The PhD program of the University of Bologna (Italy), “Future Earth, Climate Change and Societal Challenges is now open for applications.
The PhD program is done in collaboration with CMCC, CNR, INGV and the Environmental Regional Protection Agency.
The deadline is May 21, 2020 (at 01:00 PM, Italian time).
The PhD program is organized around 4 Themes in the fields of (a) the earth system, (b) impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, (c) Technological innovations for a decarbonized society and (d) Socio-economic and legal studies for mitigation of climate change.
3 scholarships founded by CMCC, with the following different research themes:
- Climate downscaling and oceanography: Downscaling of seasonal forecasts for coastal areas of the ocean
The successful applicants will have to carry out the research in Lecce, after the general courses/training period in Bologna.
This research topic is concerned with the development and implementation of new seasonal atmofphere and ocean forecasting capacity in coastal areas by employing numerical models. The activities will exploit the exixsting Copernicus Climate Service (C3S) Seasonal Forecasting products such as the ones developed by CMCC and downscale them by means of statistical and deterministic (with numerical models) approach in the coastal and marine domains. The numerical models to be used for the ocean will be also the new generation unstructured grid models capable of resolving the coastal geometry in details. The skill of ocean variables from the downscaled seasonal forecasting system will be assessed using observables Essential Climate Variabless (ECVs) to develop and provide user-relevant indicators. The coastal seasonal forecasting system capabilities will provide examples of user-relevant products in support of improved ecosystem management, risk management and blue growth.
- Oceanography and marine pollution: Marine pollution modeling and risk mapping.
The successful applicant will carry out the research in Lecce, after the general courses/training period in Bologna.
Oceanographic monitoring and modeling will be used to study the pathways and fate of marine pollutants such as hydrocarbons and marine litter. In this PHD, advanced modelling methods and risk mapping techniques related to tracing pollutants on local and regional scales. The PhD will also consider the coupling of pollutants models with met-oceanographic transport fields from operational oceanography products such as Copernicus Marine Monitoring Environment Service and downscaled high resolution systems. Ensemble and multi-model methods, risk assessment algorithms and eventually the support of decision support systems will be developed. Integration of modelling and observing systems for model validation will be carried out. The PHD will further develop the MEDSLIK-II oil spill community model and the CMCC marine litter model. Possible key questions of the PhD are identified as follows: Which factors affect the dispersion of the pollutants in the marine environment? What happens to the contaminants on the ocean’s surface, in the water column and sediments? How do marine pollutants interact with marine habitats? How do they influence marine and maritime resources? What is the rate of fragmentation, biofouling, and sedimentation of plastics? What are the mechanisms of beaching, seabed deposition?
- Ocean predictions: The successful applicant will carry out the research in Bologna.
This research scholarship deals with the understanding of wave induced mixing processes and their parameterization in numerical ocean models. The final objective is to improve the coupled wave-current numerical model of the Mediterranean Sea in hindcast and forecasting mode. This project is connected to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (https://marine.copernicus.eu/).
Please find “How to Apply” and details about courses/training here:
