Stefano Benni is Associate Professor of Agricultural Engineering at the
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna in
the scientific field of Rural buildings and Agro-forest Land Planning.
Education and academic career
He has been an Architectural Engineer since 2002 and holds a PhD in Structural Mechanics from the University of Bologna, studying in depth the issues of anti-seismic design.
After a period as Research Fellow, in 2006 he took on the role of University Researcher in Agricultural Engineering at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bologna, where he was confirmed in the role of Assistant Professor in 2009. In 2014 he obtained the National Scientific Qualification and in 2021 he took up service as Associate Professor; in 2023 he obtained the National Scientific Qualification for the position of Full Professor.
Teaching
Since 2006 he has been teaching continuously as holder of various teachings for Bachelor's and Master's degree courses. He is currently a professor of Smart system for animal housing, Cadastral cartography with elements of CAD and GIS, Cartography and topography, Drawing and CAD for green design.
He is examiner of degree thesis about Rural Buildings, Greenhouse Structures, Technologies for Plants in Buildings and Land-use Planning. He is tutor of PhD students, and co-examiner of several PhD thesis in Agricultural Engineering. He is lecturer in the 2nd level professional Master course in 'Timber structures'. He is the director and scientific coordinator of the training course 'Drafting and CAD for design in agriculture'.
Scientific activity
His recent and current research activities focus on farm building analysis and design and on land use analysis and planning.
He is scientific responsible of the University of Bologna of the European Project Horizon 2020 “RES4LIVE - Energy Smart Livestock Farming towards Zero Fossil Fuel Consumption”.
He is scientific responsible of the University of Bologna of the Italian Ministerial PRIN Project "DiAGreen - Digital twin of Agricultural Greenhouses: a multi-domain tool for energy efficiency, decarbonization, enhanced production and cost reduction of intensive greenhouse cropping systems".
He is member of the research unit of the University of Bologna in the European Projects:
- PRIMA (Partnership for Research and Innovation n the Mediterranean Area) "SIMTAP Self-sufficient Integrated Multi-Trophic AquaPonic systems for improving food production sustainability and brackish water use and recycling";
- EIT Food (European Institute of Innovation & Technology) "DAIRYSUST Big data and advanced analytics for sustainable management of the dairy cattle sector";
- Horizon 2020 "LEAP-RE Long-Term Joint EU-AU Research and Innovation Partnership on Renewable Energy".
He has been taking part as a member of
the Research Unit of the University of Bolognain several national projects, including PRIN 2017 “Smart dairy farming: innovative solutions to improve herd productivity”.
He is author of over 150 papers including works on
international and national journals, reports discussed in
international and national workshops and conferences, as well as
monographs and chapters of books.
He is referee of several international indexed scintific journals including Biosystems Engineering; Computers and Electronics in Agriculture; Science of the Total Environment; Energy and Buildings; Land Use Policy; Journal of Building Engineering; Sustainable Cities and Society; Sensors; Habitat International; Fluids; Journal of Cleaner Production; Journal of Rural Studies; International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; Animals; Annals of Animal Science; Building and Environment; Building Simulation; International Journal of Architectural Heritage; International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer; Journal of Agricultural Engineering.
He is member of AIIA (Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering), of EUR-AGENG (European Society of Agricultural Engineering ), and of CIGR (International Commission of Agricultural Engineering).
Institutional activities and academic assignments
Previously member of the board of the PhD course in "Agricultural Engineering", he is member of the board of the PhD course of the University of Bologna in "Health, Safety and Green Systems".
He is a member of the Internship Commission of the Bologna branch of the Department of Agri-Food Sciences and Technologies (Distal) of the University of Bologna; he was a member of the Quality Assurance Commission (QA) of the Degree Course in Land Sciences and Agro-forestry Environment.
He was member of the Board of the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Bologna and member of the Organizing Committee of national conferences. He has been member of the examination commission of the qualifying examination for agronomists.
