Giancarlo Chiarenza

I have a bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences (University of Genoa) and a master degree in Planning and Management of Agro-Territorial EcosystemsForests, and Landscape, curriculum Analysis and Monitoring of Ecosystems (University of Bologna), both obtained with 110/110 cum laude and praise by the commission.

My research interest is mainly in vegetation ecology. In particular, I focus on grasslands: their biodiversity, phytosociology, ecology, ecosystem services and the impact of global change and human activities. I am also interested in GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis, statistics, and studying the relationships among vegetation, soil, and microbiota. During my master, I learned how to sample the vegetation, calculate spectral indexes from Earth Observation/Remote Sensing images and correlate ecosystem services with physical, chemical, and biochemical soil parameters. Moreover, I can analyze ecosystems from different points of view, which are related to pedology, ecology, soil chemistry, herbaceous and woody vegetation, phytosociology, geobotany, microbiology, and their interrelationships.

In order to strengthen my academic knowledge; I learned how to use R, QGis and Latex, earlier through academic courses and later by myself, in order to be autonomous during my thesis and scientific paper analysis and writing.

In 2015, I was an intern at the Genoa’s Botanical Garden, where I helped identifying and cataloguing plant species. My second internship (2017) was at the Department of Earth, Environment, and Life Sciences laboratories at the University of Genoa, where I prepared soils samples and arranged pertinent chemical analysis for phytoremediation-related experiments.

After my graduation this year, I carried out a part-time collaboration with the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), where I learned some basic notions of EU project management. During the same period, I was supported in the production of a scientific paper from my thesis. I cooperated with some researchers at DISTAL, enquiring into environmental and social justice implications of biodiversity management at the urban level. In 2019, I started a collaboration with the Soil Chemistry group from the same department to improve my laboratory skills and study the effects of soil chemical and biochemical characteristics on plants productivity.

At the end of 2019, I moved to Sydney to start a PhD at UNSW, about plant-soil relationships and plant ecology.