Hydrologist · Informatics + Ecology · Naples, Italy
Fluidly moving between codes, ecology, and the atmosphere to keep water infrastructure from running dry.
River survey · Ganga basin
What I work on
Most of my work sits where hydrological modelling, field instrumentation and environmental chemistry overlap — because the interesting failures in water systems usually happen between disciplines rather than inside one.
Can the same piece of infrastructure cut a flood peak and hold water for a drought? I model dual-purpose systems — detention and infiltration basins paired with storage — against Italy's past, present and projected conditions.
Data-scarce basins need cheaper, faster ways to see what water is doing. I work with acoustic profilers, drones and satellite imagery, and on indices that map flood-prone land where no gauge network exists.
The cheapest water infrastructure is often already alive. Nature-based solutions for river rejuvenation, alongside the contamination side of the same story — microplastics, sewer overflows, the microbial life of the Ganges and Yamuna.
Current work · Sustain Tunis 2026
Conventional practice treats a detention basin and a supply reservoir as separate assets solving opposite problems. My current work argues they should be the same asset. A storage-first hybrid basin — detention plus infiltration — can deliver water supply, attenuate the flood peak and recharge groundwater at once. I tested the design across eight climate types to see where the trade-off holds and where it breaks.
Multi-Objective Robust Decision Making for Hybrid (detention + infiltration) Water Infrastructure under Hydro-Climatic Extremes
With Prof. Salvatore Manfreda (HydroLAB, DICEA, Federico II), Er. Davide Talamini and Dr. Marco Sandrucci (Proger SPA, Rome).
Record
Civil engineering in Punjab, atmospheric science in Varanasi, hydro-meteorology in Nanjing, and now water resources in Naples. Orange marks a post, green marks a degree.
Dec 2025 →
Rome. Flood and drought dynamics under climate change; hydrological-balance modelling of a national case study; assessing Italy's exposure to water-related risk.
May 2025 →
Naples. Digital outreach and multimedia strategy for the science communication committee: campaigns, YouTube productions and international webinars on novel observation methods.
Dec 2024 →
HydroLAB, led by Prof. Salvatore Manfreda, at DICEA, University of Naples Federico II — jointly with IUSS Pavia. Analysing water storage and reuse solutions for sustainable water management in the face of hydro-climatic extremes.
2023 – 2025
Nanjing. Representing students, then advising the regional World Meteorological Organization training centre.
2023 – 2024
Department of Hydro-meteorology and Water Resources. Combined sewer overflows, sediment transport and blockage; greenhouse-gas emissions from soils and peatland.
2023
Varanasi. Carbon footprint accounting for rural communities, and pathways to carbon neutrality.
2023
Smart Living Lab for a Clean River, with H2O Lyon and INSA Lyon. River monitoring, water and sediment quality, and nature-based solutions for river rejuvenation.
2022 – 2023
Varanasi. Particulate matter and air quality index work; building an urban emissions inventory.
2021 – 2022
Alongside volunteer coordination for ITC Limited's community programmes in Varanasi.
2024 – 2027
An Italian National PhD of National Interest in Sustainable Development and Climate Change, run jointly by the University of Naples Federico II and IUSS Pavia.
2020 – 2022
Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University. Earth and atmospheric sciences. First class with distinction.
2013 – 2017
Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar. Plus certificates from IIT Kharagpur in agroecology and in electronic waste management.
Toolkit
Listed because collaborations usually start with someone needing a specific capability. If something here matches a gap in your project, that is a good reason to write.
What I can put in a river, a borehole or a fume cupboard.
What I model, map and analyse with.
Peer-reviewed
CATENA · 110242 · Elsevier · 2026 doi 10.1016/j.catena.2026.110242
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment · Springer find on Scholar
Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess · 39, 6399–6415 · Springer find on Scholar
Climate Dynamics · 63, 267 · Springer find on Scholar
Water Footprints & Achieving Sustainable Development Goals · 1, 1–18 · Elsevier · book chapter find on Scholar
Water Footprints & Achieving Sustainable Development Goals · V1, 243–262 · Elsevier · book chapter find on Scholar
Land Degradation & Development · 36(5), 1405–1429 · Wiley doi 10.1002/ldr.5446
CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water · 53(1), e202400104 · Wiley doi 10.1002/clen.202400104
Urbanization, Climate Change, and Health · Springer · book chapter find on Scholar
Climate Dynamics · 63(3), 145 · Springer doi 10.1007/s00382-025-07585-z
Earth Observation for Monitoring and Modeling Land Use · 241–264 · Elsevier · book chapter find on Scholar
International Journal of Communication Systems · 38(14), e70224 · Wiley find on Scholar
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems · 34(11), e70014 · Wiley doi 10.1002/aqc.70014
Ecohydrology · 17(6), e2662 · Wiley doi 10.1002/eco.2662
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth A/B/C · Elsevier find on Scholar
Chemosphere · Elsevier find on Scholar
Water, Air & Soil Pollution · 234, 750 · Springer · 2023 doi 10.1007/s11270-023-06772-0
EQA – International Journal of Environmental Quality · 50(1), 55–79 · 2022 find on Scholar
Zenodo · HydroLAB, DICEA, University of Naples Federico II · June 2026 doi 10.5281/zenodo.20640901
Zenodo · HydroLAB, DICEA, University of Naples Federico II · 2026 doi 10.5281/zenodo.18903835
Book chapters and a few recent articles are not yet indexed with a resolvable DOI — those are on ResearchGate.
Service to the field
Reviewing is unpaid, invisible and the thing that actually holds the literature together. These are the journals I referee for, in a non-editorial capacity.
Reviewing is unpaid, invisible and the thing that actually holds the literature together. Non-editorial capacity.
Where the community work happens.
Field & outreach
Publishing is only half of it. Through the MOXXI working group and a run of workshops and lectures, I spend a lot of time turning observation methods into something other researchers — and the communities living with the water — can actually use.
Selected talks
Multi-objective robust decision making for hybrid (detention + infiltration) water infrastructure under hydro-climatic extremes.
Backcasting and the Three Horizons method for long-range planning.
Advanced hydrometry techniques for water resource management.
Flood damage assessment: a methodological approach using AI-based flood mapping.
Mediterranean water resource management under change.
Modelling the fate and transport of microplastics in the aquatic environment.
Hands-on hydrology, remote sensing and urban water management.
Greenhouse-gas emissions from hydropower reservoirs: status and prospects.
National workshop at the Rural Connectivity Initiative, IIT (BHU).
Away from the desk
A researcher is not only a publication list. These are the things that keep the other work possible.
Mountains, mostly. The Himalaya first, the Alps and Apennines since. Good catchments are best understood on foot.
Occasional rather than devout, and I make no claims about pace.
Cooking for people is the fastest way I know to feel at home in a new country. Naples has raised the bar considerably.
Soil, water and roots — the same system I study, at a scale I can hold in my hands.
Widely and unsystematically, which I have stopped apologising for.
I write and post music as Santa-chi. It has nothing to do with hydrology, which is precisely the point.
Certified as a level 1 trainer, which is mostly useful for surviving long fieldwork days.
Ask me anything
Type a question and this will answer from what I have actually published and worked on. It only knows my own work — if it doesn't have the answer it will say so and point you at my inbox rather than guess.
Open to work
I am actively looking for research collaborations, consortium partners and applied projects. Here is the honest version of what I bring and what I am after.
Get in touch
The fastest route is email. I read everything, and I reply to anything that has a real question in it — including from students.
Where the work has happened
Across India, China, France and Italy — universities, national agencies, research networks and industry.
