Water Webinar | Sustainable Water Resources Management in a Changing Environment
the chairs
Water Webinar
Sustainable Water Resources Management in a Changing Environment
This webinar will gather leading researchers working on the evaluation of groundwater reservoirs, the role of dams in river flux diversion, water loss in water basins, drainage and evapotranspiration patterns, the cause–effect relationship between vegetation and water in ecosystem service provision, and societal adaptation and vulnerability assessment during droughts under climate change scenarios.
Thanks to the abundance of geospatial modelling and monitoring data, coupled with the growing availability of satellite data and thematic products, the complexity of water-dominated systems (coasts, mountains and plains from polar to tropical latitudes) can be captured through synoptic approaches and innovative data processing analytics.
Date: 23 October 2026
Time: 15:00 (CEST) | 21:00 (CST Asia)
Webinar ID: 872 6498 3333
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet Our Chairs
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Italy;Dr. Sergio Cappucci obtained his Laurea degree from Sapienza University of Rome in 1993 with a thesis on pipeline design on the Sable Island Bank (Canada). He earned his Ph.D. from University of Southampton in 2002 with research focused on the Venice Lagoon. He subsequently completed three postgraduate Master’s degrees in Waste Management (MSc, 2019), Environmental Legislation (MLaw, 2021), and Sustainable Energy (MEng, 2025). Dr. Cappucci is the author of numerous scientific publications (H-index: 13) and two patents, and he has participated in and coordinated several national and international research projects. His research activities focus on the Anthropocene, sustainable development, and the management of natural resources in coastal environments. He is currently a Senior Scientist at ENEA and has previously served as an Expert for the Italian Ministry of the Environment (2004–2008). Since 2003, he has also held teaching appointments as Temporary Professor at the Universities of Sassari, Rome, Pisa, and other academic institutions.
Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (ISP CNR), Rome, Italy;Dr. Emiliana Valentini graduated in Biological Sciences (2006) at Sapienza University, Rome, and has a PhD in Ecology and Natural Resources Management (2013) from Tuscia University, Viterbo. She recently joined as a Researcher in the CNR, Institute of Polar Sciences (2020) in Rome (Montelibretti) and she is a Lecturer in Remote Sensing and GIS for the Master Degree Course in Ecobiology at Sapienza, University, Rome. Her scientific activities started with studies on the anthropogenic impacts on marine and coastal environments and in 2011 she joined the team of Technical Research Collaborators at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research as an Expert in ecology and geospatial application to environmental monitoring with a permanent position. Her research spans from terrestrial to aquatic spheres and includes the use of remote sensing principles and methods in the field of ecology, geography and environmental sciences. She develops integrated models for ecosystem services assessment, natural capital estimation and natural resources monitoring, considering bio-geosphere cross-scales interaction and addressing landscape spatial patterns and temporal process. She has experience in national and international research and capacity building projects, publications and dissemination in scientific contexts. She actively participates in the GEOBON Ecosystem Structure working group and in the technical roundtables supporting the European Copernicus and National Space Economy programs.
Meet Our Speakers
Scuola Superiore St. Anna di Pisa, Italy;Rudy Rossetto deals with surface and subsurface hydrology. He holds an MSc in Earth Science from Uni. of Pisa (IT), an MSc in Geoenvironmental Engineering from Cardiff Uni. (UK) and a PhD in Engineering Geology from Uni. of Siena (IT). Main research fields are analysis of functionalities of blue infrastructures (phyto-treatment plants and Managed Aquifer Recharge schemes) for the provision of water-related agro-ecosystem services and development and application of GIS-integrated groundwater and solute transport numerical models for water management issues in the Mediterranean environment with a special focus on low-flow conditions. As water security is the web connecting food production and energy to socio-economic development and agro-ecosystem maintenance, in the framework of adapting to climate change, his main research objective is to devise and to test innovative ways for sustainable water management developing both theoretical and applied approaches. He is a Coordinator of the recently funded EU HORIZON 2020 FREEWAT project (FREE and open-source software tools for WATer resource management, www.freewat.eu) and a WP8 Leader in EU FP7 MARSOL (Managed Aquifer Recharge as a solution to drought and water scarcity, www.marsol.eu) Sant’Alessio’s induced riverbank filtration case study. He is also a Coordinator of the Italian–Israeli bilateral project PHARM-SWAP MED (removal of PHARMaceuticals from the Soil–WAter–Plant continuum in MEDiterranean Environment) and Technical Coordinator of the EU LIFE REWAT project (www.life-rewat.eu). Since 2012 he is the Co-Editor in Chief of Acque Sotterranee–Italian Journal of Groundwater (http://www.acquesotterranee.online/index.php/acque).
Dr. Tommaso Pacetti
WARREDOC -Water Resources Research and Documentation Centre University for Foreigners of Perugia, Italy;Tommaso Pacetti is an Environmental Engineer. In 2018, he earned a joint Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Florence and in Natural Sciences from the Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany), with a dissertation focused on the Water–Energy–Land–Ecosystem Nexus for integrated watershed management. His research focuses on sustainable water resources management, the Water–Energy–Food–Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus, ecosystem services assessment, socio-hydrology, hydrological modeling, and climate-change impacts on water resources. He has contributed to numerous national and international research and cooperation projects, including activities related to water management, nature-based solutions, water footprint assessment, and environmental sustainability. Tommaso Pacetti is currently a Researcher and Lecturer at WARREDOC (Water Resources Research and Documentation Centre) of the University for Foreigners of Perugia, where his teaching and research activities address sustainable water management, hydrology, ecosystem services, and water diplomacy. He also serves as a Technical Advisor to the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, supporting the implementation of bilateral environmental cooperation projects in North Africa and the Sahel region.
Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS), University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Italy;Serena Sapio is a Research contractor at IUSS Pavia, where she holds a PhD in Understanding and Managing Extremes. She is an Environmental Scientist and Associated Researcher at the Institute of Polar Science at the National Research Council of Italy. She is an Expert in remote sensing applications for monitoring landscape dynamics and has extensive experience with optical and SAR data. Her PhD research focused on assessing hydro-geological risk, particularly the development of automated processing chains for remote sensing datasets. Currently, her current research focuses on multisensor approaches to land use/land cover mapping, with emphasis on agricultural landscapes affected by water-related hazards, subsidence monitoring, and evapotranspiration dynamics in vulnerable ecosystems. She is involved in several national and international projects and contributes to communication and exchange with various project partners.
La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy;Angelica Rizzoli is a PhD student in Environmental and Hydraulic Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome, dedicated to advancing integrated water management and climate resilience. Native to Rome, she holds a Bachelor’s in Energy Engineering and a Master’s with Honors (110/110 Cum Laude) in Safety and Civil Protection Engineering, specializing in territorial sustainability. Her research bridges predictive analytics, GIS spatial data management, and ecosystem services conservation. This is highlighted by her work with the Roffredo Caetani Foundation on the Water Resources of the Lepini Mountains and Ninfa Spring project, where she specialized in water balance modeling and accounting systems. Today, her doctoral research focuses on developing data-driven decision-support tools to safeguard water availability, biodiversity, and vulnerable wetlands—such as Pantanello Natural Park—under climate change scenarios. Alongside her research, Angelica serves as an Academic Tutor for Master’s students at Sapienza, supporting international student orientation and academic integration.
Sustainable Water Resources Management in a Changing Environment
Edited by Dr. Sergio Cappucci, Dr. Emiliana Valentini and Dr. Andrea Petroselli
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2026
