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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering – University of Florence (Italy)

Universities and Academia

Contact Us:  Prof. Luca Solari-luca.solari@unifi.it

 About 

University of Florence - UNIFI (www.unifi.it) is an important centre for research and higher education in Italy. It offers a wide range of study programmes at various levels and in all areas of knowledge: 130 Degree Courses organised in 10 Schools, with a population of about 55,000 students. UNIFI has a natural international vocation and the development of internationalization is one of its strategic priorities. It is one of the largest and most productive public research systems in Italy, thanks also to an intensive participation in research programmes of national and international relevance and to the significant scientific results achieved. Researchers at the University of Florence operate within 24 different departments and have at disposal approximately 40 research structures comprising inter-departmental and inter-university centres as well as specialised research, knowledge transfer and advanced training centres. 

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering – DICEA (www.dicea.unifi.it) -conducts academic and research activities in numerous fields characterizing civil and environmental engineering. Currently, the staff consist of almost 150 enrolled people, subdivided into 30 professors, 14 researchers, 21 technicians and administrative staff, around 20 post-docs, 50 PhD students and 15 research collaborators.

 Organization Activities/ Business Field 

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering – DICEA (www.dicea.unifi.it) - includes the following specialized laboratories: structural modelling, geographical information systems, geotechnics, hydraulics, maritime structures, road construction materials, structural and materials testing, survey and photogrammetric unit, wind engineering. Regarding academic activities, DICEA offers the BS degree program in Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering, 4 MS programs in Civil Engineering, Building Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Geoengineering (taught in English), the international PhD course in Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2 second-level short specialisation programs in Drone and In-Situ 3D Data Survey and Processing, and in Workplace Organization and Safety. 

Staff and facilities are organized into 5 sections, i.e. water and environment, geomatics and infrastructures, geotechnics, buildings design, structural engineering. In particular, research activities of the water and environment section focus on the most advanced topics of hydrology, water resources management, water and wastewater treatment processes, river hydraulics, coastal engineering. Lines of research currently active in the hydrology-hydraulic field are: distributed hydrological modelling for flood forecasting and water resources management, stormwater modelling and management in urban watersheds, remote sensing and data assimilation in hydrology, hydraulic risk assessment in urban environment, hydro- morphodynamics of rivers and interactions with vegetation, bridges and levees, multifunctional maritime structures for the mitigation of waves and the production of blue energy. 

The department is active at both national and international level, being involved in several European and national research projects (e.g. Life, MIUR-PRIN, ERASMUS+, H2020), and counting numerous external funded activities from local authorities and companies (e.g. Tuscany Region, Hydrographic District Authority of Northern Apennine, Land Reclamations consortium, Water Management Companies).

 Products/Services 

• POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

  
  

  
  

  
  

DICEA offers among others a MS in English in Geoengineering and an international PhD course in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The MS in Geoengineering (https://www.ing-gem.unifi.it) is an international and interdisciplinary master devoted to train specialist of monitoring, design and management for geohydrological risk reduction with particular reference to floods, landslides, subsidence, sinkhole and in general to slope and basin scale dynamics.

It is developed in the framework of the UNESCO Chair on Prevention and Sustainable Management of Geo-Hydrological Hazards established at the University of Firenze (https://www.unesco-geohazards.unifi.it). The Chair mission, in collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences, is to promote Education, Research and Development for the prevention and management of geo-hydrological hazards, in order to support policies and actions of risk reduction.

The PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering (https://www.indicee.unifi.it/) (also known as InDICEE programme) offers an higher professional & research oriented education for managing and leading technical development at major companies and enterprises, at National as well as European/International level in the broad area of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The PhD course is articulated in three curricula: 1. Solid, fluid and material mechanics; 2. Construction design, verification and control; 3. Environment, resources and security. The fully international PhD programme requires mandatorily the PhD Thesis to be supervised bi-nationally, i. e. by a joined supervision of the Tutors of two partner Universities. The default program is based on a joint doctoral course with the T.U. Braunschweig (Germany). Alternative types of international agreement, which other foreign Institutions, can be signed. Students are required to spend a minimum stay of nine months in the foreign Institution. Research project should be carried out in the context of the PhD program and should refer to at least one of the research topics/fields listed in correspondence to each curriculum (the list of the research project for the last call on 2020 can be found at: https://www.indicee.unifi.it/vp-153-topics-xxxvi-cycle.html)

• RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF WATER ENGINEERING

  
  

Research activities regarding Water and Environment Section focus on the most advanced topics of hydrology, water resources management, water and wastewater treatment processes, river hydraulics, coastal engineering. Lines of research currently active in the hydrology-hydraulic field are: distributed hydrological modelling for flood forecasting and water resources management, stormwater modelling and management in urban watersheds, remote sensing and data assimilation in hydrology, hydraulic risk assessment in urban environment, water-land-ecosystems nexus for watershed integrated management and hydrological modelling for water resources management, hydro- morphodynamics of rivers and interactions with vegetation, bridges and levees, micro-plastic transport in rivers, multifunctional maritime structures for the mitigation of waves and the production of blue energy, resources recovery from wastewater and wastes, Epidemiological modeling using wastewater monitoring.

Research structures include the Hydraulics laboratory, the Maritime Engineering laboratory and the Spatial and Environmental Data laboratory.

On 2022, the Department of Civil and Environmental will host the next International Symposium on River Sedimentation promoted by World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER) with the support of UNESCO.