Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra

Form of the Professor

Short curriculum vitae

From 2008 to 2021 Head of the Marine Geology Section of the Italian Geological Society and organizer of the four national conferences of Italian marine geologists held to date. Since 2008, representative of the "La Sapienza" University on the “Consiglio Direttivo” of CoNISMA (National Consortium of Universities for Marine Sciences), of which he was a member of the executive committee from 2010 to 2016. In 2006-2009, member of the Board of Directors of SARIMED (shipping company of the Research Vessel Universitatis). From 2014 to 2020 member of the Scientific Council of IFREMER (Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer) and from 2013 to date member of the Italian Oceanographic Commission (COI). 
Member of the international commission (CEFRM) for the evaluation of French research unit CNRS-University of Perpignan in 2009. 2004-2005 Member of the international commission for the evaluation of Spanish research projects "Ramon y Cajal" and "Juan de la Cierva".
Leader of IGCP projects # 526 (2007-2012) and # 464 (2001-2005), member of two working groups of the European Marine Board on prehistoric archeology on continental shelves (2015-16) and on marine geohazards (2020- 21); head of research units in the European projects SPLASHCOS-Cost, TRANSFER-Strep, BEACHMED-Interreg. Responsible of a PRIN project (2007-2009), of two INGV-DPC projects, of some 10 Conventions with the Regions Lazio, Abruzzo, Tuscany, Basilicata and Puglia for the search for relict sands on the continental shelf to be used as aggregates for the nourishment of eroding coasts. Gained the use of relevant European infrastructures through the EASSS programs for the use of the TOBI instrument (1998) and Eurofleets for carrying out campaigns in the Azores with R/V Atalante (2012) and in the Aegean with R/V Aegeo (2016). He was Survey Director or Scientific Responsible for the marine areas of CARG sheets 354, 373, 386, 387, 413 and 601. He participated in about 50 oceanographic cruises in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, most of them as Scientific Leader.
He was the main organizer of the international conferences "Continental shelves during the last glacial cycle" in 2004, "Seafloor Mapping for Geohazard Assessment" in 2009, "34th Meeting of the International Association of Sedimentologists" (1,000 delegates) in 2019. In 2023 he will be the main organizer of the 21st Congress of the International Union for Quaternary Sciences (3,000 delegates expected).
Since 2007 he has been PI of the MaGIC project (http://www.magicproject.it), an agreement between CNR-IGAG and the National Civil Protection for the definition of marine geo-hazards on the Italian Seas. The project involved all the institutions operating in the field of marine geology (3 CNR Institutes, 7 Universities, OGS) and is the largest national marine geology project in the last decades for number of researchers involved, amount of funding (5.25M €), quantity of data collected (~ 60,000 miles of surveys). The project ended in 2015 but is still active for in-depth activities on collected data. From 2012 to 2016 he was leader of the RITMARE-PROFONDO sub-project, a CNR flagship project, a great coordinated effort of the Italian scientific community working in Marine Sciences to increase scientific and applicative knowledge on deep marine environments. The sub-project had a budget of € 14 million and involved about the 50 best Italian research groups in oceanography, marine biology and geology.
From 2005 (since its establishment) to 2017 he was responsible for the Master's Degree in Marine Sciences, which later became Sciences of the Sea and of the Natural Landscape, then Sciences of the Nature. Since 2018 he has been Dean of the Council of Natural Sciences of Sapienza University 

Training

• 1984 Degree cum laudem in Geology at Sapienza University 
• 1992 PhD in Earth Sciences (2nd cycle) at Sapienza University 

 Professional experience

• 1988-1993 Researcher (CNR) at the "Study Center for Technical Geology" in Rome.
• 1994-1998 Researcher (CNR) at the "Study Center for Quaternary and Environmental Evolution", Rome.
• 1998-2004 Associate Professor at the University of Rome "La Sapienza".
• 2004- Full Professor at the University of Rome "La Sapienza".

Research

Research Themes

1. Depositional processes in marine and coastal environments
2. High frequency sequence stratigraphy in Pleistocene deposits
3. Landslides and submarine mass-wasting
4. Mapping of marine geohazards
5. Search for relict sands for beach nourishment
6. Geological cartography of marine areas
7. Neotectonics and tectonics-sedimentation relationships
8. Study of the submerged parts of insular volcanoes
9. Reconstructions of paleo-landscape and prehistoric archeology

Environmental studies, transport of pollutants by gravity flows
 
Study Areas
All the Italian seas, especially the Tyrrhenian continental margins from La Spezia to Ischia and Calabria, the Pontine, Ischia, Aeolian and Pantelleria Islands; subordinately campaigns in the Aegean, Alboran, Atlantic (Azores and equatorial), Red Sea, Caribbean and Antarctica.

Institutional roles

• Member of the Italian Oceanographic Commission
• Member of the CoNISMA Director’s Council.
• Dean of the Council of Natural Sciences of Sapienza University.

Membership associations
SGI, Italian Geological Society.

Active research projects

• 2022/2024 PON Geo-Archeo Project. Head of the Sapienza Research Unit for the construction of models of tourist use of geoarchaeological information
• 2019-2021 responsible for UR Sapienza in the European project EMODNET-Geology, for the geological mapping of the European seabed.
• 2019-2021 responsible for UR Conisma in the European project EMODNET-Bathymetry, for the homogenization of bathymetric data on a European scale
• 2020-2024 scientific manager of the DPC-CNR IGAG convention for the monitoring of the Sciara del Fuoco and insights into the results of the Magic project
• 2015-2021 - Head of a research agreement between ARPA Lazio (Regional Agency for the Environment) and Sapienza University and CNR IGAG for the mapping of maërl and coralligenous habitats within the framework of the European "Marine Strategy" directive.
• 2019-2020 scientific director of a Sapienza University project for the study of methane emissions in the Tuscan archipelago.
• 2021-2023 responsible for the agreement between Sapienza-CNR and Pantelleria National Park for the definition of biodiversity in the Bagno dell’Acqua Lake (agreement signed by the parties)
• 2021-2023 scientific director of CARG Sheet 414 "Terracina" (proposal approved by the Lazio region and the Geological Service, awaiting funding)1987: Graduated in Geological Sciences from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

Teaching
Courses/Teaching

• Geology and principles of sedimentology
• Marine Geology
• Seafloor exploration

As Tutor he supervised 10 PhDs and some 100 Master Thesis in Geology, Natural Sciences, Environmental Science, Biology, Ecobiology, Environmental and Geothecnical Engineering. 
Has been member of PhD committees at University of Trieste, Bologna, Padova, Ferrara in Italy and Barcelona and Vigo (Spain), UPMC (France) and Ghent (Belgium).
 
Papers
List of papers in Google Scholar

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Citations: 1200; h-index 30 (after Scopus June 2021).
 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4584-2258
SCOPUS:  https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6603347669

Website of the Professor:
http://www.dst.uniroma1.it/en/Chiocci