He obtained a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cagliari, where in April 2017 he also earned a PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Technologies. From 2003 to 2023, he collaborated with the Desertification Research Centre (NRD) of the University of Sassari, contributing to numerous national and international research and cooperation projects focused on the management and protection of water resources, with particular emphasis on groundwater. Between 2020 and 2023, he served as a researcher at the Department of Agriculture. Since October 2023, he has been an Associate Professor of Applied Geology at the Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture of the University of Cagliari.

Research activity

His research activity mainly focuses on topics related to water resources, particularly groundwater. These include the qualitative and quantitative assessment of groundwater resources; seawater intrusion processes in coastal aquifers; nitrate groundwater pollution from agricultural sources; assessment of intrinsic and integrated vulnerability of aquifers to contamination; evaluation of natural groundwater recharge at the watershed and/or hydrogeological basin scale in arid and semi-arid environments; water harvesting techniques and managed aquifer recharge (MAR), including the use of non-conventional water resources, to be implemented particularly in developing countries; and desertification processes related to water resources management issues.

He was coordinator for the NRD of the MENAWARA project (Non-conventional Water Reuse in Agriculture in Mediterranean Countries, 2019–2023) (https://www.enicbcmed.eu/projects/menawara), funded by the EU under the ENI CBC MED Programme. He also contributed to the H2020 project EWA-BELT (Linking East and West African Farming Systems Experience into a Belt of Sustainable Intensification, 2020–2025) (https://www.ewabelt.eu/) as leader of the research group involved in activities related to Sustainable Water Management, with particular reference to experimental activity aimed at evaluating the efficiency of traditional water harvesting structures in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania. He is currently PI for DICAAR of the NATMed project (Nature-based Solutions on Existing Infrastructures for Resilient Water Management in the Mediterranean, 2023–2026) (https://natmed-project.eu/), funded by the EU within the PRIMA Programme. Research activities, carried out in collaboration with the NRD-UNISS, focus on assessing the effectiveness of a Nature-based Solution (NbS) based on the FIA technique (Forested Infiltration Area), with the aim of contributing to the mitigation of nitrate groundawater contamination in the Arborea Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (western-central Sardinia).

Since 2024, he has been a member of the InterDepartmental Center for Engineering and Envirionemntal Sciences (CINSA) of the University of Cagliari, and serves as scientific coordinator of the collaboration agreement with ARPAS, aimed at identifying predisposing factors for flash flood phenomena. These factors are investigated within the geo-pedological, morphometric, vegetation-related, hydrological, hydraulic, and infrastructural domains across the river basins of the Hydrographic District of Sardinia.

He is the author of approximately 90 publications, including 31 papers published in national and international peer-reviewed scientific journals indexed in Scopus or Web of Science (WoS). Bibliometric indicators (updated to February 2026): number of Scopus/WoS-indexed publications: 31; number of citations (Scopus): 573; H-index (Scopus): 10.

Teaching activity

Since the 2023–2024 academic year, he has been teaching Applied Geology in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering at the University of Cagliari (60 hours, 6 CFU).

Since the same academic year, he has also been teaching Hydrogeology in the Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering for Sustainable Development at the University of Cagliari (60 hours, 6 CFU).

Since the 2019–2020 academic year, he has been teaching the course “Desertification Processes and Land Degradation: Management Experiences” within the PhD Programme in Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the University of Cagliari (15 hours, 3 CFU).

From the 2020–2021 to the 2021–2022 academic years, he taught Hydrogeology in the Master’s Degree Programme in Agricultural Systems at the Department of Agriculture of the University of Sassari (32 hours, 4 CFU).

In the 2021–2022 academic year, he taught Project Management and Financial Reporting in the Master’s Degree Programme in Migration Flows Management at the Department of Law of the University of Sassari (36 hours, 6 CFU).

International Teaching Activities

He delivered a seminar entitled “3D Hydrogeological Conceptual Models and Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Systems in Arid Regions (Tunisia, Algeria)”, addressed to students attending the intensive course “Improving Water Productivity in Dryland Agricultural Systems”, organized at the Arid Zones Research Institute (Institut des Régions Arides – IRA, Médenine, Tunisia) during the period 31 October–18 November 2016, within the framework of the Joint International Master of Science Programme in Integrated Drylands Management.

In the 2022–2023 academic year, he delivered a seminar entitled “Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Systems in Arid and Semiarid Regions” to first-year students of the Master’s Degree Programmes in Sustainable Water and Land Management in Agriculture and Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Resilience at the CIHEAM Bari (Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Istituto Agronomico Mediterraneo di Bari).

In June 2024, he delivered a seminar entitled “Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) to Improve Water Management under Climate Change Scenarios” to participants of the Fourth Edition of the International Advanced School in Agricultural Meteorology “Agricultural Meteorology for Managing the Risk of Extreme Events”, held at the Conegliano University Campus (24–28 June 2024).