Forest Resilience, Carbon Dynamics, and Restoration under Climate Change

Department

Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,  University of Milano 

Main research activities/topics/projects

The hosting group works on forest ecology, forest management and planning, with a focus on modeling the response of forest ecosystems to climate change and natural disturbances. Prospective Brazilian students and researchers can be integrated into research activities addressing the effects of drought, wildfire, windstorms, and biotic disturbances on forest structure, functioning, and resilience; post-disturbance recovery processes and ecological restoration; forest carbon dynamics and climate-mitigation trade-offs; and fire ecology, including hazard, vulnerability, exposure, and risk assessment. Analysis can be carried out in Italian and/or Brazilian ecosystems, also under a compared perspective.

Research activities may include field ecology, forest inventory, dendrochronology, ecological restoration assessment, carbon-stock analysis, GIS, remote sensing, and spatial modelling. Visiting students may contribute to ongoing projects or develop focused research on disturbance impacts, adaptive forest management, fire-smart planning, post-disturbance regeneration, and the interactions between carbon sequestration, resilience, and restoration under changing climatic conditions.

Working languages 

 English. Italian can also be used when useful for field activities and local integration.

Special entry requirements

Experience with R and GIS is strongly recommended. Additional experience with remote sensing datasets and satellite imagery analysis is a plus.

Duration in months (min-max)

Master Research: 3 - 12

Phd Sandwich: 3 - 9

Post Doc: Min: 6 - 24