Highly Cited Researchers 2025 – Celebrating researchers with significant and broad influence

My PhD research aims to investigate the role of private urban green spaces in providing ecosystem services based on their ecological conditions and how the findings can be used to support innovative planning policies. My research activity is part of the SELINA European project. I graduated with an MSc in “Planning and Management of Agro-Territorial, Forest, and Landscape” from the University of Bologna, and I hold a BSc in Physics from the University of Ferrara.

E-Mail: chiara.parretta@unitn.it

My research interests include exploring the relationships between land take, soil sealing, and ecosystem services in European cities to support spatial planning. My research activities are part of the Soils for Europe (SOLO) project. I hold an MSc in environmental and land engineering from the University of Trento and a BSc in civil, construction, and environmental engineering, with the latter as a major from the University of Florence.

E-Mail: silvia.frezzi@unitn.it

My research focus is on the field of brownfield regeneration, especially from a sustainable perspective. Currently, I focus on how to integrate brownfield greening into urban planning to make our cities more livable and sustainable through the lens of Ecosystem Services(ES) and Nature-Based Solutions(NBS). I hold a Master of Landscape Architecture from Tsinghua University and am currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo.

E-Mail: chenbuke97@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

My research interest is the analysis of nature-based solutions and urban ecosystem services in the framework of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. I’ve been assigned a research grant to work within the EU Horizon Europe BIO-Agora and SELINA projects. I graduated with a MSc in Environmental Engineering for environmental sustainability and international cooperation at the University of Trento.

E-Mail: simone.caridi@unitn.it

During her PhD, Linda focused on the assessment of the cooling capacity of urban green infrastructures to support spatial planning. She is currently an Environmental expert for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in South-East Africa.

E-Mail: linda.zardo@iuav.it

Rocco’s research focused on system dynamics, ecosystem service modelling and climate adaptation at the regional scale. He is the co-founder of the start-up company -skopìa (https://www.skopia-anticipation.it/it/chi-siamo).

E-Mail: rocco.scolozzi@unitn.it

My PhD focuses on hydro-morphodynamics and related ecosystem services of near-natural river corridors and wetlands and their value in the Anthropocene. I conduct part of her research in the Vjosa basin, one of the last free flowing rivers of Europe, in the framework of an international cooperation project led by VIS, CELIM and CESVI. The aim of the project is to contribute to the sustainable development of the Albanian natural capital, by strengthening the capacity of local institutions in the management of natural protected areas

E-Mail: marta.crivellaro@unitn.it

I conduct research on the economic evaluation of nature-based investments, and the use of multi-criteria decision-making methods, econometric models for supporting decisions by public-private stakeholders in the sustainable urban planning of the cities. Formerly intern at the Forestry Policy and Division of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), visiting scholar at SUNY College in Syracuse (USA), expert for the European Commission.

E-Mail: francesco.sica@unitn.it

My PhD research focuses on the cost-effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions for climate adaptation in the urban context.
I earned a bachelor’s degree in Business and Administration at the University of Florence and a master’s degree in Economy of the Environment, Culture and Territory at the University of Turin.

E-Mail: alessia.chelli@unitn.it

My main research interest is the evaluation of ecosystem services supplied by Nature-based Solutions in cities and its support to spatial planning. More specifically, with the research grant I’ve been assigned I’m conducting a detailed analysis of the benefits provided by community gardens in the city of Trento.

E-Mail: marco.devicari@studenti.unitn.it

My PhD research focuses on the assessment of ecosystem services and discussing Nature-based Solutions for sustainable urban development. I am a visiting PhD student from Tianjin University, China, where I received a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture.

E-Mail: Iijiaying_925@tju.edu.cn

My PhD research focuses on the assessment of ecological security based on ecosystem services. I am good at landscape classification and analysis in grassland areas. I am a visiting PhD student from Inner Mongolia University, China, where I received a master’s degree in Ecology and bachelor’s degree in biology.

E-Mail: peng.han@unitn.it

My current research activities are part of my PhD study on regulating ecosystem services in urban environments. My research focuses on mapping and assessing ecosystem services, especially on modelling flood regulation, local climate regulation and air quality in urban ecosystems. I received my BSc in Geography and MSc in Landscape Ecology and Natural Capital from Sofia University (Bulgaria).

E-Mail: vanya.stoycheva@studenti.unitn.it

I am a visiting PhD student from Çukurova University, TURKEY. I mainly research the integration of trade-off mechanisms between ecosystem services, land demand amounts, and land use decisions into planning processes. Nowadays, I continue my research by examining model examples that can provide maximum optimization among trade-off mechanisms.

E-Mail: ekaramanli@student.cu.edu.tr

A nature enthusiast at heart, I am a Biologist with a PhD in Environmental Engineering. For the past 10 years I have worked as a researcher at MARETEC/IST (Portugal) focusing on spatial assessments and economic valuation of ecosystem services to support planning and policy instruments. I have recently joined PLANES to work on the HorizonEU Project BioValue (https://biovalue-horizon.eu/), and my research focuses on designing, implementing, and analyzing frameworks for mapping and assessing ecosystem services to leverage transformative change in spatial policymaking and planning practices.

E-Mail: lia.borgeslaporta@unitn.it

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Eastern Finland. My research focuses on the legal feasibility of urban nature-based solutions implementation across European cities. The main theme addressed by this PhD is climate change adaptation from the point of view of sustainable stormwater management and disaster risk reduction. I am interested in understanding the roles that the law plays in influencing urban climate resilience and analysing the main legal challenges that hinder nature-based solutions implementation and scaling-up within the European Union. I hold an LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development from the University of the West of England.

E-Mail: francesco.venuti@uef.fi

His research focused on sustainable spatial planning. In particular, he was interested in the role of the ecosystem services to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals at different levels of planning. Currently, he is a researcher in the Spatial Planning Laboratory at the Catholic University of Temuco, Chile.

In his PhD, he developed approaches for the prioritization of forest restoration areas that safeguard the livelihoods of rural communities through a better provision of ecosystem services. He is currently an assistant professor within the Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning Group at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

His PhD research focused Spatial planning policies to integrate climate change adaptation at local level in India. Parveen is currently a post-doc researcher at the Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork

In her PhD, she developed methods to map and assess ecosystem services and their trade-offs in Alpine regions. Marika is currently with the Autonomous Province of Trento.