Francesco Petracchini – Director of CNR (National Research Council) Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies (DSSTTA)

Francesco Petracchini is an Environmental Engineer with a PhD in Environmental Sciences. Since 2003, he has been involved in research and international project management at the CNR Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IIA-CNR). He has also led environmental research programs on behalf of CNR in China within the framework of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
From 2020 to 2024, he served as Director of IIA-CNR, and he currently leads the CNR Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies (DSSTTA).

Lidia Armelao
Degree in Chemistry and PhD in Chemical Sciences from Padua University (Italy). Post-doc fellow in Paris (UPMC, 1995) and visiting scientist in Canada (UWO, 2005 – 2008, 2011). Head of the Department of Chemical Sciences and Materials Technologies of the National Research Council (CNR) since 2020 and former Director of the CNR Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry and Energy Technologies (2014 – 2020). Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Padova University since 2016 and Research Scientist at CNR from 1996 to 2015. She has been appointed as governmental expert in Materials at the European Defence Agency (since 2017) and as member of the Scientific Commission of the Italian Chemical Society (2020 – 2022). President of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (since 2022), at IUPAC she has been elected member of the Scientific Board (2024 – 2025) and of the Executive Board (from 2026). She has been scientific coordinator and unit chair of national and European projects, and component of international evaluation panels for scientific projects and research centers. The scientific activity concerns the area of chemistry and materials and is focused on the development of innovative luminescent materials for sensing and energy applications. She authored over 250 papers on international peer-reviewed scientific journals and she was invited as lecturer to over 40 national and international conferences. She received the EniChem Thesis Prize (1990) and the Distinguished Women in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering international Award (2023) from IUPAC.

Maria Elena Martinotti is a civil engineer with a PhD in Water and Territory Management Engineering from Politecnico di Torino. She started her career in geotechnical and structural engineering, later moving into public research at the Italian National Research Council (CNR). At the Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (IRPI-CNR), she contributed to the validation of national landslide early warning systems and supported Civil Protection during major emergencies in Italy.
Since 2019, she has been with the CNR Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies, first as a Technologist managing Antarctic and Arctic research programs and coordinating departmental activities. She is now Head of Institutional Relations, responsible for stakeholder engagement and national and international collaborations.
She has authored scientific articles and reports on landslide hazards, extreme rainfall events, and early warning systems, and has solid experience in scientific communication, outreach, and event organization.

Dr. Shuichi Kodaira is Executive Director of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and an adjunct professor at Tohoku University and Yokohama National University. Since receiving his Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in Japan in 1992, he has studied the structures and dynamics of oceanic plates using marine geophysical and seismological approaches. Prior to his current role, he was an assistant professor at Hokkaido University and Director-General of the Institute for Marine Geodynamics at JAMSTEC. Recently, he and his group in JAMSTEC have carried out intensive seismic studies and developed seafloor/sub-seafloor observation systems in subduction zones around Japan. Dr. Kodaira was elected Fellow of the AGU in 2014 and Beno Gutenberg Lecturer in 2017. He has received several awards, including the Commendation for Science and Technology from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2023 and the Seismological Society of Japan Award in 2024.

Giuseppe Magnifico is Director of the Office for Planning and Grant Office and Deputy Director of the Research Infrastructure Office at CNR.
He is committed to supporting the project activity of the Scientific Network by coordinating and monitoring projects of both National Research Programme and European Commission Funding Programme. His primary focus lies in facilitating CNR’s involvement in initiatives that aim to enhance existing research infrastructures and establish new ones, including multi-thematic research infrastructure networks.
He is, also, charged with the participation of CNR in Pan-European Research Infrastructures, including the European Research Infrastructure Consortia, ERICs.
In this contest, following the donation of the research vessel R/V “Gaia Blu” (formerly R/V “Falkor”) from the Schmidt Ocean Institute to CNR, Mr. Magnifico has overseen the development of the vessel’s management model and cruise planning. Drawing on his experience with the EU-Eurofleets+ project, he played a key role in promoting and contributing to the establishment of Eurofleets AISBL, a new pan-European research infrastructure aimed at coordinating European research fleets.
With more than 20 years of research experience, Giuseppe participates in a number of key National and European initiatives, such as ERVO (European Research Vessel Operators) Group, the IRSO (International Research Ship Operators) Group, currently being Chair of the community. Furthermore, Giuseppe was of member of the European Marine Board Working Group “Next Generation European Research Vessels.

