Borsa Post Dottorato in UNIFI
Lorenzo Cappietti
Postdoctoral Fellowship
A post-doctoral fellowship is available starting in October 2022 at the University of Florence Italy for a project on coastal dynamics and plastic pollution. The work of the fellow will contribute to an interdisciplinary project funded by the CARIFI bank foundation on the balance of plastics in the Arno River basin and related coastal zone. A team of seven Principal Investigators (PIs) from the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Florence University are involved in this project. The post-doctoral fellow recruited by this call will work in the Maritime Engineering Laboratory headed by the PI prof. Lorenzo Cappietti (www.labima.unifi.it) in close collaboration with the six more fellows tutored by the other PIs on interrelated urban and fluvial projects along the Arno River catchment and the related coastal environment. Brief description of the specific topic is provided below.
The impact of plastic pollution at sea has now reached alarming levels. It is necessary to act urgently to limit this phenomenon and, in this perspective, among other actions, it is also necessary to increase the predictive capability of the dispersion of plastic particles in the coastal environment (micro and macro particles). Numerical modeling of hydrodynamics of coastal zones allows to reconstruct with a high degree of accuracy the circulation system induced by various forcing mechanisms, and this makes it possible to extend the modeling to the problem of dispersion of various pollutants such as plastic particles. The goal of this research program is to develop a regional predictive model, based on open-source software, which allows to reconstruct the hydrodynamics and dispersion of plastic particles in a coastal environment. The numerical modelling should be based on a flexible mesh, it must be three-dimensional (e.g. TELEMAC-MASCARET), and its application must be framed in the so-called down-scaling technique of the dynamics as reconstructed by global models of the Mediterranean (e.g. the COPERNICUS Models). The developed model will be applied to the case study of the coast of Tuscany Region. The candidate will develop the regional coastal numerical model, act as tutor for Bachelor or MS Students introducing them to numerical modelling and collaborate in writing and co-authoring technical reports and research papers.
Desired qualifications for the post-doctoral position include: a PhD degree (at the time of the deadline for application), in similar topics, proven experience in the numerical modelling of coastal dynamics, strong skills in data analysis, statistics, and scientific writing. Being proactive in a working-team, taking responsibility for specific objectives, being able to achieve them with proven autonomy and time keeping are recommended features.
The selected candidate will be awarded a grant for the yearly amount of € 20.267,06. It is taxes exempted and it comprises € 2.367,00 of pension contributions. As such the monthly amount available to the fellow is € 1.492,00 euros. Moreover, funds for publishing articles and attending conferences are available.
The post-doctoral fellowship is for one year-long research but it may possibly be renewed to the same person for a maximum of six years overall.
Candidates are encouraged to contact prof. Lorenzo Cappietti no later than August 15, 2022.
Email: lorenzo....@unifi.it
Phone +39 0552758840