Dr Maurizio Polemio, Civil Engineer (Hydraulics, specialising in Soil Protection), is a Senior Researcher at the CNR. He is head of the Bari branch of the CNR’s Research Institute for Hydrogeological Protection (IRPI), where he has worked since 1989. For the same Institute, he has served or currently serves as scientific director of the Surface and Underground Hydrology Laboratory and the Hydrogeology Research Group (http://hydrogeology.ba.irpi.cnr.it/).
His scientific research experience concerns natural hazards, with reference to landslides and floods, and geo-resources. In the field of groundwater resources, he has gained experience in the risks of qualitative and quantitative degradation, the aquifer vulnerability anthropogenic pollution and, with reference to coastal aquifers, seawater intrusion, with extensive experience in numerical modelling of groundwater flow and transport, hydrogeological monitoring and hydrogeological geostatistics. He has carried out extensive work on the role of climatic factors in the occurrence of hydrogeological disasters, with particular reference to floods and landslides, and on the availability of groundwater. Among his most recent activities, he has developed scientific knowledge relating to geothermal resources and the protection of wetlands that depend on groundwater.
He has published more than 250 articles (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0343-5339).
He has realised (up to 2024):
– 59 invited lectures or presentations;
– 26 activities as a member of the scientific committee of national and international conferences;
– 25 evaluations of national or international research projects;
– scientific experiences abroad (visiting scientist/professor) in the United Kingdom, Albania and Argentina;
– co-supervisor of master’s and doctoral theses, evaluator of doctoral theses for the following academic institutions: University of Bari, University of Calabria, University of Cagliari, Ghent University (Belgium) and IIT Roorkee (India).
He has worked on several international and national research projects as Principal Investigator, head of research units or work package/task leader, but also as a member of the research unit.
He has gained editorial experience for books, journals and special issues.
From 2002 to 2017, he was responsible for the Technical-Scientific Secretary of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP). He has spent months in cooperative research activities working at foreign universities (City University of London, UK); Technical University of Tirana, Albania; University of Mar del Plata, Argentina; IIT (Roorkee, India). He has been or is a member of committees of national associations of geology (SGI), applied geology (AIGA) and hydrogeology (IAH) and of commissions of international associations (IAH, IAHS). He is currently Director of the Coastal Groundtwater Network (CGN- https://cgn.iah.org/ ) of the IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologists) and Coordinator of the Hydrogeology Section of the SGI (Italian Geological Society, https://www.socgeol.it/376/idrogeologia.html ).
He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Bari and the University of Calabria in Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. He obtained the national scientific qualification as a full professor of Engineering Geology (since 2013).
