Biography

Learning and academic background

M.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the Polytechnical University of Bari, he is Tenured Full Professor from 2007 (before: Associate Professor 1998-2007; University Researcher - Assistant Professor 1987-1998) at the University of Basilicata. 

His didactic and scientific activities include:

-) Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. Farm buildings structures and equipment. Rural land survey and planning. Vernacular farm buildings.

-) Civil and Environmental Engineering. Greenhouse structures and technology. Plastic material. Agricultural plastics recycling. Biodegradable films.

-) Ecological Engineering. Rural landscape analysis. Sustainable planning of agro-based value chains. Use of GIS and historical maps for analysing rural land.

In his activities at the University of Basilicata, he has been:

• Member of the Academic Senate (2015-2020);

• Chair of the International Master Course on: “Sustainable Management of Food Quality - EDAMUS” (2012 – 2016);

• Director of the DITEC Department – (2010-2012);

• Chair of the Ph.D. Course on: “Agro-food, environmental and forestry Economics and Engineering” (2007-2011).

Researches and published papers

-) Author of more than 220 scientific publications.

-) Author of the entry on: “Polymers in Crop Protection” of the “Encyclopedia of Polymer Applications” (Taylor & Francis, 2018). 

-) Enlisted in the 2021 & 2022 Top 2% Scientists of the World by Stanford University - the "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators" list for single-year 2020 & 2021 (v.4) impact - publicly available database of over 100,000/2% rank of top-scientists in the World, by Stanford University/Elsevier datasets.

-) Guest Editor of the Special Issue on: “Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management” of the Journal: “Sustainability” (2018 – 2020) and of the Special Issue on: “Reducing the Plastic Footprint of Agriculture” for the International Scientific Journal: “Applied Sciences” (2021 – 2023).

Research projects

-) Coordinator of the Project: “AGRoECOlogical FARMing master programme for a sustainable agriculture in West Africa - AGRECOFARM” – financed by the Erasmus+ Programme ERASMUS-EDU-2023-CBHE-STRAND-2-101128399 (2023 – current).

-) Coordinator of the Project: “Training A New Generation Of farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs to implement the concept of Circular economy in agriculture - TANGO-Circular” financed by the Erasmus2027 Programme ERASMUS-EDU-2021-PI-ALL-INNO-101055970 (2022 – 2025).

-) He has participated as a Partner in several national/international Projects, financed by different funding programmes (e.g.: Horizon2020; Erasmus+; LIFE+; TEN-T; Interreg; etc.)

 -) All projects are reported in the relevant section of this website.

Inclusion in Expert Lists 

-) Member of the International Expert group on the “Collective scientific assessment project on the use, properties and impacts of plastics of the agri-food sector according to their composition – CSA plastics PAF” for the French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and INRAE-DEPE (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique – Directorate for Expertise, Foresight and Advanced Studies) (2023-current).

-) Included in the COST Expert database – taking part in Open Call Evaluation, Open Call as a Review Panel member, Monitoring COST Actions  (2018-current).

-) Component of the Referee panels, assessing “Collaborative and Knowledge-building” Projects, for the Research Council of Norway (2023).

-) Contributed as an Expert to the consultation “Towards the development of a Voluntary Code of Conduct on the sustainable use of plastics in agriculture” by the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations - FAO (2023).

-) Component of the EU EIP-AGRI FG41 on: “Reducing the plastic footprint of agriculture” (2020 – 2021).

Other National/International Appointments

-) Chairman of the Working Group on: “Rural Development and Preservation of Cultural Heritages” of the International Commission Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering – CIGR (2022 - current).

-) Vice-President of the 2nd Section on: "Rural Buildings, Plants and Land" of the Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering - AIIA (2022 - current).