Current position

• Professor of water engineering and hydrology at the Department DICAM of the University of Bologna.
  He is currently teaching Hydraulic Works, Climate change adaptation (taught in English), Science of climate change (taught in English) in the master degree programmes in Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering, and Harbour Engineering (taught in English) in the master degree programme in Offshore Engineering.  
• Professor by contract of "Climate change and Architecture for Health" (climate change and global health) at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, in the master degree programme in International Medical Doctor.
• President of ARCA Srl, the mixed public-private company managing water supply and sanitation in the Province of Reggio Emilia (Italy).
• Member of the Commission for Major Risks of the National Civil Protection Department (vice-responsible for hydraulic, hydrological, geological, meteorological and climatic risks).
• Coordinator of the spoke "Science underpinning climate services for risk mitigation and adaptation" of the national extended partnership "RETURN", financed by the Italian Government with the funds of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. 
• Coordinator of the Advanced Grant research project financed by the National Science Fund (FIS) of Italy "CO₂2Water: Stochastic amplification of climate change into floods and droughts change", grant 1383 keuro.
• Editor of the scientific journal AGU Advances, published by the American Geophysical Union.
• Co-chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) Committee of the European Geosciences Union.
• Member of the Academia Europaea.
• Founding Member of the National Academy of Engineering and Technology of Italy.
• Corresponding member of the Academy of Science of Bologna Institute.  
• Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU).
• National representative of Italy at the IAHS (2019-2025).
• Member of the Union-Commission on Climatic and Environmental Change of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.
• Member of the AGU, EGU and IAHS.
• Member of the Italian association of professional engineers.

Past positions

• Head of the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Material Engineering at the University of Bologna (2015-2021).
• President of the European Geosciences Union (2019-2021).
• Coordinator of the master degree programmes in Civil Engineering at the University of Bologna (2012-2015).
• Editor in Chief of the scientific journal Water Resources Research, published by the American Geophysical Union (wrr.agu.org, 2013-2017).
• President of the International Commission on Water Resources Systems of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS, 2013-2017).
• President of the Division on Hydrological Sciences of the European Geosciences Union (EGU, 2007-2011).
• Chair of the Union Award Committee of EGU (2009-2016).
• Chair from of the Task Force of IAHS which was tasked of preparing the science plan for the Scientific Decade 2013-2022 of IAHS (2011-2013).
• Chair of the scientific decade 2013-2022 of the IAHS "Panta Rhei - Change in Hydrology and Society" (www.iahs.info/pantarhei, 2013-2015).
• National representative for Italy at the IAHS (2011-2015).
• Member of the John Dalton and Henry Darcy Medal Committees of EGU (2007-2015).
• Editor of the scientific journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, published by EGU (2004-2013).
• Associate Editor of the scientific journal Water Resources Research, published by AGU (2005-2013).
• Associate Editor of the scientific journal Survey in Geophysics, published by Springer, (2010-2013).
• Associate Editor of the scientific journal Hydrological Sciences Journal, published by IAHS (2011-2013).
• Chair of the Leonardo Committee of the Division on Hydrological Sciences of the European Geosciences Union (2009-2016).
• Tutor at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna (2015-2020)
• Member of the Centennial Steering Committee of AGU (2017-2019).
• Member of the International Scientific Steering Committee "Florence 2016", which was in charge of proposing solutions for the mitigation of the flood risk in the city (2012-2017).
• Member of the Langbein Lecture Committee of AGU (2018-2019).
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the AMGA Foundation (2017-2019).
• Member of the Hydrology Section Fellow Committee of AGU (2018-2020).
• Member of the AGU Governance Review Task Force (2021).

Education

• High School Diploma: High School Diploma in Environmental Survey and Civil Constructions obtained in 1985 in Reggio Emilia, with the maximum grade (60/60).
• Master Degree: Master Degree in Civil and Hydraulic engineering obtained at the University of Parma in 1992, maximum grade cum laude, by defending a master degree thesis entitled “A Water Quality Model of the Baganza River (in Italian)”, whose supervisor was Renzo Rosso.
• Professional habilitation: professional habilitation in Engineering obtained in Parma in 1992.
• Ph.D.: in Hydraulic Engineering obtained in 1996 by defending a Ph.D. thesis entitled "Stochastic Modelling of Hydrological Variables Affected by Long Term Persistence” (in Italian).