Diego Fontaneto
A naturalist by training working as a zoologist, has been at the CNR-IRSA in Verbania since 2012, after gaining a few years of experience in the United Kingdom and Sweden. His research focuses on biodiversity, and he is the coordinator of the biodiversity working group within CNR. His main research activity involves studying biodiversity from a quantitative perspective, using observations, measurements, statistical analyses, inference on processes, and generalizations. He employs various approaches that draw from multiple disciplines, combining ecology with genetic diversity analysis. He is knowledgeable about bdelloid rotifers, a group of microscopic animals notorious for being an evolutionary scandal: they are all female, can survive extreme stress conditions such as freezing, desiccation, and ionizing radiation, and are capable of incorporating external DNA into their genome. He is editor-in-chief of scientific journals with different publishing philosophies, ranging from fully open and free access to traditional subscription-based models. He is also involved in the perception of biodiversity, both within the research community and in society at large.

Jotaro Urabe
His research focuses on aquatic ecology. He served as chair of the Ecological Society of Japan and as a professor at Tohoku University, where he is now an emeritus professor.

Angelo Fontana (ORCID N. 0000-0002-5453-461X; WOS RESEARCHER ID C-3354-2012) is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Department of Biology of the University of Naples “Federico II” and Director of the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (ICB) of the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy. He is the coordinator of the group of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology with the focus on functional small organic molecules from marine organisms. For these studies he has received numerous national and international funding grants. In 2016 he co-founded BioSEArch SRL, an advanced biotechnology start-up company for the development of natural products in medicine, functional foods, and cosmetics. He received the 2009 Apivita Award from the Phytochemistry Society of Europe for his contribution in the field of natural products. He has supervised more than 20 doctoral students, and his research activity is summarized in over 400 papers, conference communications and patents.
He is a permanent member of the international scientific committees for the “Marine Natural Products Symposium” and “European Conference on Marine Natural Products”, and fellow of the the Italian Chemical Society, Division of Organic Chemistry and of the Post-doctorate section of the Japan Society for Promotion of Science.

Wakimoto Toshiyuki
He received his PhD in 2001 at Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences in University of Tokyo, under the guidance of Prof. Nobuhiro Fusetani. He undertook postdoctoral research with Prof. Peter Wipf at University of Pittsburgh. He then served on the faculty of University of Shizuoka (2003-2010) and University of Tokyo (2010-2015). He is currently a Professor at Hokkaido University and his research interests include natural products biosynthesis and discovery.

Ernesto Azzurro
Research Director, CNR-IRBIM, Ancona, Italy. A marine ecologist specializing in invasion biology, fish ecology, and biodiversity shifts driven by climate change in coastal marine ecosystems. He holds a PhD in Marine Biology and Ecology from the Polytechnic University of Marche (UNIVPM) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at ICM-CSIC in Barcelona. Ernesto has pioneered the use of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) in the Mediterranean Sea, working closely with small-scale and recreational fishers across multiple countries to document ecological transformations through participatory approaches. His work bridges science and society, integrating traditional knowledge and scientific data to inform conservation and management. He also manages the www.ormef.eu geoportal and has provided scientific consultancy to organizations such as the United Nations, FAO, GFCM, and IUCN.

Takehito Yoshida
Associate Professor, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, University of Tokyo
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
An ecologist and limnologist who studies the diversity and complexity of organisms and ecosystems from the viewpoints of adaptation and system dynamics, and explores human-nature interactions and sustainability in local communities in Japan. Trained at Kyoto University (PhD) and Cornell University (postdoc), he has been a faculty member at the University of Tokyo since 2006. He also had a joint appointment at Research Institute for Humanity and Nature from 2017 to 2023.

