Marco Toffolon

2003-2005, Post-doc fellow (University of Trento, Italy): “Morphodynamic models of tidal systems. Analysis of the hydrodynamic behaviour and of the plano-altimetric evolution of tidal channels”.

2000-2003, Dottorato di ricerca (equivalent to Ph.D. or Doctorate of research) in “Hydraulic Engineering and Modelling of Environmental Systems” (University of Padua, Italy): “Hydrodynamics and morphodynamics of tidal channels”.

1999, Laurea (five years, equivalent to M.Sc. Degree) in “Environmental Engineering”, 110/110 with honours (University of Trento, Italy): “On the formation of tidal meanders: linear stability theory”.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

2016 (July): Visiting professor at Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China).

2014 (March-April): Visiting professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne (EPFL), collaborating with prof. A. Wüest (EPFL and Eawag).

2011 (May-November): Guest Scientist at the Department of Surface Waters - Research and Management, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland, within the project DEWAX (Modelling DEep WAter miXing in lakes), co-funded by European Commission and Provincia Autonoma di Trento (Marie Curie actions, project Trentino - PCOFUND-GA-2008-226070, Researcher 2010 outgoing - Call 4), in collaboration with prof. A. Wüest.

2001 (September-November): Visiting scientist at the Section of Hydraulic Engineering, Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands). Research project: Macro-scale morphological characterisation of the Western Scheldt (Delft Cluster). Supervisor prof. Huib de Vriend (TUDelft).

Since September 2024, Full Professor (Professore Ordinario), Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento (Italy).

2016-present, Deputy Director for International Relations of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering

2023-present, Head of the Physical Limnology Laboratory (PhyLL, https://sites.google.com/unitn.it/phyll), Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, UniTrento.

2018-2024, Director of the BSc and MSc programmes in Environmental Engineering (Coordinatore dei corsi di studio in Ingegneria per l'Ambiente e il Territorio), Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento (Italy).
 

Past roles

2016-2024, Associate Professor (Professore Associato), Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento (Italy).

2012-2016, Professore Aggregato (Aggregate Professor), Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento (Italy).

2005-2016, Ricercatore confermato (roughly equivalent to a tenured Assistant Professor or a Senior Lecturer), Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (formerly Faculty of Engineering and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering), University of Trento (Italy).

Courses taught at the University of Trento (2005-2015):

• Environmental Fluid Mechanics (M.Sc. Environmental Meteorology), 2018/19-2023/24 (course leader).
• Environmental Transport Processes (M.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2021/22-2023/24 (course leader).
• Turbulence in Environmental Flows – Module: Turbulence in lakes and stratified flows (M.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2022/23-2023/24.
• Environmental Fluid Mechanics/Hydropower plants (M.Sc. Energy Engineering), 2013/2014, 2014/15-2017/18 (course leader).
• Hydrodynamics (M.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2011/2012.
• Environmental Hydraulics (M.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2005/06-2015/16, 2016/17-2020/21 (course leader).
• Elements of hydraulics and hydraulic constructions – Module: Hydraulics (B.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2016/17-2018/19.
• Processes of dispersion of pollutants in the environment (B.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2010/11-2013/14 (course leader), 2014/15-2017/18.
• Environmental Modelling (B.Sc. Environmental Engineering), 2005/06-2009/10 (course leader).

PhD courses:

• Understanding turbulence dynamics by simulations and measurements – Module: Turbulence in lakes, 2022.
• Geophysical Fluid Dynamics – Module: Stratified flows, 2013-2015.
• Fluid Mechanics – Module: Stratified flows, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012
• Winter short course on “Modelling mixing and transport in lakes, harbors and estuaries” (MMTLHE14), ICTP-University of Trieste, 10-12 February 2014 (module “Simple models for lake dynamics”)
• Winter short course on “Modelling mixing and transport in lakes, harbors and estuaries” (MMTLHE16), ICTP-University of Trieste, 1-3 February 2016 (module “Simple models for lake dynamics”)

Summer/winter schools:

• Block Course on Physical Limnology 2022, UFZ, Heidelberg (Germany), 28 March - 5 April 2022 – Modules “Models of steady currents in lakes” and “Introduction to sediment transport”.
• Summer school “Catchment Transport Processes” (Ph.D.), ETHZ and EPFL, Einsiedeln (Switzerland), 2-7 July 2017 – Module “Transport processes in lakes”.
• Summer school “Integrating ‘Omics’ Technologies into Aquatic Ecology: New perspectives in Metagenomic, Metabolomic and Bioinformatic applications in the study of aquatic ecosystems” (Ph.D., IRSAE Course), Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), S. Michele all’Adige, Trento, (Italy), 26-30 June 2017 – Module “Environmental modelling”.
• Short course “Transport processes in estuaries: residual effects, dispersion, and morphodynamic implications” (Ph.D. and M.Sc.), 6-8 July 2016, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou (China).
• Winter short course “Modelling mixing and transport in lakes, harbors and estuaries – MMTLHE16” (Ph.D.), ICTP-University of Trieste, 1-3 February 2016 – Module “Simple models for lake dynamics”.
• Participation to the course “Limnology” (M.Sc., course leader prof. A. Wüest), EPFL, Lausanne (Switzerland), March-April 2014.
• Winter short course “Modelling mixing and transport in lakes, harbors and estuaries – MMTLHE14” (Ph.D.), ICTP-University of Trieste, 10-12 February 2014 – Module “Simple models for lake dynamics”.