Academic Career

• Post-doctoral student at the University of Bologna from March 1997 to January 1998.
• Assistant Professor in Hydraulic Works and Hydrology at the Department DISTART of the University of Bologna from 1998 to 2001.
• Associate Professor at the Department DISTART (now Department DICAM) of the University of Bologna from 2001 to 2012.
• Professor at the Department DICAM of the University of Bologna from 2012.

Short summary of teaching activity

From 1998 Alberto Montanari taught the following academic courses at the University of Bologna and the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan: Hydraulic Works, Climate change adaptation (in English), Science of climate change (in English), Harbour Engineering (in English), Climate change and Architecture for Health (in English), Coastal Engineering (in English), Harbor Engineering (in English), Sustainable design of water resources systems (in English),Hydrology, Advanced hydrology (in English), Water resources management.

Short summary of research activity

Alberto Montanari focused his research activity on water resources management and flood risk mitigation, in the presence of environmental change and climate change. In particular, Alberto Montanari dedicated his attention to advanced methods for environmental management and engineering design in the presence of uncertainty, by bringing forward the idea that estimation of design variables in hydrology should always be associated to uncertainty assessment. To this end, Alberto Montanari proposed a blueprint for modelling uncertain hydrological systems, which is based on the concept of stochastic physically-based modelling that allow one to properly account for inherent uncertainty in hydrology.
By following a coherent path for modelling hydrological change, Alberto Montanari initiallly focused on statistical methods for real-time prediction of precipitation, simulation techniques for hydrological variables observed at fine time scale, statistical methods for real time updating of flood forecasting and spatially distributed rainfall-runoff models.
Currently Alberto Montanari is concentrating on uncertainty assessment for hydrological models in the presence of hydrological change, identification of critical areas for flood risk, climate change impact assessment, flood frequency analysis, open science and data sharing, to provide scientific support and consultancy for policy making and resilient and sustainable management of environmental resources.

Activity in support of policy making

Alberto Montanari supported with research and strategic activities the development of policies for the mitigation of the risk generated by natural hazards. In particular, he is currently the vice-responsible of the focus sector on hydraulic, hydrological, geological, meteorological and climatic risks of the Commission for Major Risks of the National Civil Protection, which is in charge of providing advice to the National Government. He is the coordinator of the spoke "Science underpinning climate services for risk mitigation and adaptation" of the national extended partnership "RETURN", financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which provides advice to institutions and administrations for the mitigation of the risks associated to climate and climate change. Alberto Montanari is the current President of ARCA Srl, the mixed public-private company managing water supply and sanitation in the Province of Reggio Emilia (Italy). His responsibilities include the development of strategic policy and actions for resilient and sustainable water resources management. He has been the consultant of several regional and national administrations, and local municipalities, for developing strategic actions  to mitigate the impact of climate change, floods, droughts, waste disposal, and associated cascade of events. In particular, he was a consultant during 2019-2024 of the Hera Group, the first Italian coalescence of municipally owned companies that manages the supply of energy, water and environmental services.  He also was a consultant for the Province of Reggio Emilia during 2005-2010 for the development of the local water management plan and the elaboration of the associated policies and legal norms. For more details, see the list of consultancy activities below.

Scientific publications and citations

Alberto Montanari authored 214 publications on international scientific journals (149 papers), conference proceedings or book chapters (57 contributions) and monographs (8 contributions).
According to the ISI Web of Science data base the publications by Alberto Montanari are 149, which received a total number of about 11.100 citations. The average number of citation to each paper is about 75. The most cited and the second cited paper count 767 and 647 citations, respectively. The H index is 50. Mode details are given by the ResearcherID profile, the Scopus profile, the Google Scholar profile and the ResearchGate page.