Mayumi Fukunaga 
Professor of environmental sociology and environmental ethics, University of Tokyo, GSFS
Mayumi Fukunaga is trained in environmental sociology and environmental ethics. Her research focuses on environmental governance, particularly in relation to small-scale fisheries and how communities engage with nature, memory, and care. In recent years, she has concentrated on aquaculture practices—especially seaweed and fish farming—led by small-scale and community-based fishers, aiming to co-produce knowledge and support local governance initiatives. Through fieldwork and narrative approaches, she explores pathways toward more inclusive and sustainable futures.

Tommaso Tesi specializes in climate change in modern and ancient systems, with a focus on sea ice, ice shelves, and permafrost. He has received two Marie Curie Fellowships for research at Oregon State University and Stockholm University. He serves as Associate Editor for Marine Chemistry (since 2018) and Frontiers in Marine Science (since 2020), and was Guest Editor for a 2017 Ocean Science special issue on Arctic climate–carbon–cryosphere interactions. Since 2019, he has represented Italy on the IASC Marine Working Group and served on the European Marine Board’s Ocean Deoxygenation group (2022–2023) and the European Polar Board (2017–2024). He has participated in 17 oceanographic expeditions, totaling over 200 days at sea.

Dr. Takashi Kikuchi has been the Director of the Institute of Arctic Climate and Environment Research (IACE) at the Research Institute for Global Change (RIGC) of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) since April 2019. He earned his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Science at Hokkaido University in December 1996. After completing a post-doctoral position, he joined JAMSTEC as a research scientist in October 1997. With extensive experience in Arctic Ocean observational research, he has participated in over 25 Arctic missions, including those involving research vessels, icebreakers, and ice camps. His work has contributed to numerous publications on oceanographic and environmental changes in the Arctic. Currently, he serves as Vice-Chair of the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) and was Vice-Chair of the Marine Working Group (MWG) within the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) until March 2024. Additionally, he serves as one of the sub-project directors for on-going Japan’s Arctic research project, ArCS III (2025–2029).

Chiara Venier is a Senior Technologist at the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council in Venice-Mestre, Italy. She holds a BSc and a MSc in Environmental Sciences from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Padua. Her current work focuses on supporting scientific research on climate change and international cooperation in polar sciences, where she is a member of the Institute’s International Cooperation Working Group. Since 2019, she has been working as Scientific Project Manager of the European Horizon 2020 project Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice Core, which will run until May 2026. She took part in the Beyond EPICA ice core processing campaign in summer 2024 at the Alfred Wegener Institute, working on the processing of the first ice cores from Antarctica, and she is scheduled to participate in the upcoming project field campaign in Antarctica. Within the Ice Memory project, she was also involved in field activities, including the expedition to Col del Lys (Monte Rosa, October 2023).

Ayako Abe-Ouchi is a professor and the Head of Department of Climate Variability Research at Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo. She is specialized in climate dynamics of glacial-interglacial cycle and abrupt climate changes, especially in the interaction between ice sheet, climate and ocean. She is leading the Paleoclimate modeling studies using the Japanese global climate model, MIROC, and the ice sheet model, IcIES. She received PhD (Dr. Nat. Sci.) at ETH, Zurich, Switzerland. She served as a lead author of Chapter 5 of Working Group 1 of IPCC AR5. She is a recipient of Japan Academy Prize in 2022, Milutin Milankovic Medal (EGU) in 2021 and Saruhashi Prize (for women scientist in Japan) in 2012.

Kenji Kawamura is a professor and the leader of the Ice Core Research Center at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR). He serves as the project leader of the Third Dome Fuji Deep Drilling Project in East Antarctica, carried out within the framework of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. Before joining NIPR, he received his doctoral degree in geophysics, and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Bern, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Tohoku University, where he contributed to international collaborations in ice-core and climate science. His work focuses on reconstructing past climate and atmospheric composition from polar ice cores to reveal the mechanisms of glacial–interglacial cycles and abrupt climate changes, emphasizing the value of deep ice core records for understanding present and future environmental challenges.

