Pierluigi Claps

Pierluigi Claps is a Full Professor in the Department of Environmental, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at the Polytechnic University of Turin. He serves as a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Politecnico University Centre for Social Affairs and the Interdepartmental Center SISCON for Safety of Infrastructures and Constructions. He is also the Spoke Leader for research and innovation activities in the RETURN Foundation and leads major research initiatives including LIFE IP CLIMAX PO and the RETURN project under PNRR. He has held visiting researcher positions at the University of Melbourne and the University of Virginia.

His research interests include climate change adaptation, dams safety, extreme events, flood hydrology, probabilistic risk assessment, and water resources. His work spans both theoretical and applied hydrology, with a strong emphasis on regional flood frequency analysis, climate-hydrology interactions, and the development of tools for risk assessment and infrastructure resilience. He has led numerous national (PRIN) and international (Interreg, LIFE) research projects and has contributed to major initiatives such as FLORA, RENERFOR, and CUBIST.

The recent publications (2024–2025) highlight a strong focus on rainfall extremes, flood modeling, citizen science (SIREN project), and the development of national databases such as FOCA (Flood and Catchment Atlas) and TILDE (Italian Large Dams dataset). These works employ advanced statistical methods, GIS, and data integration techniques to address climate change impacts on hydrological extremes and infrastructure vulnerability.

He has supervised multiple PhD students and serves on the doctoral college committees of both Politecnico di Torino and Università degli Studi di Catania across programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Defense Against Natural Risks.

His teaching portfolio includes courses such as Climatology and Hydrology, Civil Protection, Water Resources Planning, and Evidence, Models, and Perceptions of Climate Change. He has also taught advanced statistical methods for climate variability assessment.

He has held leadership roles in professional organizations, including President of the Italian Hydraulics Group (2012–2016), and has organized major conferences such as the EGU Leonardo Conference on Hydrology and Society (2012) and the Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms. He has also served on scientific committees of EGU, IAHS, and STAHY workshops.