Highlighted papers

The articles below were highlighted by scientific journals and/or mass media:

• Volpi, E., Grimaldi, S., Aghakouchak, A., Castellarin, A., Chebana, F., Papalexiou, S. M., … Sharma, A. (2024). The legacy of STAHY: milestones, achievements, challenges, and open problems in statistical hydrology. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 69(14), 1913–1949. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2024.2385686
• Montanari, A., Nguyen, H., Rubinetti, S., Ceola, S., Galelli, S., Rubino, A., Zanchettin, D. (2023). Why the 2022 Po River drought is the worst in the past two centuries. Science Advances, 9(32), eadg8304.
• Palazzoli, I., Montanari, A., Ceola, S. (2022). Influence of Urban Areas on Surface Water Loss in the Contiguous United States. Agu Advances, 3(1), e2021AV000519.
• Papalexiou, S. M., Montanari, A. (2019). Global and regional increase of precipitation extremes under global warming. Water Resources Research, 55(6), 4901-4914.
• Mangini, W., Viglione, A., Hall, J., Hundecha, Y., Ceola, S., Montanari, A., Rogger, M., Salinas, J.L., Borzi, I, Parajka, J. (2018). Detection of trends in magnitude and frequency of flood peaks across Europe. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 63(4), 493-512.
• O'Connell, P. E., Koutsoyiannis, D., Lins, H. F., Markonis, Y., Montanari, A., Cohn, T., The scientific legacy of Harold Edwin Hurst (1880-1978), Hydrological Sciences Journal, 61(9), 1571-1590, 2016.
• Ceola, S., Montanari, A., Krueger, T., Dyer, F., Kreibich, H., Westerberg, I., ..., Van Der Zaag, P., Adaptation of water resources systems to changing society and environment: a statement by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 61(16), 2803-2817, 2016.
• Ceola, S., Laio, F., Montanari, A., Human‐impacted waters: New perspectives from global high‐resolution monitoring. Water Resources Research, 51(9), 7064-7079, 2015.
• Ceola, S., Laio, F., Montanari, A., Satellite nighttime lights reveal increasing human exposure to floods worldwide, Geophysical Research Letters, 41, 7184-7190, 2014.
• Montanari, A., et al. Panta Rhei—everything flows: change in hydrology and society—the IAHS scientific decade 2013–2022. Hydrological Sciences Journal 58.6, 1256-1275, 2013.
• Di Baldassarre, G., Montanari, A., Lins, H., Koutsoyiannis, D., Brandimarte, L., Bloeschl, G., Flood fatalities in Africa: from diagnosis to mitigation, Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L22402, doi:10.1029/2010GL045467, 2010

Media coverage and public engagement

Contributions of Alberto Montanari focusing on the science-policy interface and impact of climate change on floods and droughts and water resources management have gained prominent attention from the public.

Press coverage

Papers by Alberto Montanari had a significant coverage by the press. Four recent examples are:

• "Why the 2022 Po River drought is the worst in the past two centuries", Science Advances, 2023. Press coverage is available at https://www.albertomontanari.it/node/205. 
• "Global and Regional Increase of Precipitation Extremes under Global Warming", Water Resour. Res., 2019. 
• "Changing climate both increases and decreases European river floods", Nature, 2020.
• "Changing climate shifts timing of European floods", Science, 2017.

Interviews at public debates and television

• Interview in 2023 at the regional TRC TV on the predictability of megafloods after the publication of the recent Nature Geoscience paper "Megafloods in Europe can be anticipated from observations in hydrologically similar catchments". The interiew is available at https://youtu.be/lOssQrNr4eY
• Interview in 2024 at the regional TRC TV on policy and solutions for the mitigation of flood risk in Europe and Italy. The interiew is available at https://fb.watch/vgxzcvLlOJ/
• Interview at the public event Insolvenzfest 2022, a public forum with national audience in Bologna that focused on the natural disasters - policy nexus. My interview titled "There's no water for everybody if the distribution is leaking: history of water debt...." is available at https://youtu.be/baV5ePL-PEs

Dissemination to students

• Organisation and deliver of scientific contributions at two editions of the Geosciences Information for Teachers Workshop of the European Geosciences Union. The target of the workshop is to spread first-hand scientific information to science teachers of secondary (and primary) schools, significantly shortening the time between discovery and textbook.
• Invited speaker at the dissemination for student event “Lincei per il Clima” (Genova, 2022) with a presentation titled "Climate change and frequency of hydrometeorological extremes. What solutions?" Presentation available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS__cTlaN_Q
• Several lectures delivered to primary school, secondary school and high school students in Italy.