Dr. Francesco Cairo began his scientific career after a thesis in Quantum Optics and a consultancy in Nuclear Medicine. In 1995, he joined the CNR Institute of Atmospheric Physics, focusing on lidar system redesign and volcanic aerosol studies. He later worked extensively in Antarctica, operating lidar systems at McMurdo and Dumont d’Urville to investigate ozone loss mechanisms. His research emphasized aerosol microphysics and polar stratospheric clouds through fieldwork and advanced remote sensing. He developed innovative miniaturized optical instruments used on stratospheric balloons and research aircraft. These tools supported campaigns in polar, mid-latitude, tropical, and monsoon regions, studying transport, cirrus microphysics, and water vapor. Their automation enabled aerosol monitoring in remote ground stations such as Dome C, Ny-Ålesund, and the Sahel. He has held leading roles in numerous international field campaigns and coordinated EUFAR’s “Future of the Fleet” workpackage. From 2014 to 2019, he directed the Rome Section of CNR-ISAC, managing staff and the CIRAS supersite for atmospheric observations. He has taught Atmospheric Physics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata since 2012. He has supervised numerous students at undergraduate, master, and doctoral levels.

Prof. Ph.D. Kazuma AOKI is Atmospheric Physics and Earth Environmental Sciences. I was born in Tokyo, 1969, raised in Hokkaido. I graduated from the Faculty of Science at Tokyo University of Science in 1994 (B.S.), master’s degree from Hokkaido University in 1997 (M.S.), and was Doctorate in Earth Environmental Science from Hokkaido University in 2002 (Ph.D.). I have been employed at University of Toyama since 2002, as a Lecturer, Associate Professor, and have been a Professor in the Faculty of Science since 2014 to the present day. I focus on two research objectives. One of the objectives was to understand the effect on earth climate change with Aerosol and Cloud optical properties, and the other was to remote sensing and validate satellite (e.g., GCOM-C/SGLI, EarthCARE, Himawari and so on), numerical models. I enjoy travelling the around the world research to developing remote sensing of solar radiation for better characterization and observation of aerosol and cloud optical properties. I am also the International Network Coordinator for SKYNET.

Domenico Cimini is research manager at the National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Methodologies for the Environmental Monitoring (CNR-IMAA). He received laurea and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the University of L’Aquila, Italy. Formerly, he was with the Center of Excellence for Remote Sensing and Modeling of Severe Weather (CETEMPS, Italy), the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES, USA), the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (University of Colorado, USA). He led and participated to several international projects funded by EUMETSAT and ESA. Currently, Dr. Cimini is chair of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Expert Team on Upper-air Measurement (ET-UAM). He received the 6th Hans Liebe Lectureship bestowed by the U.S. National Committee for the Union of Radio Scientists Internationale (URSI), 2019. Dr. Cimini is life member of the European Geophysical Union (EGU).

Professor Dr. Masatomo Fujiwara of Hokkaido University, Japan received Ph.D (Science) from the University of Tokyo in 1999. His expertise is in atmospheric sciences, studying in particular transport processes of atmospheric constituents in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, climatic variations in association with large-scale volcanic eruptions, and development and evaluation of various balloon-borne instruments. Internationally, he has been being involved in coordinated activities on evaluation of climate data sets and on climate observation networks. He led the first phase of the WCRP/SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) between 2011 and 2024, and currently one of the two co-chairs of the working group of the GCOS Reference Upper Air Network (GRUAN).

