It is the first PhD in Italy to offer a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to study the interaction between climate change and its scientific and social implications. The CMCC Foundation contributes to the realization of the PhD of the University of Bologna “Alma Mater Studiorum” that was launched on November 18, 2019 with a ceremony attended by Prof. Antonino Rotolo, vice-rector for research, Dr. Simona Masina, CMCC Foundation, and Arch. Valentina Porceddu, Mario Cucinella Architects

The PhD Programme of the University of Bologna in “Future Earth, Climate Change and Societal Challenges” was officially launched. It’s the first PhD in Italy that provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach on the interaction between climate change and its scientific and social implications.

The PhD was inaugurated on Monday 18 November 2019 with a ceremony attended by Prof. Antonino Rotolo, vice-rector for research, and with the speech on innovation in the field of urban planning by Arch. Valentina Porceddu, Mario Cucinella Architects, and the speech on climate change signals in the ocean, from polar regions to the Equator, by Dr. Simona Masina, CMCC Foundation, ODA – Ocean Modelling and Data Assimilation Division Director.

“This new PhD provides the widest spectrum of knowledge on the challenges of climate change, from social and legal aspects to those of monitoring and forecasting through the engineering of production processes” underlines the coordinator of the initiative, Prof. Nadia Pinardi. Even from the name – “Future Earth, Climate Change and Societal Challenges” – it’s evident that this training program is born to look for answers to one of the most complex challenges of our time.

The new PhD is the first in Italy to be focused on the understanding of the Earth System considering both natural and man induced hazards, climate change adaptation and mitigation and the current and future societal challenges due to climate change. To understand and address these challenges, we need a multidisciplinary approach and the ability to look towards the future.

Born from the collaboration of the University of Bologna and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, the CNR, the INGV, the Emilia-Romagna (with High Competence Plan for research funds), the CINECA and the N.A.T.O. CMRE in La Spezia, the PhD course of study is realized with the contribution of 15 Departments of the University of Bologna, 30 internal lectures and 10 internal lecturers, covering a wide range of disciplines – from Physics to Engineering, Chemistry, Economy, and Social Sciences -; the lecturers in different disciplines of the PhD programme will give interdisciplinary courses for the next six months with the aim of preparing a new generation of scientists and professionals on climate change issues and activities, a new generation of interpreters of scientific information and communication.

The challenge is the understanding of the Earth System while finding solutions to foster a sustainable development and a society more innovative, engaged and well-informed.

The CMCC Foundation contributes to the realization of the PhD while funding 4 scholarships, thanks to which the PhD students will address complex and advanced issues, such as the development and implementation of new data assimilation algorithms in coastal ocean models, the atmosphere-ocean forecasting systems in the Mediterranean Sea, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector of maritime transportation, the dynamics underlying the sea-ice variability in the Arctic and Antarctic regions (for more information on CMCC scholarships, see the PhD Programme Table).

The CNR contributes to the realization of the PhD while funding 3 scholarships on Physics of the Atmosphere, advanced systems enabling the measurements and monitoring of the Earth from Space, communication strategies in the field of climate change and its impacts.

The INGV contributes to the realization of the PhD while funding 2 scholarships on the characterization and quantification of uncertainty in local hazard assessments for seismically induced tsunamis and on modelling surface deformations due to volcanic, seismic and anthropic activities.

The N.A.T.O. CMRE in La Spezia contributes to the realization of the PhD while funding a scholarship on ocean small scale high frequency dynamics.

The Arpae Emilia-Romagna contributes to the realization of the PhD while partly funding a scholarship on the reconstructions of the climate over Italy by high resolution numerical model and observations.

The Emilia-Romagna region contributes to the realization of the PhD while funding one scholarship on the development of artificial intelligence methods for modeling climate data archives and a new generation of climate change impact models at the local level.

More information is available on the official website of the PhD Programme “Future Earth, Climate Change and Societal Challenges starts in Bologna”