Science for policy events

• Organisation and chairing of the event "Shaping EU Missions: bridging the gap between geoscience and policy", that took place on Oct 17, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. The event brought together geoscientists and policymakers to discuss how the major challenges within the EU Missions can be addressed and what role the geosciences should play to enable each Mission to reach its full potential.
• Several lectures given at the National Department for Civil Protection and Italian ministries on mitigation of the hydrological impact of climate change.

Scientific and Teaching awards

• 2024 Peter Loucks Lecturer of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences
• Founding member of Italian National Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2022
• Recipient of the 2019 Dooge medal of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences
• Elected member of the Academia Europaea in 2019
• Recipient of the 2018 William Kaula Award of the American Geophysical Union
• Recipient of the 2018 Henry Darcy medal of the European Geosciences Union.
• Fellow of the American Geohpysical Union in 2017.
• Recipient of the Union Service Award by the European Geosciences Union in 2017.
• Recipient of the "Best Teacher Award" 2014, 2015 and 2016, assigned by the Department DICAM of the University of Bologna for the Master Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering.
• Recipient of the "Young Scientist Travel Award" conferred by the European Geophysical Society during the XXI General Assembly held at Den Haag (The Netherlands) from 6 to 10 May, 1996.
• Recipient of the "Young Scientist Travel Award" conferred by the European Geophysical Society during the XX General Assembly held in Hamburg (Germany) from 3 to 7 April, 1995.

Editorial activity

Alberto Montanari is Editor of AGU Advances, published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He has been Editor in Chief of Water Resources Research, published by AGU. He has been Editor of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, published by the European Geosciences Union, Associate Editor of Water Resources Research, Associate Editor of Survey in Geophysics, published by Springer, Associate Editor of the journal Hydrological Sciences Journal published by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences.

Alberto Montanari has been Guest Editor of the following special issues of International scientific journals:

1. Special Issue of the journal Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, entitled "Predicting and Estimating Extremes of Precipitation", volume 26, 2001.
2. Special Issue of the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, titled "Climatic and anthropogenic effects on hydrological processes", volume 26, 2002.
3. Special Issue of the journal Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, entitled "Hydrological Processes and Distributed Hydrological Modelling", volume 28, 2003.
4. Special Issue of the Journal of Hydrology, entitled "Catchment modelling: towards an improved representation of the hydrological processes n real-world model applications", volume 291, 2004.
5. Special Issue of the journal Water Resources Research, entitled Uncertainty assessment in surface and subsurface hydrology.

Alberto Montanari edited the book “Hydrological Risk - Recent advances in peak river flow modelling, prediction and real-time forecasting - Assessment of the impacts of land-use and climate changes”, published by BIOS (Italy) in 2004, and the book “Evolving Water Resources Systems: understanding, predicting and managing water-society interactions, published by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences in 2014. He has been editor of the book "Legacy and Perspective for the Science of Hydrology", published by the American Geophysical Union in electronic form to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Water Resources Research. Articles published in the book were also collected in the special section of Water Resources Research with the same title.

Organization of conferences and symposia

Alberto Montanari organized and chaired more than 30 sessions held at General Assemblies of the European Geophysical Society and then European Geosciences Union, Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, meetings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences. He has been the main organizer of the conference "6th IAHS-EGU International Symposium on Integrated Water Resources Management”, held in Bologna on June 4-6, 2014. In his capacity of chair of the Leonardo Committee of the European Geosciences Union he contributed to the organization of 9 editions of the Leonardo Conference Series.

