Maria Pregnolato

Dr. Maria Pregnolato is an Assistant Professor in the Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk department within the Civil Engineering and Geosciences faculty at Delft University of Technology. She also holds the position of Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on infrastructure resilience and risk management from natural hazards, with particular expertise in flood impacts on transportation networks and structural systems.

Dr. Pregnolato earned her PhD in Civil Engineering from Newcastle University in 2017, an MSc in Building Engineering and Architecture from the University of Pavia and Tongji University in 2012, and an MSc in Strategy, Leadership and Change from the University of Bristol in 2022. Her educational background reflects a strong foundation in both technical engineering and strategic leadership.

Her research interests span infrastructure resilience, flood risk management, bridge engineering, structural health monitoring, and Digital Twins for civil infrastructure. A significant portion of her work explores the integration of digital technologies with traditional civil engineering practices, particularly in the context of climate change adaptation and natural hazard risk management. She has pioneered approaches to bridge scour management and developed novel frameworks for assessing flood impacts on critical infrastructure networks.

Analysis of her recent publications (2019-2025) reveals a clear evolution in her research focus, with increasing emphasis on digital solutions for infrastructure resilience. Her work has expanded from traditional flood risk assessment to incorporate Digital Twins, sensor technologies, and nature-based solutions. The publications demonstrate strong international collaboration, with research spanning multiple continents and addressing both developed and developing world contexts.

Dr. Pregnolato has received several prestigious awards recognizing her contributions to the field:

• EGU Outstanding Early Career Award (2021)
• EPSRC Fellowship (2018)
• EPSRC RISE Award (2018)
• Fellow of the Women in Engineering Society (2019)

She actively supervises MSc students and has secured competitive research funding, including an EPSRC Fellowship to investigate extreme flooding impacts on bridges. Her research program integrates hydrodynamic modeling, structural analysis, and digital monitoring technologies to develop comprehensive risk management frameworks for critical infrastructure. Dr. Pregnolato maintains strong international collaborations, with visiting researcher positions at Politecnico di Milano (2022) and the University of Washington (2019), demonstrating her global impact in the field of civil infrastructure resilience.