Alberto Montanari

• Professor of water engineering and hydrology at the Department DICAM of the University of Bologna.
  He is currently teaching Hydraulic Works, Sustainable Management of Water Resources Systems (taught in English), Coastal Engineering (taught in English), Harbour Engineering (taught in English) and Science of Climate Change and Climate Actions, in the master degree programmes in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering and offshore engineering.
• Coordintor of the Spoke "Science underpinning climate services for risk mitigation and adaptation" of the extended partnership "Return", financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Italy.
  
• Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU).
• Darcy Medallist, European Geosciences Union
• Dooge Medallist, Internationa Association of Hydrological Sciences
• Kaula Awardee, American Geophysical Union.
  
• Tutor at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna
• Vice national representative of Italy at the IAHS.
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the AMGA Foundation.
• Member of the International Scientific Steering Committee "Florence 2016", which is in charge of proposing solutions for the mitigation of the flood risk in the city.
• Member of the AGU, EGU and IAHS.
• Member of the italian association of professional engineers.

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

• 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.: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).

• 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 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 method 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.

Scientific publications and citations

Alberto Montanari authored 182 publications on international scientific journals (119 papers), conference proceedings or book chapters (55 contributions) and monographs (8 contributions).

According to the ISI Web of Science data base the pubblications by Alberto Montanari are 140, which received a total number of about 8000 citations. The average number of citation to each paper is about 57. The H index is 45. Mode details are given by the ResearcherID profile [http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-5427-2009], the Google Scholar profile [http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fqgGMEYAAAAJ&hl=en] and the ResearchGate page [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alberto_Montanari2] .

• 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

• Recipient of the 2018 William Kaula Award [https://honors.agu.org/medals-awards/william-kaula-award/] of the American Geophysical Union
• Recipient of the 2018 Henry Darcy medal [https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/henry-darcy/2018/alberto-montanari/] of the European Geosciences Union.
• Fellowship of the American Geohpysical Union awarded in 2017.
• Union Service Award by the European Geosciences Union in 2017.
• Award "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.
• "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.
• "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.

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, and Associate Editor of the scientific journal Open Civil Engineering Journal published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Alberto Montanari has been Guest Editor of the following spcial 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 dcontributed to the organization of 9 editions of the Leonardo Conference Series.

• 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: “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.

• 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).

• 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 Progetto of the research project "Uncertainty Analysis for Rainfall and River Flow Data and Effects on Water Resources Management", financed by the Italian Government.

• 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.

Coordination of Consulting Activities

Alberto Montanari has been coordinator of the following consulting activities 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).

• 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.

• 2001: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Santiago Salsón Casado, at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia.
• 2003: Member of the commission of the admission concourse at the Ph.D. programme in Hydraulic Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan.
• 2005: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense in Hydraulic Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan.
• 2005: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense in Earth Sciences at the University of Milan.
• 2006: Member of the Commission for the concourse for one position of assistant professor at the Calabria University.
• 2006: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Ricardo Alexander Gonzales Marrero, at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia.
• 2007: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. of the Ph.D. programme in Environmental Engineering at the University of Trento.
• 2007: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of the Ph.D. programme in Hydrodynamic and Environmental Modelling at the University of Padua.
• 2007: Member of the commission of the admission concourse at the Ph.D. programme in Hydraulic Engineering: Water Science and Technology at the University of Bologna.
• 2007: Member of the Commission for the concourse for one position of assistant professor at the Polytechnic of Milan.
• 2007: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Roberta Serena Blasone, at the Technical University of Denmark.
• 2008: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of the Ph.D. programme in Hydraulic Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan.
• 2008: External examiner of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Jos Samuel, at the University of Western Australia.
• 2008: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Fabrizio Fenicia, at the Technical University of Delft.
• 2009: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Hessel Winsemius, at the Technical University of Delft.
• 2010: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Ignacio Andrés-Domenech, at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia.
• 2011: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of the Ph.D. programme in Physical Environmental Modelling at the University of Bologna.
• 2011: External opponent of the final Ph.D. defense of Ida Westerberg, at the Uppsala University Sweden.
• 2011: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Giulia Napolitano, at the University of Leeds.
• 2012: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Cara Tobin, at the EPFL Lausanne.
• 2013: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Luciano Raso, at TUD Delft.
• 2013: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Hydaiat, at Wageningen University.
• 2014: Member of the Commission for the evaluation of Greek State Universities professors.
• 2014: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of associate professor at the University of Padua.
• 2014: Member of the Tribunal of the final Ph.D. defense of Elena Szolgayova, at the Technical University of Wien.
• 2016: Member of the evaluation Commission for one position of assistant professor at the Politecnico di Torino.

• 2009-2016 Chair of the Union Awards and Medals Committee of the European Geosciences Union
• 2007- Member of the Dalton and Darcy Medal Committees of the European Geosciences Union.
• 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.