Recent Invited scientific presentations

• 2011: "Uncertainty estimation in hydrology Incorporating physical knowledge in stochastic modeling of uncertain systems", invited talk at the Uppsala University Sweden, Uppsala 9 June 2011.
• 2012: "Hydrology of the Po River: looking for changing patterns in river discharge", invited talk at the Accademia dei Lincei, Rome 22 March 2012.
• 2012: "Towards the IAHS Scientific Decade 2013-2022", invited talk at the Hohai University, Nanjing, China, 12 May 2012.
• 2012: "Uncertainty estimation in hydrology, or Stochastic physically-based modeling of uncertain hydrological systems", invited talk at EPFL Lausanne, 12 June 2012.
• 2012: "Modelling flood change", invited talk at the Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, 4 September 2012.
• 2012: "A tribute to Vit Klemes", invited talk at the STAHY International Workshop, Tunis, 2 October 2012.
• 2012: "An overview of the Science Plan of the IAHS Scientific Decade 2013-2022", invited talk at the Delft University of Technology, Delft, 25 October 2012.
• 2013: “Impatto del cambiamento climatico sul rischio di alluvione: recenti orientamenti della ricerca scientifica nazionale ed internazionale”, invited talk at the “Giornate dell'Idrologia”, Naples, 11 January 2013.
• 2013: “Climate ChangeVerso un cambio di clima anche nella collaborazione accademica?”, invited talk at the round table of the “Marchi Lecture”, Milan, May 31st 2013.
• 2013: “Panta Rhei: The IAHS Scientific Decade 2013-2022”, invited talk at the IAHS General Assembly, July 24th, 2013.
• 2014: “Perspectives for the use of big data in environmental planning and management”, invited talk at the EGU General Assembly, April 2014.
• 2014: “Towards a theory for hydrological change”, invited talk at the EGU General Assembly, April 2014.
• 2014: “Meet the expert in hydrology - How young scientists can contribute to ‘Hydrology in a changing world’”, invited talk at the EGU General Assembly, April 2014.
• 2014: “Panta Rhei – Everything Flows: Change in Hydrology and Society - Towards a theoretical framework for change assessment and attribution in hydrology”, invited talk at the CUAHSI Biennal Meeting, West Virginia, July 2014.
• 2014: “A perspective on recent developments and theoretical advances for modelling environmental change”, invited talk at the Durham University, 2014.
• 2014: “A perspective on recent developments and theoretical advances for modelling environmental change”, invited talk at University of Lausanne, 2014.
• 2014: “Solving Water Crisis through Understanding of Hydrology and Human Systems: a Possible Target?”, invited talk at the AGU Fall Meeting, December 2014.
• 2015: “New Data for Deciphering the Human Pressure on River Ecosystems. A Step Forward to Assess Global Water Emergency”, invited presentation at the 2015 Gordon Research Conference (USA).
• 2015: “Global change and global water emergency: A new vision for new solutions”, invited presentation at the 2015 IUGG General Assembly (Prague).
• 2016: "Is climate change modifying precipitation extremes?", invited talk at the EGU General Assembly, April 2016.
• 2016: "Balance in scientific impact assessment: the EGU Awards Committe experience", invited presentation at the EGU General Assembly, April 2016.
• 2016: "Cambiamenti tendenze e ciclicità negli eventi climatici estremi: un rebus da risolvere" (in Italian), invited presentation at the II Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica, Rome, June 2016).
• 2016: "Seeking a Step Forward in Research and Education in Water Science", invited presentation at the University of Saskatchewan within the Distinguished Lecture Series, Saskatoon, October 2016).
• 2016: "Cambiamenti climatici, rischio alluvionale e rischio geologico: strategie innovative di adattamento e mitigazione" (in Italian), invited presentation at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (National Academy), within the XXXIV Giornata dell'Ambiente, Roma, November 2016.
• 2017: "Extreme values estimation under change: the never-ending dilemma (or sophism?) between stationarity and non-stationarity", invited presentation at the Ephastat meeting, Bologna, March 2017.
• 2017: "Flood risk mitigation in the presence of climate change: Strategies for adaptation and mitigation" (in Italian)", invited presentation at the University of Calabria, May 2017.
