Pollutants and Remediation of Polluted Sites”. He performs researches mainly about the study and development of processes and technologies for the remediation of contaminated soils and aquifers. In this context, he is author of over 70 scientific publications in international journals/books and over 80 communications at national/international conferences. He is co-owner of 5 patents concerning water treatment and remediation of contaminated sites. Since the 2010/2011 academic year, he is Director of the II level Master in “Characterization and Technologies for the Remediation of Polluted Sites” of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He was a member (2010-2015) of the Technical Secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment (Segreteria Tecnica del Ministero dell’Ambiente) as an expert in the remediation of national interest sites and participated in the Working Group for the Reorganization and Codification of the Environmental Regulations and for the revision of Annexes to Part IV, Title V of Legislative Decree 152/2006. He is currently a member of the Scientific Technical Council for the Environmental Impact Assessment of Oil and Gas “Oil & Gas IVF Center” in Moscow and a “foreign member” of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences of Moscow in the “Oil and Gas” section, with specific reference to the experience in the management of contaminated sites. He is and was coordinator of numerous national and international research projects for the remediation of polluted sites through innovative chemical/physical and biological processes.
Vincenzo Piscopo obtained his degree in Geological Science at the University of Naples Federico II. From 1992 to 1995, he participated in hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical research programs at the Earth Science Department and Geophysics and Volcanology Department of University of Naples Federico II.
From 1995 to 2000, he worked as researcher of Applied Geology at the Geophysics and Volcanology Department of University of Naples Federico II. Since 2000 he is associate professor of Applied Geology at the Faculty of Science of University of Tuscia, Viterbo. Here he developed and conducts several research programs specifically concerning groundwater flow and hydrochemistry of the volcanic aquifers, hydrogeology of carbonate rocks, relationships between lakes and groundwater, definition of sustainable yield, aquifers naturally contaminated by arsenic, new methods for functioning of wells at a constant level, hydraulic and hydrogeological characterization of hard rocks, modeling of aquifer in hydrothermal areas.
He held and at present he holds several courses at University of Tuscia and at the Faculty of Engineering of University of Roma Tor Vergata, such as Hydrology and Hydrogeology, Geopedology, Applied Geology, Applied Hydrogeology and Cartography. Since 2012 he lectures of hydrogeology at the Master “Characterization and technologies for remediation of contaminated sites” of Sapienza University of Rome. During his academic career he supervised about 75 bachelor, master and doctoral dissertations.
He is member of the Italian Geological Society, Italian Order of Geologists, International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). He is member of the Council of IAH Italian Chapter. He is member of the IAH Commission of Mineral and Thermal Waters and participates in the IAH Network on Fractured Rock Hydrogeology.
He has to his credit about 90 scientific and technical publications, including articles in national and international journals, monographs and proceedings of national and international conferences. He has participated in about 40 national and international conferences on hydrogeology and applied geology both with oral and poster presentations and as session chairman.
Vincent Post has 20 years of professional experience in coastal hydrogeology. He completed his PhD on groundwater salinisation in the Netherlands and has worked on projects in coastal zones around the world, including Portugal, Kiribati, Australia. He is Adjunct Associate Professor at Flinders University (Australia) and Research Associate at the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Hannover, Germany.
His expertise spans a broad range of topics. Which include numerical modelling, hydrochemistry, measurement techniques and freshwater resources management. Dr Post ha published extensively on coastal groundwater flow and chemical processes. Among his over 150 publications, he is co-author with Jimmy Jiao of the inspiring book “Coastal Hydrogeology” (Cambridge University Press) recommended as a “must use book to all those who work in any aspect of groundwater in the coastal environment” (John Cherry).
He was an Editor of the Hydrogeology Journal and is an Associated Editor from the Journal of Hydrology. He is also actively involved in the organization of the Salt Water Intrusion Meeting series that saw its fiftieth anniversary in 2018.
“In my experience groundwater problems are often dealt with poorly during construction. The key challenge when designing and constructing deep excavations is to develop a thorough conceptual understanding of the hydrogeology and a detailed knowledge of the capabilities of the different groundwater control techniques.”
Dr Martin Preene is a civil engineer, based in the UK, with 35 years’ experience of dewatering and groundwater control with contractors and consultants worldwide and has worked extensively on major tunnel projects in the construction and mining sectors. He has particular expertise in groundwater control, dewatering and temporary works for major construction projects including power station construction, dry docks, metro systems, tunnels, shafts and deep basements. He also has extensive experience of mine dewatering worldwide including open pit and underground mines.
Dr Preene is Past Chairman (2017-2019) of the British Geotechnical Association (BGA) and is qualified as Chartered Engineer, Chartered Geologist and UK Registered Ground Engineering Adviser.
He is widely published in the field of groundwater engineering and is the lead author of the CIRIA Report C750, the UK industry guidance on groundwater control and dewatering, and the author of the textbook Groundwater Lowering in Construction, now in its 3rd edition.
