Speakers

Giovanni Gigliotti is a Full Professor and Director of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Perugia. He graduated in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Perugia, and since 1987 he is employed at the University of Perugia. He is Professor of Agricultural Chemistry from 2013 to date, and he was involved in several international, national and local research projects, also as principal investigator. His expertise is focused on soil chemistry, agrochemicals, and valorisation of organic wastes through biological processes.

Claudio Ciavatta is a Full Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, teacher of “Agricultural Biochemistry and Soil Fertility” and “Management of Soil Fertility”. He deals with chemical-structural and biochemical aspects of the organic substance of soils, organic-based fertilizers, recycled and waste biomass, and soil fertility also after addition of organic-based fertilizers to the soil, with particular reference to the biogeochemistry cycle of nitrogen and phosphorus, and environmental aspects.

Yakov Kuzyakov is a Full Professor at the Dept. of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems and Dept. of Agricultural Soil Science, University of Göttingen. He is one of the world’s leading scientists in soil and his research focuses on ecosystem sustainability, soil ecology, biogeochemistry, rhizosphere ecology, soil degradation, C and N cycles, C sequestration, priming effects, pedogenic carbonates, nutrient mobilization, rhizodeposition, partitioning of CO2 sources, land use, agroecology, low molecular weight organic compounds. He is also an expert in stable & radioactive isotopes’ applications: labeling, natural abundance, isotope dilution, imaging and biomarkers. He was the project leader of over 30 projects in Germany, China, Tanzania, Russia, Indonesia Chile, and Korea and in his career received 16 awards (CV link).

Debora Puglia is an Associate Professor, PhD in Industrial Engineering (2003) at the University of Perugia. Her main current research activities are related to the extraction of lignocellulosic nanostructures from waste sources and their use in composite and nanocomposite biobased materials for food packaging and agriculture. Moreover, her research interests focus on thermosetting matrix composites reinforced with fiber and nanofillers of vegetable origin (lignin, cellulose) and carbon nanostructures reinforced nanocomposites.

Claudio Zaccone is an Associate Professor in Agricultural Chemistry at the Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Italy. He is currently Chair of Division 4 “The Role of Soils in Sustaining Society and the Environment” of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), Vice President /President-elect of the Italian Society of Soil Science (SISS), Advisory Board member of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS), and member of the Accademia dei Georgofili. He also served as President of the Soil System Sciences division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) (2019-2023). His main research interests include the C dynamics in mineral and organic soils, the biogeochemistry of major and trace elements, and the utilization of waste biomass in agricultural soils.

Mónica Yorlady Alzate Zuluaga is a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences of the Free University of Bolzano. Her research is mainly focused on the interactions between plants and biofertilizers (i.e. beneficial microorganisms) in order to obtain promising ways to boost environmental sustainability by decreasing the use of synthetic agricultural inputs and enlighten the processes between plants and microorganisms that can be exploited for biotechnological applications. In details, her research has been focused on: i) isolation, screening, and biochemical and molecular characterization of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB); ii) interaction between plants and PGPB to improve plant nutrients uptake; iii) rhizosphere interactions.

Luigimaria Borruso is an Associate Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the Free University of Bolzano. His expertise focuses in soil ecology, with a focus on rhizosphere interactions between fungal and bacterial communities. His research employs DNA/RNA-based approaches and soil chemistry to investigate these interactions. Additionally, he uses environmental DNA approach, with a particular emphasis on micro- and mesofauna, coupled with traditional soil quality indicators to assess soil health in agricultural soils, such as apple orchards and vineyards.

Valeria Ventorino holds a PhD in Science and Technology of the Agro-Food Productions and currently is a fixed-term senior researcher (RTDb) at the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Naples Federico II (UniNA). Her research activities focused on the use of microbial biotechnologies for the development of biostimulants and biofertilizers, also associating them with organic amendments from waste biomass, to reduce the use of agrochemicals and preserve the biological fertility of the soil. Metagenomic and high-throughput sequencing approach for monitoring microbial populations in soil and rhizosphere.

Laura Zanin is an Associate Professor of plant nutrition in the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences at the University of Udine. After studying plant biotechnology, she obtained her PhD in Agriculture Science and Biotechnology in 2013 at the University of Udine, where she studied urea acquisition in maize. Her scientific work mainly focuses on nutrient acquisition in plants, with a special emphasis on the nutritional pathways for Fe and N. Her research also explores the effects of different forms of N on plant nutrition and their interplay within the context of more sustainable agricultural practices. She is also investigating plant-induced modifications of rhizospheric environment, the role of natural effectors, the mechanisms of root exudation and their impact on rhizosphere biochemistry and microbiology by using chemical, biochemical, molecular and biotechnological approaches. In 2018, she received the Innovation Award Groupe Roullier in plant nutrition.

Ivet Ferrer is a Full Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech. Her research focuses on the recovery of bio-based products and bioenergy from waste streams in the framework of a circular bioeconomy. Her main research topic is the anaerobic digestion of residual biomass to obtain biogas and biofertilizers, after bio-based products extraction. Currently, she is looking at the recovery of natural pigments/dyes and bioestimulants from microalgal biomass and agroindustry waste, in the framework of the projects 4BIOLIVE funded by PRIMA, and Cyan2Bio funded by the Spanish Ministry. Ivet Ferrer serves as an Associate Editor for the journal ACS Sustainable Resource Management.

Concetta Eliana Gattullo is an Associate Professor at the Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences of the University of Bari (Italy), where she obtained a PhD in agricultural chemistry in 2011. Her research activity focuses, more specifically, on the study of dynamics of essential and toxic elements in the soil-plant system, also using innovative X-ray based techniques, and on the remediation of soils polluted by potentially toxic elements by means of biological or physical-chemical strategies. More generally, she deals with the study of chemical and mineralogical properties indicative of soil fertility, even under stress conditions.