• 2017: "Improve resilience of the industrial sector", invited presentation at the meeting of the Life-Iris project, November 2017 (in Italian).
• 2017: "Recent breakthroughs and themes in hydrology, from climate to the water-food-energy nexus", invited presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting, December 2017.
• 2018: "A Stationary Theory for Modeling Climate Change: Stationarity is Immortal!", invited presentation at the Uppsala University, January 2018.
• 2018: "Diversity and equality @ EGU", invited presentation at the EuroScience Open Forum, July 2018.
• 2018: "Sustainable digitalization: a global challenge", invited presentation at the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting, December 2018.
• 2019: "Changing climate in water science", invited presentation at the international meeting Water Futures, University of Padua, June 2019.
• 2019: "Integrating nature based solutions and structural interventions for adapting to climate change" (in Italian), invited presentation at the Ministry of Environment, June 2019.
• 2019: "The Unsolved Rebus of Natural Variability", invited presentation at the 27th IUGG General Assembly, Montreal, July 2019.
• 2019: "Water and life", invited presentation at the "IUGG 100th Anniversary", UNESCO Paris, July 2019.
• 2019: "Climate change and floods", invited presentation at the Mediterranean Ph.D School on Impacts of Climate Change and Sustainable Engineering Responses, University of Naples, October 2019.
• 2019: "Flood risk in historical cities (in Italian)", invited presentation at the conference "Beni culturali ed ambientali a rischio", University of Bologna, November 2019.
• 2020: "Floods and climate change", invited presentation at the conference "Management of environmental processes", University of Naples, February 2020.
• 2020: "The new mission of geosciences in an age of pandemics and beyond", invited presentation at Lancaster University, June 2020.
• 2020: "New challenges and opportunities for equality, diversity and inclusivity under COVID-19 and beyond", invited presentation at JPGU-AGU Joint Meeting, July 2020.
• 2020: "Taking a wide perspective", invited presentation at inaugural day of the PhD programme on "Future Earth, climate change and societal challenges", Bologna, November 2020.
• 2021: "Fabio Rossi: l'impersonificazione dell'idrologia quale scienza ingegneristica" (in Italian), invited presentation at the "Memorial of Prof. Fabio Rossi", Italian Hydraulic Engineering Group, February 2021.
• 2021: "Future climatic scenario for the design of climate change adaptation strategies" (in Italian), invited presentation at the webinar "Characterisation of failures in water distribution network and sensitivity analysis", University of Bologna, April 2021.
• 2021: "Generation of tecnical scenarios of future climate for studying extreme events in the presence of climate change" (in Italian), invited presentation at the webinar "Climate change: hydrologic and hydraulic impacts", Italian Hydrotechnical Association, June 2021.
• 2021: "Water Resources and Sustainability under Climate Change", invited presentation at the SAgE PGR Conference, University of Newcastle, July 2021.
• 2021: "Circles of sustainability to promote a dynamic and sustainable governance model in the face of climate change", invited presentation at the IX Parmenides Conference, Bari, October 2021.
• 2022: "Climate change and frequency of hydrometeorological extremes. What solutions?" (in Italian), invited presentation to the meeting "I Lincei per il clima", Genoa, March 15, 2022.
• 2023: "Quali magre attendersi in Emilia-Romagna nel XXI secolo?" (in Italian), invited presentation at the conference "Impianti irrigui nella vallata del Senio", Riolo Terme, April 14.
• 2023: "The major challenges for ensuring a sustainable use of freshwater under change", invited presentation at the workshop "Geoscience information for teachers" (at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union).
• 2023: "Le soluzioni per l’adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici nella Pianificazione Distrettuale" (in Italian), invited presentationat the meeting "Mettiamoci in Riga" Ministry of Enviroment of Italy, June 2023.
• 2024: "La protezione civile nell'ambito idro-geologico in Italia: origini, evoluzione e prospettive" in Italian), invited presentationat the meeting "80 Years of Hydrology", Salerno, January 23-24, 2024.

