Alberto Bellin

1992: Ph.D in Hydrodynamics, University of Padova (Italy)

1987: C.E. magna cum laude in Civil Engineering, University of Padova (Italy)

2006 - present: Associated Editor of Water Resources Research

Nov. 2016 - Aug. 2018: Member of the national committee for the National habilitation to the role of Universityprofessor (sector 08/A1)

April 2021 - present: Member elected of the Academic Senato of the University of Trento

2013-present Member of the doctoral school committee, program in Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento

May 2016-present: Member of the research Center on Agriculture Food and Environment of the University of Trento in collaboration with the Fondazione Edmund Mach (also part of the Committee for the institution of the research center)

Sept. 2015 - present: Member of the Committee for recruitment and career development, University of Trento

Nov. 2014 - Oct. 2016: Member of the Board of Discipline of the University of Trento

Nov. 2007 - Feb. 2013: Member of the Teaching committee of the School of Engineering, University of Trento

Nov. 2007 – Oct. 2013: Head of the PhD School in Environmental Engineering, University of Trento (Italy)

Nov. 2001 – Oct. 2007: Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Trento (Italy

Sept. 2000 – present: Professor of Hydrology, School of Civil Engineering, University of Trento (Italy)

Nov. 1998 – Aug. 2000:Associate professor of Hydrology , School of Civil Engineering, University of Trento (Italy)

Nov. 1990 – Oct. 1998: Assistant professor, School of Civil Engineering, University of Trento (Italy)

Jun. 1992 – Jul. 1993: Visiting Research fellow at the Dept. of Civil Engineering University of California at Berkeley (USA) (sabbatical year)

Jun. 1994 – Aug. 1994: Visiting Research fellow at the Dept. of Civil Engineering University of California at Berkeley (USA)

My research embraces flow and transport processes in heterogeneous environments, along the following main lines: 1) transport processes in heterogeneous formations at both local and catchment scale, including the impact of local dispersion on mixing and geochemical reactions. This research resulted in  innovative tools for risk assessment studies and the development of methodologies for addressing the impact of the data support volume in groundwater modeling; 2) inversion of tomographic data for characterizing hydraulic property variations in heterogeneous aquifers. This research provided novel approaches for inference of hydraulic properties variations in heterogeneous aquifers by using hydraulic (i.e. hydraulic tomography) and concentration data; 3) Modeling of surface/subsurface exchange processes and their implication on the nitrogen cycle. This research unveiled the importance of advection in hyporheic exchange, which before was modeled as a purely diffusive exchange. The coupling of this model with a geochemical model of the nitrogen cycle resulted in an upscaling technique able to predict N2O emissions from rivers; 4) water resources management in the Alpine catchments. This research analyzed the combined impact of water uses and climate change on mesoscale hydrological fluxes. The main contribution in this field is a tool for modeling hydrological processes in catchments altered by climate change and water uses, and disentangle their effect.

Main research activities

Since 1988 Alberto Bellin is active in the field of subsurface hydrology. Most of his research activity focuses on transport of reactive and non-reactive solutes in heterogeneous porous media, with particular interest in the  the mechanisms controlling macrodispersion and mixing processes in heterogeneous porous media. Published results concern with the impact of physical and geochemical heterogeneities on contaminant migration. In addition, he contributed to modeling flow and transport processes at the catchement scale and to the study of the interaction between  surface water, groundwater  and the hyporheic zone. 

Research supporting activities

2006-present: -Associated Editor of Water Resources Research 

2004-2006: Vice president of the International Commission on Ground Water (ICGW), International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)

Referral activities

Reviewer for the following Journals: Advances in Water Resources; Geophysical Research Letters; Hydrology and Earth System Sciences; Mathematical Geology; Journal of Contaminant Hydrology; Journal of Hydrology; Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment; Stochastic Hydrology and Hydraulics; Transport in Porous Media; Water Resources Research.

In addition, he served as reviewer of proposal presented to the European Commission, US National Science Foundation (NSF), German Research Foundation (DFG), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Swedish National Science Foundation (NSF) and for the Italian Ministry of Research. Recently he was part of the committee for the evaluation of the  the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany

Main funded projects (since 2004)

2014-2019: Partner in the project Managing The Effects Of Multiple Stressors On Aquatic Ecosystems Under Water Scarcity (GLOBAQUA) funded by the European Commission within the VII framework program (Grant Agreement No. 603629-ENV-2013-6.2.1); WP leader and member of the steering committee 

2015-2018: Partner in the project: Energy oriented Centre of Excellence for computer applications (EoCoE) funded by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 program (project reference 676629); Member of the steering committee 

2010 - 2018: Partner in the project Science for MAnagement of Rivers and their Tidal systems (SMART) funded by the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program

2010 - 2015: WP leader in the project Climate Induced Changes on the Hydrology of Mediterranean Basins (CLIMB) funded by the European Commission within the VII framework program;    member of the steering committee

2004-2009: PI of the sub-project COMPUTE in the integrated project AQUATERRA funded by the European Commission within the VI framework program. Member of the steering committee.

2004-2006: PI of the interuniversity project: “Nutrient and contaminant transport at the catchment scale: models for the management and the protection of water resources”, funded by the Italian University and Research Ministry (MURST) within the PRIN program;

2008-2009: partner and PI of a Research Unit of  the interuniversity project: “Transport phenomena at the catchment scale”, funded by the Italian University and Research Ministry (MURST) within the PRIN program;

2008-2010: PI of the project: “water resources budget of the Trentino Province, Italy”, funded by the Environmental Bureau of the Trentino Province

- Member of the American Geophysical Union: since 1992

- Member of the IAHS, International Association of Hydrological Sciences: since 1999

- Member of the European Geosciences Union: since 2012