Close-ups

Let’s talk about you: what is your background, what do you teach, and what are your research interests?
I started my research activity at the University of Trieste and since the end of 2014 I have been at Ca' Foscari. I teach the fundamentals of earth sciences, especially geochemistry. My research areas are the applications of stable isotope geochemistry to environmental sciences, and certainly the one I am most interested in is paleoclimatic reconstructions from polar ice cores.

What was your academic career?
I graduated in geology at the University of Trieste and then did a PhD in earth sciences at the University of Milan. I spent some time abroad in France at the Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement, where I met some great people who got me interested in paleoclimatology.

What were your greatest professional satisfactions?
Definitely participating in a three-month campaign in Antarctica as part of the EPICA project, which enabled us to reconstruct the climate of the last 800,000 years. Also, publishing the data resulting from this project in high impact journals.

Have you always known that this was going to be your path?
At the beginning of my studies I didn't think I would become a researcher but then during my dissertation I got into geochemistry. Honestly, at first I would have liked to become a volcanologist but then the polar cores took over, just to go from a hot extreme (volcanoes) to a cold extreme (polar cores).

Can you offer any advice to researchers in the early stages of their career?
Answering this question in these times of COVID emergency is not easy: I would say that working in research is a bumpy road, even more so in Italy, so those who do it must have a real ENTHUSIASM and not be discouraged. It's a difficult job that doesn't leave much room for other equally important parts of life, and it puts you to the test.