Supervision and co-supervision of PhD Students and post-docs

• Ilaria Delfini (2021-2024)
• Rui Guo (2021-2024)
• Peyman Arjomandi Akram (2019-2022)
• Paolo Leoni (2016-2019)
• Serena Ceola (2012-2014)
• Emanuele Baratti (2011-2014)
• Elena Montosi (2009-2012)
• Laura Lombardi (2008-2011)
• Simone Castiglioni (2007-2010)
• Alessandro Bigi (2004-2007)
• Giuliano di Baldassarre (2003-2006)
• Laura Montanari (2002-2005)
• Luigia Brandimarte (2002-2005)
• Greta Moretti (2000-2003).

Coordination of Research Projects

• 2024-2029 Coordinator of the research project financed by the National Science Fund (FIS) of Italy Advanced Grant "CO₂2Water: Stochastic amplification of climate change into floods and droughts change", grant 1383 keuro.
• 2023-2026 Coordinator of the spoke "Science underpinning climate services for risk mitigation and adaptation" of the national extended partnership "RETURN", financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. 
• 2004-2012: Coordinator of the Working Group at the University of Bologna on "Design Flow Estimation in Ungauged Basins", within the international research initiative Prediction in Ungauged Basins (PUB) promoted by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences.
• 2007-2008 National Coordinator of the research project "Advanced Techniques for Estimating and Predicting Extreme Hydrological Events with Uncertainty Analysis (SPIE)", financed by the Italian Government.
• 2009-2012 National Coordinator of the research project "Uncertainty Analysis for Rainfall and River Flow Data and Effects on Water Resources Management", financed by the Italian Government.

Participation to International Research Projects

• 1996-1997: Post-doctoral researcher in the project "Production of precipitation scenarios for impact assessment of climate change in Europe" (POPSICLE), financed within the 4th Framework Programme of the European Union.
• 1998-2000: Associate researcher in the project "Flash-flood risk assessment under the impacts of land use changes and river engineering works" (Framework), financed within the 5th Framework Programme of the European Union.
• 2001-2002: Associate researcher in the project "Multi-sensor precipitation measurements integration, calibration and flood forecasting" (MUSIC), financed within the 5th Framework Programme of the European Union.
• 2011-2012: Associate researcher in the project "Transitions to the urban water services of tomorrow" (TRUST), financed within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union.
• 2013-2017: Coordinator at the University of Bologna and Workpackage Leader of the research project “Sharing Water-related Information to Tackle Changes in the Hydrosphere – for Operational Needs (SWITCH-ON), financed by the European Union.
• 2016-2020: Associate researcher in the project "Bridging the gap for innovations in disaster resilience" (BRIGAID), financed within the Horizon 2020  Programme of the European Union.

Coordination of Consulting Activities

Alberto Montanari has been coordinator of the following consulting activities for public administrations and institutions dealing with river basin management, water resources management and hydraulic engineering:

• Analysis of the hydrological and environmental impact of the mining activities programmed by the local administration of Reggio Emilia in the river floodplains, financed by the Province of Reggio Emilia (ended in 2003).
• Analysis of the hydrological and environmental impact of the mining activities programmed by the Province of Modena in river floodplains, financed by the Province of Modena (ended in 2003).
• Preliminary design of a small hydropower plant on the Navile Channel at Bentivoglio (BO), located in the old Pizzardi water mill, financed by the Municipality of Bentivoglio (ended in 2004).
• Consulting activity for the preparation of the Water Resources Management Plan of the Province of Reggio Emilia, financed by the Province of Reggio Emilia (ended in 2006).
• 2-D hydraulic model of the lower course of the Reno River, financed by Niagara Srl (private company, ended in 2006).
• Analysis of the water losses in open channels in the Province of Reggio Emilia (Italy), financed by the Emilia-Romagna Region (ended in 2007).
• Consulting activity on the asset of the sewer system of the city of Reggio Emilia, financed by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia (ended in 2008).
• Hydrological impact of the mining activities along the Panaro River, Financed by the Province of Modena (ended in 2008).
• Consulting activity for water resources management in the Enza Valley, financed by the Province of Reggio Emilia (ended in 2012).
• Analysis of the effects on flow routing and sediment transport of barriages along the lower course of the Po River, financed by ARPA Ingegneria Ambientale (ended in 2010).
• Monitoring of the new fish ramp along the Fiume Secchia at Fornace, financed by SEA Srl.
• Analysis of likely inundation scenarios of the industrial plant of Niagara Srl, financed by Niagara Srl (private company; ended in 2011)
• Analysis of the seasonal flood frequency distribution along the Blue Nile River, financed by Studio Pietrangeli Srl (professional engineers; ended in 2012).
• Assessment of the hydrological balance of the Lake of Monate, financed by Comune di Travedona Monate (ended in 2013).
• Monitoring the environmental impact of the mining activities at Cava Faraona and Cava Santa Maria (Italy), financed by Comune di Travedona Monate, long-term consultancy activity during the period 2014 - 2023.
• Solutions for recovering the waste disposal site at Poiatica (Italy), financed by Atersir Emilia-Romagna (ended in 2017).
• Consulting activity on the asset of the sewer system of the city of Modena, financed by Comune di Modena (ended in 2017).
• Climate change impact on water supply and adaptation strategies, financed by Hera (public water supply utility company), ended in 2022
• Consulting activity on the water management plan of the city of Modena, financed by Comune di Modena (ended in 2021).
• Consulting activity on the water management plan of the city of Reggio Emilia, financed by Comune di Reggio Emilia (ended in 2022).
• Consulting activity on the optimal strategies for water resources management in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, financed by Nomisma (ended in 2024).
• Consulting activity to identify innovative strategies for water resources management for the water supply network managed by Con.Ami consortium of Municipalities, financed by Hera Group (ended in 2024). 
• Consulting activity on the identification and design of solutions for increasing the water storage capacity in the irrigation network managed by the Consorzio della Bonifica Renana (financing administration, ended in 2024). 
• Consulting activity on the waste disposal site at Pomarance (Italy), financed by Comune di Pomarance (on going).
• Consulting activity to identify solutions for the recovery and removal of oil and gas platform in the Adriatic Sea, financed by ENI (ongoing).

Activities in Academic Commissions

• President of the Permanent Research Commission of the Department DISTART of the University of Bologna from 2008 to 2010.
• President of Library Committee of the Department DISTART (and subsequently DICAM) of the University of Bologna from 2006 to 2010.
• Member of the Library G.P. Dore Committee of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bologna from 2008 to 2010.
• Member of the Didactic Commission of the Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bologna from 2005 to 2010.
• Coordinator of the master degree programme in Civil Engineering of the University of Bologna from 2012 to 2015.
• Head of the Department DICAM of the University of Bologna from 2015 to 2021.

Recent membership of National and International Ph.D. Tribunals and other Evaluating Commissions

• 2016: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of assistant professor at the Politecnico di Torino.
• 2018: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of full professor at the University of Bologna.
• 2020: Member of the evaluation Commission for the position of Director of the IRPI Institute of CNR.
• 2021: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of researcher at the Politecnico di Torino.
• 2021: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of associate professor at the University of Calabria.
• 2023: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of full professor at the University of Genova.

Activity in medal and awards committees

• 2018-2020 Member of the Hydrology Section Fellow Committee of AGU
• 2018-2019 Member of the Langbein Lecture Committee of AGU
• 2007-2015 Member of the John Dalton and Henry Darcy Medal Committees of EGU
• 2009-2016 Chair of the Union Awards and Medals Committee of the EGU
• 2011: Member of the Governmental Commission UEFISCDI for the peer review of Romanian Universities.
• 2014: Member of the SENSE review panel for Universities in The Netherlands.

Scientific publications

Publications.