Patrizia Pretto has a degree in biology and a PhD in virology and microbial techniques, both at the Microbiology Department of Padova University. She is an experienced Environmental Specialist who extensively worked in remediation of polluted soil and groundwater. During her professional career, she performed several activities as for example: microbial community analysis, data analysis, investigation and in situ bioremediation of polluted sites, laboratory microcosm test on polluted soil and groundwater. Currently she is a Freelance Consultant expert on PFAS pollution for the Joint Research Center (JRC-EU).
Elisabetta Preziosi, she has been employed as a researcher in the Water Research Institute of the Italian CNR since 2001. She has a long-term experience in groundwater monitoring and water resources management, including numerical modelling and geochemical characterization of groundwater. Master in Geology (1989), PhD in hydrogeology (1997) at the University Sapienza of Rome (Italy), she spent two years at the Ecole des Mines of Paris (ENSMP) in Fontainebleau (France), as Human Capital and Mobility Network post-doctoral fellow (1994-1995) and then as a researcher(1997-1998) when she first joined the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH, French chapter). In 2000-2001 she was officer geologist at the Tiber Basin Authority, Rome, Italy. Visiting researcher at the CEH-NERC at Wallingford, UK in 2006. She has been Principal Investigator or Team Member in several national or international projects focusing on groundwater quality (natural background level) or quantitative aspects, financed by EU, national public boards or industrial partners. Member of the EC Working Group “Groundwater” in the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive since 2005, as an expert for the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Territory. In 2014 she obtained the National Scientific Enabling (ASN) of “Seconda Fascia” University professor (sector 04/A3 Applied Geology, Physical Geography and Geomorphology). She has been teaching a Groundwater Monitoring course at Sapienza University of Rome since 2019. She has authored or co-authored more than 30 papers on ISI journals and several contributions on national journals, as well as book chapters and national guidelines. Metrics: H-index = 15. Citations 605 (by 458 documents). Verified reviews 70. Averaged impact factor top 15 publications: 5.168. Her current research focuses on the processes that regulate the origin and evolution of the natural geochemical background values (VFN) of inorganic compounds in groundwater and the search for innovative methods for monitoring the human impacts on groundwater using a holistic approach based on geochemistry, environmental isotopes and bio-indicators.
Andres Gonzalez Quiros is a hydrogeologist and geothermal scientist at the British Geological Survey (UK). Graduated in Geology, MSc in Geological Resources and PhD in Mining Engineering from the University of Oviedo (Spain). His research interests are numerical groundwater flow and heat transport modelling and the development of multiphysical modelling approaches to integrate quantitative information (e.g., geophysics, remote sensing) to build, inform and calibrate numerical models. Previously he has held a “Royal Society – Newton International Fellowship” in hydrogeophysics at the University of Aberdeen (UK) and he has worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the numerical modelling of water flow and contaminant transport in flooded underground coal mines within the EU RFCS project MERIDA (Management of Environmental Risks After Mine Closure). He has been awarded with the “Alfons Bayó” Early Career Award 2020 from the International Association of Hydrogeologists – Spanish Chapter, and the “Mathematical Geosciences Student Award” from the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences. He is a collaborator in the Jo.in Hydrocafe project (IAH-Spanish Chapter), a project that aims to encourage early career researchers to show and share their work, increasing the visibility and impact of their contributions to science.
Viviana Re currently works as Assistant Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Pisa (Italy).
She does research in hydrogeochemistry of (ground)water contamination, isotope techniques for monitoring groundwater salinisation and aquifer contamination. She is also actively involved in Technical Cooperation projects, focusing on: development of quality monitoring programmes, support to groundwater resource planning, management and protection.
She recently developed socio-hydrogeology, as a new approach aiming at incorporating the social dimension into hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical investigations. She is author of the Bir al-Nas blog and co-founder of Responsible Water Scientists.
Thomas Reimann is a researcher and lecturer at the Institute for Groundwater Management at TU Dresden, Germany. With nearly 20 years of experience, Thomas’ work focus on groundwater engineering, often in combination with distributed numerical models in different environments, e.g., karst systems or open-pit mining for soft coal. He received a diploma in water management with a focus on groundwater engineering from TU Dresden in 2003. In 2012 he was promoted to Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) in groundwater management for research in karst systems by TU Dresden.
Thomas is a specialist in applying and adapting distributed numerical models for use in research and industry. He enhanced the distributed numerical discrete-continuum model MODFLOW Conduit Flow Process (CFP) by various boundary conditions, flow- and transport processes as CFPv2. Current research projects comprise Karst system characterization with inverse groundwater modeling, groundwater management in open-pit mining environments, and Managed Aquifer Recharge.
Besides research, he has been actively teaching groundwater management and groundwater modeling since 2003 at TU Dresden and as a guest lecturer for Hydrogeology since 2017 at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). The ongoing teaching activities use various innovative digital methods to improve the learning process, which was honored by the TU Dresden teaching award in 2017. Innovative and digital learning and teaching materials are currently enhanced and transferred to various partners across Europe by the EU cooperation project iNUX.
