Christian Massari
christian.massari@cnr.it | +39 3291808832 | LinkedIn | ORCID: 0000-0003-0983-1276
| ScopusID: 36773560600

Profile and Key Indicators

• Research profile: Water cycle extremes (floods and droughts) under non-stationarity; eco-hydrology, soil-water-plant interactions, Earth Observation and observatories for eco-hydrological applications and water resource management, process-based diagnostic modelling and data assimilation.
• Core expertise: Hydrological extremes; drought propagation and recovery; runoff generation; evapotranspiration and storage dynamics; model–data integration (EO, data assimilation).
• Infrastructure: Founder and coordinator of the SINCZONE open-air eco-hydrological observatory for monitoring coupled soil–plant–water processes and supporting drought/flood process studies and model evaluation.
• Funding leadership: PI / Partner PI / WP leader in 25+ competitive projects (national, ESA, EU), with
>6 M€ total volume and 2.5 M€ managed as PI/Partner PI.
• Scientific output: H-index 43 (Scopus), 47 (Google Scholar); 5,800+ citations (Scopus), 7,200+ citations (Scholar); multiple Highly Cited / Highlighted Papers.
• Academic service: Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology and Hydrology and Earth System Sciences; Board Member, ESSC; Secretary, Italian Hydrological Society.
• Supervision: Supervised 7 PhD, 4 postdoctoral researchers, and 4 MSc theses (2010–2025).

Identifiers and Links
• ORCID: 0000-0003-0983-1276
• Scopus Author ID: 36773560600
• Google Scholar: Profile
• Website: cnr-eco-hydrology-lab.org

Education
• 2008–2011: Ph.D. in Hydraulics (Excellent cum laude), University of Perugia, Italy
• 2005–2007: M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (110/110 cum laude), University of Perugia, Italy
• 2001–2005: B.Sc. in Civil Engineering (110/110 cum laude), University of Perugia, Italy

Current Position
• 2023–present: Senior Research Scientist, Research Institute for the Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, Italy

Previous Positions
• 2017–2022: Researcher, CNR-IRPI, National Research Council of Italy
• 2015–2016: Fixed-term Researcher, CNR-IRPI, National Research Council of Italy
• 2013–2015: Postdoctoral Researcher, CNR-IRPI, National Research Council of Italy
• 2012–2013: Research Fellow, University of Perugia, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• 2010–2012: Visiting Fellow, University of Arizona, Hydrology and Water Resources Institute (USA)

Research Infrastructure
• SINCZONE Observatory (Founder/Coordinator) — long-term eco-hydrological monitoring site supporting process studies, EO validation, and model evaluation of drought/flood dynamics.

Academic Qualification (Venia Docendi Equivalent)

• Italian National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) for Associate Professor in Hydraulics / Hydrology / Hydraulic and Maritime Constructions, awarded by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research, 2020.
• This qualification is internationally recognised as equivalent to the venia docendi requirement for professorial appointments.

Teaching and Supervision

University Teaching (selected)
• 2024–2025 — Invited Lecturer, Science of Climate Change (MSc), University of Bologna, Italy. Lecture:
The Water Cycle in the Anthropocene: drought, water resources, and environmental monitoring.
• 2024–2025 — Lecturer, Postgraduate Master in Sustainable and Technologically Advanced Cropping Systems, University of Bologna (BF Educational Campus), Italy. Module: Remote monitoring methods for hydrological variables (6 h).
• 2019 — Invited Lecturer, Remote Sensing Applications in Hydrology (graduate level), University of California, Berkeley, USA.
• 2010–2012 — Co-Lecturer, Computer Science for Systems and Environmental Applications (MSc), University of Perugia, Italy.
• 2009–2012 — Co-Lecturer, Hydraulics (BSc), University of Perugia, Italy.

