Università di Firenze

Università degli Studi di Firenze (UNIFI) 🇮🇹

The Department of Earth Sciences (DST) at the University of Florence is the natural descendant of the “Istituto di Studi Superiori e Pratici di Perfezionamento” in which Igino Cocchi held the Chair of Mineralogy, Geology and Palaeontology from 1860 to 1873. Cocchi was the main proponent of the need to straighten out Italy to Europe with a modern geological knowledge of the territory and its natural resources, a main goal to be achieved through the geological survey of the peninsula and islands. The DST is still a national excellence in scientific research and international relations within the field of Geosciences. In 2018, the DST has been included among the “excellence” University departments in the National evaluation carried out by the Ministry of University and Research. The Department of Earth Sciences currently consists of about 50 units of permanent academic staff, 25 units of technical and administrative staff and about 100 units of temporary research staff. Academic staff and researchers at the Department of Earth Sciences are engaged in many teaching courses, for the most part belonging to the School of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences (Master of Science in Geological Sciences, Natural Sciences). Researchers of the Earth Sciences Department are engaged in numerous research projects and technological development in different areas of the world, with a long tradition of research in the Mediterranean Basin, East Africa and Latin America. The main research activities cover a broad spectrum of disciplines including (in a non-exhaustive list) the prediction and prevention of geological hazards, the exploitation and protection of natural resources, the study of the palaeoclimate and palaeoecology, the paleontological study of Neogene faunas, the interpretation of the genesis of the Apennines and other peri-Mediterranean mountain chains, the conservation and restoration of cultural and geoenvironmental heritage, the study of systematic mineralogy, crystal chemistry and gemmology, the study and analysis of volcanic processes.