Monica Campanelli is a researcher at the Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, CNR , Italy. Graduated in Physics by University of Rome “La Sapienza”, she had Physics PhD in 2004 by University of L’Aquila, Italy, with the thesis: “Characterization of urban and extra-urban aerosol by means of ground and space remote sensing techniques”. She was postdoctoral fellow at the Sherbrook University, (Canada) by Prof. Norm O’Neil and guest at the University of Tokyo by Prof. Teruyuki Nakajima. She has been a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, of the National Research Council (ISAC-CNR) since 2008. Her scientific field is the remote sensing of atmospheric essential climate variables through solar radiation-based techniques, mainly using sun-sky radiometers.
She is chair of the scientific committee of the SKYNET network since 2021 and PI of the Skynet European branch since 2010, PI of the AERONET site Rome-Sapienza at Sapienza University and Local operator of the Pandonia site in Rome-TorVergata at ISAC Rome. In the last 10 years She has been partner of the following International projects: BAQUNIN (ESA); HARMONIA-COST (WG2 leader); H2020-EURAMET-EMPIR-MAPP; FRM4AER(EUMETSAT); IDEAS-QA4EO Service. She attended several international field campaigns: MAPP campaign at Izana; QUATRAM 1,2,3 Campaigns (www.eurosskyrad.net/quatram.html, organizer); PRE-TECT (http://pre-tect.space.noa.gr); FRC IV and V; EMERGE (http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de/emerge/home/inter_IT.html). She has more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and she is co-editor of the Skynet special issue in the AMT Journal.

Alessandro Pasuto
Degree in Geological Sciences at University of Padova and now Research Director at National Research Council of Italy, Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (CNR-IRPI). His activity is mainly focused on applied geology and geomorphology as well as natural hazard with special emphasis in landslide risk assessment and management. Since 1999 he is scientific responsible of the CNR- MLITT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructures, Transport and Tourism of Japan) scientific cooperation. In this framework in 2003 he established GRJL, Geo-Risk Joint Lab, supported by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover in 2005 he was founder member of TellNet, “International Disaster Transfer Live Lessons Network”, established in Kobe during the 2nd United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. Member of the Italian official delegations at the 2nd and 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (Kobe, Japan 2005; Sendai, Japan 2015). He is member of the European Landslide Expert Group and of the Executive Committee of CERG (European Centre on Geomorphological Hazard). He is involved in research studies in several foreign countries such as: Japan, China, Malta, Svalbard Islands (Norway), Argentina and manages research groups in Italy and abroad.

Paola Salvati is a researcher at the Institute for Geo-Hydrological Risk Protection (CNR-IRPI). After graduating in Geology at the University of Perugia, she went on to complete a Master’s degree in ‘Economics of Environmental Resources Management’. More recently, she completed a Master’s degree in ‘Science in Journalistic Practice’ at La Sapienza University in Rome. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, her main area of research focuses on the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the risk posed by landslides and floods to the population. This enables her to investigate and combine knowledge from various fields, including testing risk communication techniques and strategies, and designing tools for citizen science activities. She also has experience in designing database structures, as well as in developing and managing thematic and geographic information systems. She is in charge of the Polaris project and website (https://polaris.irpi.cnr.it/), which focuses on the impacts that landslides and floods caused to the population

Taro Uchida
I have been a professor at the Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Tsukuba since 2019. My work involves research and education on environmental disaster prevention. Prior to joining the university, I was Head of the Sabo Planning Division at the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management. I received my Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 2000. My specialisms are Sabo engineering and forest hydrology. In particular, I conduct research into clarifying water and sediment dynamics in mountain catchments, developing techniques for predicting landslide and debris flow occurrence, and proposing countermeasure methods against sediment-related disasters. In recent years, I have focused on the effects of climate change on sediment-related disasters and have clarified the processes of sediment-laden flooding using remote sensing data and numerical simulation

Masaru Kunitomo – Director General of Sabo Department, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
Masaru Kunitomo is a technocrat in charge of Sabo (Japanese for sediment disaster risk reduction) in MLIT, Japan. He has been being involved in not only strategy and policy development, but technical regulations making regarding Sabo. He has experiences to study emergency management in the US from October 2001 through March 2002 as a short-term overseas researcher, and to work with engineers and researchers from various countries including Italy as well as international organizations such as UNESCO and WMO. From July 2022 to June 2025, he served as Director of Sabo Planning Division, Sabo Department, and from July 1st, 2025, he leads the Sabo Department as the Director General.

Shinichi Kusano – Former Director General of Sabo Department, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
Shinichi Kusano is both an erosion control engineer and a playwright. In 2009, he wrote not only a modern play based on a true story about a sediment related disaster that occurred in southern Nagano Prefecture in 1961, but also a Kabuki play incorporating lessons learned from the same disaster. He has been committing to disseminating the lessons learned from past natural disasters through a Japanese traditional art-form, Kabuki, in order to mitigate the negative effects of natural process. This work is the only example in Japan of the art form of Kabuki dealing with the lessons learned from natural disasters, and it has been gaining attention recently. He retired after serving as the Director General of Sabo Department from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in July.

