Andrea Andreoli
From January 2024 Andrea is the new coordinator of the group. Assistant professor (since May 2017) at Faculty of Agricultral, environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
His research interest focus on Large Wood budgets and dynamics in mountain rivers, river restoration and control, Vegetation-sediment-flow interactions in gravel-bed rivers, topographic survey techniques to assess morphological changes in river environments.
Stefano Brighenti
Stefano is a post-doc researcher as eco-hydrologist, at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Agricoltural, Environmental and Food Science. His research mainly focuses on the hydrology, hydrochemistry and ecology of alpine streams, with a particular emphasis on those fed by glaciers and rock glaciers in the framework of the present deglaciation. Recently, Stefano started focusing on hydrology and hydrochemistry time series, and gained experience on the use of natural tracers, in particular water isotopes.
Stefano is currently working on the Rock Me project (Geochemical response of Alpine rock glaciers to global warming) and on i-NEST PNRR project (Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem).
Felix Pitscheider
Felix is a PhD student and Research Assistant at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, within the Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental, and Food Science. His ongoing research focuses on modelling bedload transport in alpine catchments and examining its relationship with climate change. Felix’s association with the RBG group predates his current role. He initially joined as a master’s student in the Environmental Management of Mountain Areas program. During that time, he used high-resolution topographic data to identify and quantify geomorphic changes in a highly active debris flow catchment. Later, he continued to contribute as an external collaborator on the MONIVA project. Felix’s core interests revolve around understanding hydrological and geomorphological processes in mountainous regions and their impact on the environment. He is now mainly working in he framework of ALTROCLIMA project.
Kenta Koyanagi
Kenta is a PhD student from Japan. He has a forest science background and is interested in how vegetation, sediment, and water interact at variable scales. Before joining our group, he worked as a post-MSc landslide expert at the Public Works Research Institute of Japan. His current research aims to understand the long-term hydrological and erosional impacts of forest disturbances within a nested catchment of the Eastern Italian Alps as a part of the MONIVA project and PNRR AGRITECH project (National Center for Agricultural Technologies).
Matthias Bonfrisco
Matthias is PhD student at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science. His research focuses on sediment transport in both glacial and non-glacial mountain streams, using seismic instruments to measure bedload transport and optical devices to measure suspended transport fraction. The main goal is to understand the dynamics of sediment transport, how it changes over time and space, and to estimate sediment yield at different time scales. The analyses mainly concern data from two stations in the Province of Bolzano, Italy. He is also involved in a research project on the Rutor glacier in Valle d’Aosta, Italy, and a debris flow volcanic basin in Hodaka, Japan. Additionally, he is interested in hydrogeological risk management and prevention.Matthias is mainly working in the framework of MONSOL project.
Anne-Laure Argentin
Since March 2023, Anne-Laure has been serving as a postdoctoral researcher within the RBG group. Her current focus involves modeling discharge in glaciarized catchments, sediment inputs from hillslope processes, and modeling subglacial sediment formation.
Anne-Laure’s academic journey began with a background in subsurface geology modeling and programming, utilizing and developing plugins for tools like GoCAD, GeoModeller3D, and Petrel during her time at the University of Lorraine, France. Following that, she pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Salzburg, Austria, concentrating on the simulation of landslide dams, then went on to model landslides and landscape evolution during a postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan, USA.
Her passion lies in the realm of numerical geology and geomorphological modeling of high mountain processes, and she maintains a keen interest in any subjects related to these areas. Anne-Laure is working mainly in the framework of the ALTROCLIMA project.
Zarka Mukhtar
Zarka is PhD student at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science. Her research focuses on sediment transport monitoring and quantification in rivers from debris/clean ice glaciers using Remote Sensing techniques. Specifically, the research is addressing spatial and temporal methodology for assessment, estimation and mapping of sediment transport and geomorphological changes in Himalayan glaciated catchments with the consideration of meteorological conditions as well, by utilizing high resolution imageries taken from satellite data.
Raul David Serban
Recently incorpored in RBG group, Raul is postdoctoral researcher
in the RBG group at the Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science. His major research is focused on ground temperature, examining the permafrost occurrence, and quantifying the landscape changes and present-day periglacial processes in alpine environments. He is currently working on modeling ground surface temperature using remote sensing and numerical models. Through the PERMAWAT project, he is assessing the effects of degrading permafrost on water quality.
Giovanna Nordio
Giovanna is postdoctoral researcher within the RBG group. Her current focus involves modeling runoff and sediment yield in catchments affected by heavy disturbances. Her current research aims to understand the long-term hydrological and erosional impacts of forest disturbances within a nested catchment of the Eastern Italian Alps as a part of the MONIVA project and PNRR AGRITECH project (National Center for Agricultural Technologies).
