Donatella Spano

Spoke Leader

Full Professor and Scientific Coordinator for the University of Sassari of the Ph.D. program in Sustainability and Climate Change at the University Institute of Higher Studies of Pavia (IUSS-Pavia) and of the Research Doctorate in Agrometeorology and Ecophysiology of Agricultural and Forestry Ecosystems of the University of Sassari. She graduated in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Sassari and followed a three-year post-graduate program in Agrometeorology. Member of the Strategic Council and the Board of Directors of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC). She was the Founder and President of the Italian Society for Climate Sciences. She served as Pro-Rector for Research and Technology Transfer (2011-2014) at the University of Sassari. She was appointed Regional Minister of Sardinia for the Protection of the Environment (2014-2019) and the Environment Commission of the Italian Conference of Regions coordinator. She has collaborated with the European Conference of Regions on Climate and Energy issues and as an agriculture and forestry expert for the European Topic Center on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change (ETC / CCA). She was a National Civil Protection Commission - Risk Forecasting and Prevention - Fire Section member. It is actively involved in several EU, national, and regional projects and research aimed at assessing the impact and adaptation to climate change, identifying sustainable management strategies for agricultural and forestry systems, creating an integrated system for the quantification of the carbon cycle and the evaluation of mitigation strategies for food production, as well as the development of methodologies and support systems for sustainable management of water resources in agriculture and the assessment of fire risk in extreme weather conditions. She is a member of the Georgofili Academy and the Forestry Sciences Academy.