Professional Training and Advanced Schools (selected)
• 2024 — Lecturer, IAEG International Summer School, Aosta, Italy (floods and flash floods; Earth Observation).
• 2022 — Lecturer, RHYMAnet International Webinar (satellite hydrology).
• 2022 — Lecturer, H SAF User Workshop (EUMETSAT/EUMeTrain), online.
• 2020 — Lecturer, EUMeTrain Event Week on Precipitation, online.
• 2018 — Invited Seminar, George Mason University, USA (satellite soil moisture for floods and droughts).
• 2014–2017 — Lecturer, postgraduate/professional courses for EUMETSAT and the Italian Civil Protection Department.

Supervision and Mentoring
• PhD: 7 candidates (2018–2025), co-supervised at KU Leuven; Universities of Florence, Perugia, Trento, and Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.
• Postdocs: 4 fellows (2018–2025), CNR–IRPI.
• MSc theses: 4 theses (2010–2013), University of Perugia.

Fellowships

• 2018 — Winner of the CNR Short Mobility Program Fellowship — Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, USDA (USA), Beltsville, Maryland, USA. Contact Person: Wade Crow
• 2016 — Winner of the CNR Short Mobility Program Fellowship – Dept. of Civil, Environmental & Infrastructure – George Mason University, Virginia, USA. Contact Person: Viviana Maggioni

Conference organisation and Workshop Convening (selected)

• 2026 —Convener CMWR 2026. Conference on Computational Methods in Water Resources. Session: Advances in remote-sensing tools and data-driven methods for understanding hydrological processes, June 28 – July 2, 2026, Bologna, Italy.
• 2024 — Co-convener of the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2024. Session: Advancements in Monitoring and Modeling the Water Cycle in Agroforestry Systems, Washington DC, USA.
• 2022, 2024 — Co-convener of the IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Agriculture and Forestry. Perugia, 2–5 November 2022; Padova, 29–31 October 2024.
• 2021 —Primary convener of the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2021. Session: Remote Sensing, Modelling, and Data Assimilation of the Terrestrial Water Cycle.
• 2021 — Organiser of the 6th Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Application Workshop (International Conference), Perugia, Italy.
• 2015 — Member of the Organising Committee of Le Giornate dell’Idrologia, Perugia, 6–8 October 2015. Italian Hydrological Society, Perugia, Italy.

Academic Service and Professional Roles
• Editorial roles:
– 2018–present — Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology (Elsevier).
– 2025–present — Associate Editor, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (Copernicus).
– 2019–2022 — Associate Editor, Remote Sensing (MDPI).
• Boards and committees (selected):
– 2024–present — Board Member, European Space Sciences Committee (ESSC), Strasbourg, France.
– 2025–2026 — Committee member, ESA Earth Observation Excellence Award.
– 2025 — Advisory Board member, Institute of Earth Observation, Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy).
– 2020 Member of the Committee for the Hydrology Outstanding Student Presentation Awards (OSPA), American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2020.
– 2019, 2025 — Scientific Committee member, ESA Living Planet Symposium (Milano; Vienna).
– 2017, 2018–2020 — Scientific Committee member, IEEE IGARSS (Fort Worth; France; Valencia; Hawaii/virtual).
• Scientific societies and leadership
– 2022–present — Secretary and member of the directive committee, Italian Hydrological Society (SII).
– 2023–present — Advisor member, ISPRS.
• Proposal and manuscript review:
– Reviewer for proposals (selected): ERC Starting Grants; Netherlands Space Office; FONDECYT (Chile); Independent Research Fund Denmark.
– Reviewer of 160+ manuscripts in international journals (Publons/Web of Science certified).
– 2021 — Review Board member, DFG Cosmic Sense (FOR 2694), University of Potsdam, Germany.
• Doctoral committees and examination boards:
– 2018–2026 — Member of PhD supervisory committees at KU Leuven (2 students), University of Florence (1 student), and University of Trento (1 student), University of Campania (2 students).
– 2022 — Member of PhD Examination Committee, Politecnico di Torino, University of Trento (1 student), University of Messina (1 student).
– 2017 — Foreign member of the PhD Examination Committee (International Doctor Award), Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain (1 student).
• Guest editorships and editorial boards:
– Guest Editor, Water (2021).
– Guest Editor, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (Elsevier, 2021).
– Guest Editor, Remote Sensing (MDPI, 2021).
– Review Editor / Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Water and Frontiers in Remote Sensing.
• Books:
– Co-Editor (with V. Maggioni), Extreme Hydroclimatic Events and Multivariate Hazards in a Changing Climate, Elsevier.