Barbara Zennaro
Barbara is a new (November 2023) PhD student, Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science, focusing on landslide occurrence under climate change in South Tyrol.
She is specialized on watershed management and climate change issues, and before joining the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, she worked in different governmental positions for research, monitoring and project management in Italy, Germany and the USA.
Former Members
Francesco Comiti
Former head of the group and founder, Francesco is now Associate professor at Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova.
His research interests focus on Bedload and suspended transport dynamics in high-elevation basins, Debris flow monitoring, Large wood transport in mountain rivers, Mountain catchments hydrology, Channel morphology and ecology of mountain rivers, Evaluation of hydromorphological status of mountain rivers.
Former researcher (since October 2017) at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Science and Technology, within the SEDIPLAN-r project (Sediment budgeting and planning for rivers in South-Tyrol: from hazard mitigation to environmental restoration). Velio was then researcher at CNR-IRPI in Padova. His research mainly focused on the characterization of mass movements and sediment transport processes in Alpine and volcanic environment at different special and temporal scales. He dealt with seismic monitoring of debris flows, lahars and other torrential processes for the development of early warning systems. His research interests also concerned soil erosion and water resource management.
Velio sadly left us on April 1, 2023.
Click here for the web page we have dedicated to his memory.
Sara Savi
Sara was guest researcher at Unibz in the RBG group from September 2020 while PostDoc at the University of Potsdam (Germany) and she worked on a project relating climatic changes and sediment transfer in high mountain regions. Her interest is on geomorphic evolution, sediment transfer, debris flows and natural hazards in general. She works with cosmogenic nuclides, dendrochronology, photogrammetry, physical and numerical modelling.
From September 2023 Sara is assistant professor at Department of Erath and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia.
Giulia was PhD student at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Science and Technology. Her research focused on fluvial processes monitoring and characterization using remote sensing technologies. Specifically, it focused on mapping and quantifying morphological changes (e.g. erosion and deposition) trough time. The research is addressed in a multiscale and multitemporal approach exploiting high resolution imagery taken from drone and satellite data (multispectral and radar). Part of her research was included in the IRIS (Italian Research and Development Initiative for Spaceborne River monitoring) project. Giulia is now working for ISPRA, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research.
Johannes Holzner
Former student of “Environmental Management of Mountain Areas” master Johannes worked with us on the Ecosed-TT project and focused on river geomorphology, solid transport and risk associated with river floods in a framework of climate change. Johannes is now working in the Bureau of watershed management of Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano.
Michael Engel
Micha is a hydrologist researcher, at the Federal Agency of Hydrology, in Koblenz, Germany. His research mainly focuses on: hydrological, hydrochemical and meteorological dynamics driving water quantity and quality in glacierized and high-elevation catchments, using tracer-based and modeling approaches, sediment transport, hydroecological processes in mountain flood plain.
Michael was collaborating on the framework of the SEDIPLAN project.
Anuschka Buter
Anuschka was PhD at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Science and Technology with thesis titled: “Linking geomorphological connectivity to sediment transport measurements in an Alpine glaciated basin: present dynamics and future scenarios”. Her research focused on sediment transport and geomorphological connectivity in Alpine glaciated catchments, mapping of geomorphological landforms and corresponding changes in time, responses of sediment transfer rates and processes to meteorological extreme events. The research was conducted in the field and in form of GIS analysis.
Ricardo Carillo
Ricardo is a PhD candidate of Agricultural Science, at the Universidad Católica de Chile, Faculty of Ecosystem and Environment. His PhD research is mainly focused in bedload and suspended sediment transport dynamics in glacierized Andean/Alpine catchments, specifically with temporal variations of sediments transport. His works involves sediment monitoring and sediment sample collection on field, but also sediment tracking with RFID technologies, SfM obtained by drones flights, GIS and multispectral images analysis. Ricardo was collaborating with us in the framework of the SEDIPLAN project.
Christian Kofler
Christian achieved is PhD at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Science and Technology together with the Institute for Earth Observation of Eurac Research. His research interests are the monitoring and modelling of natural hazards and risks related to permafrost degradation. He is now working in the Bureau of watershed management of Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano.
Vittoria Scorpio
Actually Assistant professor at UNIMORE (Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia), Vittoria cooperated with the Institute for Earth Observation, Eurac Research, Bolzano-Bozen and RBG in the framework of the project CoupEvent: Hillslope-channel coupling during extremes event in South Tyrol. She is as fluvial geomorphologist focused on analysis of channel modifications over the last centuries and their controlling factors, ongoing river dynamics and processes, geomorphological mapping, flood hazards scenarios and geomorphic response of rivers to extreme flood events.
Enrico Marchese
Enrico is a researcher at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. His research interests are: geomorphic evolution of rivers at regional scale, climate impact on the fluvial system, river sensitivity and complex systems. His actually collaborating with us in various research topics.