Hiroyuki Ohno – President of Japan Sabo Association
Hiroyuki Ohno is a PhD-qualified erosion control engineer. During his time as an engineer at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), he has been involved in sediment disaster prevention projects in various parts of Japan and overseas. From 2013 to 2015, he led the sediment disaster prevention administration at MLIT as Director General of the Erosion Control Department. Since retiring from the Ministry, he has been involved in sediment disaster prevention research, education, public relations and international technical cooperation as President of Japan Sabo Association. He also served as president of Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering from 2022 to 2024.

Marco Cuffaro is a geophysicist with a M.Sc. in Physics (2003) and a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences (2007). He has interests and skills in computational geodynamics and crustal deformation at plate boundaries using geophysical and geodetic data, global plate tectonics and plate kinematics to understand plate dynamics and lithosphere-mantle interactions. He has worked at CNR since 2012, where he is currently senior research scientist and Head of the CNR-IGAG Rome Unit (2023-today). He has participated to IAG/IUGG as alternate delegate for Italy since 2023, and has served on organization and scientific committees of conferences and workshops. He has been part of 20 national and international scientific cruises during fieldwork activities in the Central Mediterranean Sea, the Philippine Sea, the Central and Northern Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic and Southern Ocean to collect marine geology and marine geophysics data, fundamental to investigate basic kinematics of subductions, back-arc basin evolution, oceanic crustal deformation at mid ocean ridges and transform faults.

Dr. Yasuhiko Ohara received his PhD in 2002 from the University of Tokyo. He joined the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan in 1995; Visiting Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 2000 to 2001; Head of Ocean Research Laboratory, Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of Japan, since 2018. He has also been an adjunct scientist at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) since 2006 and a visiting professor at Nagoya University since 2019. He is specialized in sea-going research on mantle peridotites from the deep ocean floor using the manned submersible Shinkai 6500 as the main research tool. His main research target is the Philippine Sea Plate, including the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on the Earth, as well as the Godzilla Megamullion, the largest oceanic core complex on the Earth.

Angelo Volpi
Graduated in Physics and PhD in Engineering, he enters CNR- National Research Council of Italy in 1988 carrying on research on laser diagnostics applied to the combustion of solid rocket propellants. He spent 12 year in Japan: 4 years as Visiting Scientist at Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS-JAXA) and 8 years as Head of the Science Office of the Embassy of Italy in Tokyo. From 2011 he is at CNR Liaison Office in Brussels, presently with the role of Senior Associate Researcher. He has been Bo Stokes Fellow at MSIAC- NATO Headquarters (1998), and member of the Italian national delegations at intergovernmental and G8 meetings (2008). He is the Italian Governmental Expert for the CapTech “Aerial System” of EDA and he was member of the High-Level NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (2020-22).

Marino Hiraoka has been working as an associate professor in the Department of Environment and Sustainability at Mukogawa Women’s University. She is running the Environmental Disaster Prevention Research Laboratory in the department, which was established in April of this year. Following the attainment of her doctorate from University of Tsukuba in 2011, she worked at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the Public Works Research Institute, and University of Tsukuba. Her area of expertise is forest hydrology and sediment transport processes from forested watersheds. Her research focuses on the impacts of environmental changes in forested watersheds, including tree cutting, shifts in
wildlife populations, and ashfall due to volcanic eruptions, on water and sediment transport. Through her research, she aims to clarify the response processes and mechanisms of forest ecosystems to environmental changes, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of sediment disasters and the development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies.

