Many agricultural areas within the Mediterranean region are experiencing a broad range of threats related to the reduction of water resources availability mainly driven by water overexploitation and pollution and land degradation. Furthermore, climate change is expected to exacerbate the existing water scarcity conditions, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Irrigated agriculture can prevent yield losses due to drought periods; on the other hand, it is required to become more efficient, given the competing and equally relevant civil and industrial uses. To this end, effective implementation of innovative solutions to limit water waste while improving sustainable agricultural production at the irrigation district level is of primary importance. The Land Reclamation Consortia (LRC) in Italy are public entities in charge of water resources management and development and flood prevention in agriculture. They can be responsible for water resources monitoring by collecting data on rainfall, water levels and agricultural water use for a more accurate and sustainable management of water resources. LRC can also promote precision irrigation practices among farmers by the use of advanced technologies. In this respect, this research project aims at developing innovative solutions (e.g., Decision Support Tools) for farmers targeting a better use of water resources for irrigation and maintenance/increase of agricultural production, to be implemented at the LRC scale.

The Ph.D. Candidate should have a background in agricultural/environmental engineering, earth and environmental sciences, or related disciplines. A solid background in mathematics, statistics and data analysis is recommended. In addition, programming skills (e.G., MATLAB, R project, Python), GIS knowledge, and experience in re-analysis, climate model and remote sensing data retrieval and elaboration will be positively evaluated. A willingness for international mobility is also recommended, as well as an attitude to work in a collaborative environment, with an interdisciplinary approach.

The research activity will be carried out at the Department of Engineering, University of Messina within the Group of Water Engineering and Hydrology covering research topics related to water resources management, stochastic hydrology applied to the analysis of extreme hydrometeorological events, drought and flood risk management, hydrological and hydraulic river basin modeling, among others. The Research Group collaborates with several other research groups in Italy and abroad.