Physical limnology

Sediment transport and morphodynamics

Hydrodynamics and mophodynamics of tidal environments (estuaries, lagoons)

Eco-hydraulics

Environmental fluid mechanics

The research activity mainly covered different aspects in the broad field of environmental fluid mechanics: physical limnology (lake thermo-hydrodynamics, water quality), sediment transport and morphodynamics, fluvial and especially tidal hydrodynamics, ecohydraulics and ecogeomorphology. A strong expertise was developed in the mathematical modelling of environmental systems, ranging from minimal and analytical models to three-dimensional numerical hydrodynamic models and machine learning applications.

Author of more that 70 papers (79 documents, 2491 citations, h-index 27 - Scopus, November 2024) in leading peer-reviewed international journals (e.g., Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Water Resources Research), various articles, and almost one hundred contributions to national and international conferences.

• Member of the Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) since 2015.
• Member of the International Society of Limnology (SIL) since 2016.
• Member of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) since 2014.
• Member of the International Water Association (IWA) since 2013.
• Member of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) since 2008.
• Member of the Scientific Council of GII (Gruppo Italiano di Idraulica – Italian Group of Hydraulics), 2013-2016. The Scientific Council is the steering committee composed by six representatives elected at the national level among the scholars involved in hydraulic and hydrologic disciplines.
• Marie Curie fellow (project DEWAX, 2011).
• 2005-2007: Member of the Council of the Section Trentino-Alto Adige of AEIT (Federazione Italiana di Elettrotecnica, Elettronica, Automazione, Informatica e Telecomunicazioni).

2016, Coastal Engineering Journal Award   of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) for the paper: H. Cai, M. Toffolon and H. H. G. Savenije, An Analytical Approach to Determining Resonance in Semi-Closed Convergent Tidal Channels, Coastal Engineering Journal, Vol 58 No 3, 1650009, 2016.

2013, Invitation as Junior Lecturer within the “Enrico Marchi Lecture 2013” (http://www.gii-idraulica.net/2013-enrico-marchi-lecture) organized by the Italian Group of Hydraulics (GII, the association that collects all the Italian academicians in the field of fluid mechanics). 
Title of the talk: “Is environmental modelling a science?”.

Steering committees

• Member of the UNESCO Chair in Engineering for Human and Sustainable Development, DICAM UniTrento (www.unescochair.dicam.unitn.it), 2023-present.
• Member of the International Steering Committee of the International Workshop on Physical Processes in Natural Waters (PPNW), 2014-present.
• Member of the Scientific Council of GII (Gruppo Italiano di Idraulica – Italian Group of Hydraulics), 2013-2016.
• Member of the Local organizing committee of 10th Symposium on River, Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics (RCEM2017), Trento-Padova (Italy), 15-22 September 2017.
• Member of the Specialist Group on Lake and Reservoir Management of the International Water Association (IWA), 2015-present.
• Member of the Steering Committee of the XXXIV Italian Conference of Hydraulics and Hydraulic Constructions (IDRA14), Bari (Italy), 8-10 September 2014.
• Member of the Council of the Trentino-Alto Adige Section of the Federazione Italiana di Elettrotecnica, Elettronica, Automazione, Informatica e Telecomunicazioni (AEIT), 2005-2007.

Conferences:

• Chair of the workshop Lake Garda Environmental System (GARDEN), Trento (Italy), 2 February 2017.
• Chair of the Organizing Committee of 17th International Workshop on Physical Processes in Natural Waters (PPNW), Trento 1-4 July 2014.
• Administrator of the “lakes list”, a distribution list created after PPNW2014 and used by the physical limnology community worldwide (>200 members, February 2024).
• Member of the International Steering Committee of the International Workshop on Physical Processes in Natural Waters (PPNW), 2014-present.
• Member of the Specialist Group Management Committee of the IWA Symposium on Lake and Reservoir Management, Prembroke, Virginia (USA), 4-7 August 2015.
• Convener or co-convener of the session “Estuarine processes” at EGU General Assembly (2008-2015).
• Convener or Co-convener of the session “Ecogeomorphology of estuarine systems” at 55th and 56th Conference of Estuarine Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA 2015-2016).
• Convener of the session “Temperature dynamics and thermal structure in lakes and rivers” at XXXIII Congress of the International Society of Limnology (SIL).
• Member of the Steering Committee of the XXXIV Italian Conference of Hydraulics and Hydraulic Constructions (IDRA14), Bari (Italy), 8-10 September 2014.
• Member of the Technical Abstract Review Committee of the 7th International Conference on Coastal Dynamics (CD), Arcachon (France), 24-28 June 2013.

Editorial activity

2014-present, Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology (ISSN 0022-1694)

2015-present, Associate Editor, Journal of Limnology (eISSN 1723-8633)

2012-2016, Editorial Panel Member (corresponding to Associate Editor), Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water management (ISSN 1741-7589)

2018, Guest Editor, Ocean and Coastal Management (ISSN: 0964-5691), Special Issue “Understanding the Impact of Human Interventions on Estuarine Systems, Using Pearl River Delta as a Model System”

2016, Guest Editor, Advances in Water Resources (ISSN: 0309-1708), Special Issue “Ecogeomorphological feedbacks of water fluxes, sediment transport and vegetation dynamics in rivers and estuaries”

2019-present, Scientific Committee Member, Quaderni di Idrodinamica, Società Editrice Esculapio, Bologna, Italy

Reviewer of manuscripts for more than 50 journals. Reviewer of research projects funded by several institutions worldwide. Reviewer for the Italian assessment of the quality of research (VQR).