Rudy deals with surface and subsurface hydrology. He holds a MSc in Earth Science from Univerity of Pisa (IT), a MSc in Geoenvironmental Engineering from Cardiff University (UK) and a PhD in Engineering Geology from University of Siena (IT). His main research fields are analysis of functionalities of blue infrastructures (phyto-treatment plants and Managed Aquifer Recharge schemes) for the provision of water related agro-ecosystem services and development and application of GIS-integrated groundwater and solute transport numerical models to water management issues in the Mediterranean environment, with special focus on low flow conditions.
He is coordinator of the recently funded EU HORIZON 2020 FREEWAT project (FREE and open source software tools for WATer resource management) and WP8 leader in EU FP7 MARSOL (Managed Aquifer Recharge as a solution to drought and water scarcity), Sant’Alessio induced riverbank filtration case study. Coordinator of the Italian – Israeli bilater project PHARM-SWAP MED (removal of PHARMaceuticals from the Soil-WAter-Plant continuum in MEDiterranean Environment) and technical coordinator of the EU LIFE REWAT project.
Since 2012 he is Co-Editor in Chief of Acque Sotterranee-Italian Journal of Groundwater.
Manuel Sapiano is the Chief Executive Officer of the Energy and Water Agency (EWA) within Malta’s Ministry for Energy and Water Management. In this role, he coordinates a team of experts with responsibilities for the formulation, evaluation, monitoring and implementation of national policies concerning the use of energy and water in a sustainable manner and the formulation of plans to meet National and EU energy and water resources management targets.
He also coordinates EWA’s identification of and participation in research and development initiatives in the energy and water sectors, mainly focusing on issues such as the water and energy demand management and use efficiency, renewable energies, groundwater resources management and policy assessment and formulation.
Mr Sapiano is a hydrogeologist, with specific specialisation in island and coastal hydrology. He has previously led the Agency’s Water Policy Unit, where in particular he had the responsibility of coordinating the implementation process of EU related water legislation in the Maltese islands (including the Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater Water Directive and the Floods Directive), and hence the development of Malta’s 2nd River Basin Management Plan. He has been involved in the implementation process of the EU Water Framework Directive since 2002, where within the Common Implementation Strategy of this Directive, he fulfils the role of Water Director for Malta. He also represents Malta as one of the co-chairs of the Task Group entrusted with the development of EU Guidelines for Water Reuse and as the national representative on the CIS Groundwater Working Group.
My experience as hydrogeologist and groundwater modeler began during the last year of university, when I used numerical models to simulate natural attenuation in a contaminated site, while preparing my thesis about a real case application. After graduating in Environmental Sciences in 2007, I started working directly in the field with Sinergeo, a hydrogeological company based in Vicenza, in the north east of Italy. Since the beginning of my professional career, I have been practicing both field work (manual measurements and dataloggers, groundwater sampling, pumping tests, etc.) and data processing with the most common softwares, trying to personally follow the entire development of the project, from the initial investigations to the final report. In these 15 years, I had many opportunities to implement numerical models on behalf of public authorities and private clients, ranging from contaminated sites to geothermal energy, from managed aquifer recharge to dewatering for mining and waste disposal, from wellhead protection areas to river and groundwater hydraulic relationship. At the same time, I have always been very interested in studying and learning new techniques, participating to groundwater modeling courses and presenting my works in national and international conferences; finding new practical ways to solve environmental problems is still the fundamental purpose of my research.
Graduated in Geology in 2010 and PhD in 2014 at the Roma Tre University. His researches mainly dealt with regional hydrogeology and the study of volcanic aquifers in Central Italy (Sabatini, Vulsini and Roccamonfina) both through groundwater budget calculations and through the use of numerical models for the validation of hydrogeological conceptual models. From 2012 to 2020 he took part in research activities between the University of Roma Tre and Ferrarelle S.p.A. bottling company for the hydrogeological characterization of the mineral water basin located in Riardo (Caserta, southern Italy). Member of the Italian committee of young hydrogeologists (ECHN-Italy), he held the keynote lesson entitled “The Good, the Bad and the Bottled: considerations of the effects of our habits on the water and environment protection” at 46th IAH international congress in Malaga in 2019. He took part in the organization activities of the international MinWat2020 conference on thermal and mineral waters. Training experiences include the course “Groundwater in the agri-food sector” (Department of Sciences – University of Rome Tre), the course “Introduction to Earth Sciences” (Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences – University of Tuscia) and co-participation in the course for PhD students “New frontiers in groundwater resources sustainability: from direct use to virtual water” (Department of Science – University of Roma Tre).
Jeremy White is co-author of PEST++ and of the pyEMU suite. He completed his B.S. in computer science at West Texas A&M, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Geology at the University of South Florida. Dr. White has extensive experience with parameter estimation and uncertainty quantification in environmental and geophysical models, including those which simulate interactions of surface water with groundwater, and density-dependent flow of groundwater. Jeremy also has extensive experience using high-performance computing systems to solve massively and embarrassingly parallel problems in innovative ways in support of environmental management. After over 10 years at the USGS, he is now Principal Hydrogeologist at INTERA, where he supports clients in decision analysis as well as the hydrogeologic technical community via the continued development of open-source codes (PEST++ and pyEMU) and other uncertainty analysis/optimization tools.
