SPECIAL SESSION #01

Vito Imbrenda

Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) - National Research Council (CNR)

• vito.imbrenda@cnr.it

Maria Ragosta

University of Basilicata - Department of Health Sciences, Italy

• maria.ragosta@unibas.it

Mariagrazia D'Emilio

Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) - National Research Council (CNR)

• mariagrazia.demilio@cnr.it

Rosa Coluzzi

Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) - National Research Council (CNR)

• rosa.coluzzi@cnr.it

Ecological processes and land-use/land-cover dynamics, together with socio-economic factors, are among the main factors regulating the sustainability of land systems. The inherently multidimensional nature of land systems requires an integrated approach capable of synthesizing diverse data sources to produce reliable, user-friendly, and easily interpretable sustainability metrics. This special session focuses on the development and application of measurement/estimation approaches that combine ecological-environmental, remote sensing (mainly satellite-derived), and socio-economic data to assess the sustainability of land systems. From a purely metrological perspective, the challenge is not limited to data integration alone, but also to ensuring consistency, traceability, and quantification of uncertainty across different scales of observation. In this context, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have long played a pivotal role in enabling such integration, through advanced sensing infrastructures, geospatial data platforms, and data-driven modeling approaches. Nevertheless, the diverse range of data types—including remote sensing data, demographic, economic, ecological and land-use/land-cover datasets—poses significant challenges for harmonization, comparability, and the development of robust indicators.

Vito Imbrenda graduated in Environmental Engineering (2003), he obtained a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Basilicata (2012). Since 2018 he has been a researcher at the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis of the National Research Council of Italy (IMAA-CNR, Tito Scalo - Italy). His activities focus on the study of complex phenomena involving land systems (land degradation, urban sprawl, climate change impacts, etc.) with the potential socio-economic implications through the use of Landscape Ecology tools and Earth Observation techniques. He is the current IMAA-CNR contact point in the National Working Groups ‘Drought, scarcity and water crisis’, “Internal areas, marginal and outermost regions”, and in the IRIDE project, European Earth Observation satellite programme (ESA - ASI).

Maria Ragosta is Associate Professor of Physics since at the Department of Health Sciences of the University of Basilicata. She graduated in Physics in 1989 from the University of Naples Federico II. She served as a university researcher from 1993 to 2005 and then as Associate Professor from 2005 to 2024 at the Department of Engineering of the University of Basilicata. Her research activity focuses on environmental physics, with particular emphasis on the identification, assessment, and mitigation of the impact of human activities on biosystems. She is co-author of over 80 publications in international journals and books. She has been a member of the Doctoral Board of the PhD in Environmental Engineering and the PhD in Engineering for Innovation and Sustainable Development. She is currently an elected member of the Academic Senate, Chair of the Joint Faculty-Student Committee and of the Teaching Committee of the Department of Health Sciences, and a member of the Degree Program Board in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Mariagrazia D'Emilio is PhD Researcher at National Research Council - Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis Napoli, Italy. She graduated in Physics in 1998 from the University of Naples Federico II. Dr. D’Emilio’s research focuses on the development of integrated and innovative methodologies for environmental monitoring in degraded areas. Her work combines chemical–physical, biological, geophysical and remote sensing approaches to assess atmospheric, and soil pollution. She investigates spatial patterns of contamination and identifies natural versus anthropogenic sources through advanced statistical analyses. She is co-author of over 70 publications in international journals and books.

Rosa Coluzzi is a senior researcher at the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). Her research interests focus on the use of aerial and satellite remote sensing techniques and advanced image processing for studying land cover dynamics and their interactions with climate and human activities. In the multidisciplinary field of Land System Science, she is involved in developing innovative approaches for the analysis of complex environmental processes, based on the spatio-temporal analysis of multisensor and multitemporal Earth Observation data to estimate drivers and impacts on sustainability in the context of climate change. She has authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals, as well as book chapters and conference proceedings. In addition, she serves as a guest editor for special issues and collections of international scientific journals, and is a member of the editorial boards of GIScience & Remote Sensing (Taylor & Francis) and Scientific Reports (Springer Nature), and a Senior Editorial Board member for Discover Environment (Springer Nature).