Personal research interests

Paolo Perona’s research interests concern the dynamic of complex systems e.g., as geophysical ones or involving non Newtonian fluids, and related engineering applications. His background is in fluid mechanics, rheology and time series analysis. His recent studies address the dynamics of river and riparian vegetation, and the hydrology of alpine systems in order to investigate the impact of climate changes on the long term availability and sustainable management of water.

In particular:

i) River and riparian vegetation interactions

ii) Dynamics of alpine basins at inter-and intra- annual scales

iii) Surface water hydrology

iv) Optimization of water resources management problems

v) Mechanics of food and bio fluids in pipes and channels

The aim is to extract the either stochastic or deterministic footprint that characterizes the dynamics by means of both direct (e.g. analytical and numerical modelling) and inverse (e.g. linear and nonlinear data analysis) approaches.

Short Curriculum Vitae

- Master on Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, February 1997.

- State examination for the qualification to the profession of Engineer, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, May 1997.

- Philosophical doctoral degree (Ph.D.) on hydraulic engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, March 2001.

- Research Assistant in hydraulic and fluid mechanics, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, December 2000 – November 2003.

- Academic guest at the Institute of Hydromechanics and Water Resources Management (IHW), ETH – Hönggerberg, Zürich, CH, June – July 2003.

- Post-doctorate researcher, Institute of Hydromechanics and Water Resources Management (IHW), ETH – Hönggerberg, Zürich, CH, October 2003 - December 2005.

- Senior Research Associate, Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), ETH Zurich, Zürich, CH, present position.

Paolo Perona is member of the American Society of Rheology (S.o.R.), the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and registered at the Italian Society of Engineers (Albo Nazionale Ingegneri).

Research Projects

- ADAMANT: Alpine environmental Dynamics And the sustainable MAnagement of Non-Traditional water uses, Professorship program funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and sponsoring the new Research Group AHEAD ( Open positions);
- ROOTEDNESS: ROOT Erosion Dynamics and the Nonlinear Effect of Strengthening of river alluvial Sediments, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation ( SNF );
- RECORD: REstored COrridor Dynamics, funded by the Competence Center for the Environment and Sustainability ( CCES );
- RIVERINE: RIver – VEgetation interactions and Reproduction of Island Nuclei formation and Evolution, funded by the european framework program ( Hydralab III );
- WARECALC: WAter REsources vulnerability to Climate and Anthopogenic Landscape Changes, funded by the EU program FP7-PEOPLE-IRSES-2008;