Annalisa Iadanza, PhD in Environmental and Resource Geology, carried out research and teaching in stratigraphic and sedimentological geology at Roma Tre University until 2014. Since 2015, she has been working at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), where she is involved in scientific secretariat activities, as well as in planning and coordinating Italy’s participation in international research programs.
She is Senior Technologist at DSSTTA-CNR, CNR focal point for access to the ECORD infrastructure within scientific drilling programs, and the Italian delegate to the ECORD Council – where she served as Vice Chair and Chair – and to the IODP3 Executive Board. She is also a member of the ECORD Council Core Group, the IODP3 Vision Task Force, and the Mission Specific Facility Board, as well as Principal’s Representative for Italy (CNR) in the Belmont Forum partnership. In her technical-scientific support role to the institution’s governing bodies, she serves as departmental focal point for communication and press. Since 2024, and since 2024 has been Head of Communication at DSSTTA-CNR and Coordinator of the departmental network “Communication” Group.

Francesca Argenio is Head of International Relations for Asia and Africa at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), where she develops strategies and coordinates policies to strengthen scientific and technological cooperation with EU Member States and third countries. She has extensive experience in international negotiations, research diplomacy and Horizon Europe partnerships, managing over 40 bilateral projects, facilitating researcher mobility, and representing CNR in European coordination platforms such as the G6 “China Group” and EIG CONCERT-Japan.
Previously, she served as a Seconded National Expert in the Cabinet for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, where she contributed to policy design for international cooperation in research and innovation and supported the preparation of Horizon Europe. She also participated in Marie Skłodowska-Curie RISE projects with secondments in the UK and China.
She holds a Master’s degree in EU Project Design and Financial Reporting, a MA in Chinese Language and Civilisation, and has advanced multilingual skills.

Gabriele Peddes (Bologna, 1987) is an illustrator and comic artist. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, he has been working as a freelance professional for over 15 years with publishers and communication agencies. He collaborates regularly with Comics&Science of the CNR (National Research Council), for which he has created comics, workshops, visual novels, video games, and science-themed board games. He also specializes in live scribing, a visual synthesis technique used to support conferences and public events. Among his projects is La Primavera della Ricerca, an event celebrating the CNR’s centenary at the Pisa Research Area.

Grazia Marina Quero – Researcher, CNR‑IRBIM, Ancona, Italy
Grazia Marina Quero is a microbial ecologist focusing on the effects of anthropogenic pressures on microbial communities in coastal and deep‑sea ecosystems. She earned a PhD in Microbiology, Chemistry and Food Safety from the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” (Italy) and has been conducting research in marine microbiology and microbial ecology at the National Research Council of Italy since 2013. Currently, she is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology (CNR‑IRBIM), where she is part of the Microbial Ecology Group. Her research investigates the ecological role of prokaryotes in marine ecosystems, the microbial communities associated with marine invertebrates and fish, and the dynamics of microbial pollution in the marine environment.

Lorenza Evangelista serves as a Researcher at CNR, supporting the engagement of the Scientific Network in Pan-European Research Infrastructures, including European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs), and oversees the management of CNR’s Research Infrastructures. Her expertise led to her recent appointment as Infrastructure Manager for the Research Vessel “Gaia Blu.”
She, also, facilitates the Scientific Network’s participation in projects addressed to the enhance existing research infrastructures and establish new one, including those financed under National and EU Programmes. Sheactively partecipates in European Commission-funded projects focusing on the design and promotion of Transnational Access Initiatives such as SBEP, MINKE, AQUARIUS, and Eurofleets+. In this context, she contributed in establishing the Eurofleets AISBL Infrastructure, which is dedicated to the coordination of European research vessels.

Luigi Mazari Villanova – Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies (DSSTTA)
Luigi Mazari Villanova is a Physics graduate and has been dismantling objects to understand their inner workings long before that. Eventually he also started reassembling them and later translated that same analytical approach into the digital world, through the keyboard of a computer.
He has been working at CNR since 2007 as a Technologist. He has been involved in the management of the projects of the Italian Program for Antarctic Research, as well as the managing of the more recent Italian Program for Arctic Research. He has been involved in several projects focused on research support and management in the fields of Environmental Research funded by the European Commission.
He has been involved in the School4SID initiative for a scientific approach in decision processes and negotiation, and more recently in the Eye of Europe project, that aims to integrate foresight practices into R&I policy making across Europe.