Sofia Fellini

Sofia Fellini is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at the Polytechnic University of Turin, where she teaches Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics while coordinating the doctoral course Urban Climates. She is also a member of the FULL Interdepartmental Center - Future Urban Legacy Lab, contributing to interdisciplinary research on sustainable urban environments.

Dr. Fellini earned her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering through a joint program between Politecnico di Torino and École Centrale de Lyon, followed by postdoctoral research at the Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides et d'Acoustique (LMFA) in Lyon. In 2025, she was a Visiting Researcher at Imperial College London. She obtained the French Qualification aux fonctions de Maître de Conférences (CNU section 60) in 2022 and the Italian National Scientific Qualification in 2025 for the academic field CEAR08 (Hydraulics).

Her research focuses on urban environmental fluid dynamics, particularly the dispersion of air pollutants in urban environments. She employs a multidisciplinary approach combining numerical modeling (including Large Eddy Simulations), complex network theory, and wind tunnel experiments to investigate urban airflow patterns, the impact of urban vegetation on air quality, and fluid dynamics in complex urban geometries. Her work addresses critical challenges related to sustainable urban development, climate change adaptation, and public health.

An analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on urban pollutant dispersion mechanisms, with particular emphasis on the role of vegetation in street canyons. Her research integrates experimental validation with advanced computational techniques, demonstrating growing sophistication in modeling complex urban airflow phenomena. The publications span environmental engineering, fluid mechanics, and atmospheric science, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of her work.

Dr. Fellini actively supervises PhD students including Anna Eberrini (40th cycle, 2024-present) and Annika Vittoria Del Ponte (38th cycle, 2022-present). She leads several significant research projects including SCoolAir: Empowering schools for air quality action (2025-2026), RaRiskD - Rapid landslide risk mitigation (2025-2027), and LIBRA - The Library of the Air (2024-2026).

She is an active member of several professional organizations including EUROMECH (2024-present), ANIV-G (2020-present), and the Italian Hydraulics Group (GII) (2016-present), contributing to the broader scientific community through these affiliations.