Prizes, Awards, and Major Recognitions

• 2023-2025 — Listed among the Top 2% most influential scientists worldwide (Stanford University global ranking, both career-long and single-year impact).
• 2024 — Selected among the Top 20 Best Rising Stars of Science in Italy (Research.com, 2023 Ranking).
• 2023 — ERC Consolidator Grant proposal evaluated as “Excellent” (ranked A, above threshold but not funded for budget limitations).
• 2022 — European Space Agency (ESA) – European Geophysical Union (EGU) Earth Observation Excellence Award for contributions of Earth Observation in Hydrology (as a team).
• 2022 — Selected as Highlighted Paper in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (Copernicus) for the article Evaporation enhancement drives the European water-budget deficit during multi-year droughts.
• 2021 — Award Copernicus Masters competition: BayWa Smart Farming Challenge, Copernicus Masters, Europe (as a team)
• 2016 — Winner (1st place, >300 candidates) of the National Research Council of Italy competition
for 82 excellent young researchers in Natural and Anthropogenic Risks and Environmental Technologies.
• 2014 — Nature Research Highlight for the paper Soil as a natural rain gauge: estimating global rainfall from satellite soil moisture data (Brocca et al., Nature Research Highlights).

Selected Invited and Keynote Presentations at International Conferences and Advanced Schools

• Keynote Speaker — “Data assimilation of remote sensing observations into hydrological models: challenges and perspectives”, EGU GALILEO Conference: A European Vision for Hydrological Obser-vations and Experimentation, Naples, Italy, 2023.
• Keynote Speaker — “Mechanisms of meteorological drought propagation into hydrological systems: feedbacks and recovery”, WATSON COST Action Meeting and Workshop, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2023.
• Keynote Speaker — “From meteorological to hydrological drought in Europe: amplification and recovery”, International Symposium on Drought and Climate Change, Hohai University (China) and Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, November 2022.
• Keynote Speaker — “Antecedent wetness conditions of European floods: a comprehensive study”, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA, July 2020 (online).
• Invited Lecturer — “Floods and flash floods: monitoring, modelling and forecasting using new Earth Observation data”, Third Summer School of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG), Aosta, Italy, July 2024.
• Invited Speaker — “On the role of evaporation and basin storage in driving water balance dynamics during long dry periods: land-surface modelling challenges and opportunities from Earth observations”, European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 2024.
• Invited Webinar Speaker — “Remote sensing for water management and droughts”, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), Online, September 2024.
• Invited Lecturer — “Remote sensing applications in hydrology”, University of California, Berkeley, USA, October 2022 (online).
• Invited Speaker — “Soil moisture products: quality assessment and hydro-validation”, Satellite-Inspired Hydrology in an Uncertain Future (H SAF–HEPEX Workshop), ECMWF, Reading, UK, November 2019.

Membership of Scientific Societies

• 2013–on — Member of the Italian Hydrological Society (SII), the Italian Group of Hydraulics (GII), the European Geophysical Union (EGU), and the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Valorization activities, and/or societal impact

• 2025 — Contribution as Author for the Brochure: Earth Observation: Groundbreaking Discoveries https://www.essc.esf.org/2025/01/21/news-eo-brochure/
• 2017 — Help of populations and local administrations for the assessment and mitigation of the hydraulic risk of the settlements impacted by the 2016 Umbria-Marche region earthquake.