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The Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica - IRPI) is an institute of the Department of Earth System Sciences and Technology for the Environment (DTA), of the Italian National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR). The mission of the institute is to design and execute scientific research and technological development (R&D) in the fields of natural hazards, environmental protection, and the sustainable use of geo-resources. IRPI carries out its mission by operating at different geographical and temporal scales, and in different climatic, physiographic and geological zones. The goal is to produce new knowledge on potentially hazardous natural phenomena and their interactions with the natural and human environments, and to develop technologies, innovative services & products useful to the definition, prediction and mitigation of natural risks, to land planning, and to the sustainable and effective management of geo-environmental resources.

Activities
IRPI conducts research and technological development (R&D) in the fields of natural hazards and environmental protection. In the same general topics, IRPI provides scientific and technological consulting for public authorities and private business. IRPI performs outreach activates, including training and dissemination, on natural hazards and their consequences.

Research & Development
The R&D activities focus on natural hazards, and specifically geo-hydrological hazards, including floods and flash floods, debris flows, landslides, erosion, hazards in glacial and coastal areas, ground subsidence, pollution and depletion of surface water and groundwater, and on the expected impact of climate change on the geo-hydrological hazards and the geo-resources. The primary goal is to improve current knowledge on geological, geomorphological, hydrological, hydraulic, hydrogeological, soil, seismic, geotechnical, geomechanical, geothermal and environmental issues, and to define new criteria, methods, models and tools for the prediction and prevention of geo-hydrological hazards and their consequences, for the definition and mitigation of geo-hydrological risks, and for the design of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies.

Research groups
IRPI scientists organize themselves in thematic, multi-disciplinary research groups, including a geo-monitoring group, a geomorphology group, the geoclimalp group, and the hydrology and the groundwater groups.

Geo-monitoring group
The geo-monitoring group includes engineers, geologists and technicians involved in the development, testing and the application of tools, technologies and methods for monitoring landslides, and slope and fluvial processes. The unit is equipped with instruments for topographic monitoring, including an airborne Lidar.

Geomorphology group
The geomorphology group consists of geologists, engineers and physicists who develop and test methods and tools for the identification and mapping of landslides, for the landslide susceptibility and hazard assessment, and for the definition of landslide and flood risk for the population of Italy. The group operates SANF, a prototype early warning system for the operational forecasting of rainfall-induced landslides in Italy. The system is tested by the Italian National Department of Civil Protection. The group maintains POLARIS, a web portal on landslide and flood risk to the population of Italy.

Geoclimalp group
The geoclimalp group investigates geomorphological and instability processes in glacial environments in the Alps, and performs climatic and hydrological studies in Alpine river basins.

Groundwater group
The groundwater group consists of engineers, geologists and technicians that execute monitoring and R&D activities in the realm of groundwater hydrology. Topics of their research include the exploitation of groundwater, the protection of groundwater resources from degradation and over-exploitation, the management of groundwater resources in the context of climate change, groundwater pollution and remediation, the interaction between groundwater and engineering works, including sites to treat and store waste.

Hydrology group
The hydrology group consists of engineers and technicians that investigate meteorological and hydrological processes at all geographical scales, from the local to the global scale. The group studies the processes of the formation of floods, develops and tests tools and models for hydro-meteorological monitoring, the estimation of the soil water content, and for flood hazard assessment and risk evaluation. Operational models developed by the hydrology group operate in civil protection centres.

Publication
The results of the R&D activities conducted by IRPI are published in international, peer reviewed scientific journal.

Consulting
IRPI provides consulting services in the context of natural hazards (geological, geomorphological, hydrological, hydraulics risks), for the monitoring and characterization of soils and rocks, for soil conservation, for land planning and watershed management, for civil protection and for adaptation to climate and environmental changes.

Products and services
The products & services offered by IRPI consist of in situ and remote geo-monitoring (from the ground, by air, by satellite), hydro-meteorological and groundwater monitoring, the recognition and mapping of landslides and inundated areas, the design of operational landslide and flood forecasting systems, flood and landslide hazards and risk assessments, the evaluation of the availability and quality of water and of renewable geo-resources, the definition of mitigation and adaptation strategies, and training and dissemination services on natural hazards. The main clients of the products & services offered by the Institute are the Italian National Department of Civil Protection, regional and local Administrations, river basin authorities, public authorities and private businesses that operate infrastructure services (e.g., ANAS, RFI), and other public and private entities that deal with the prevention of geo-hydrological hazards. POLARIS, the web portal dedicated to flood and landslide risk to the population in Italy, is a service offered by IRPI. The portal contains data, statistics and maps of landslides and floods that have produced casualties (deaths, missing persons, injured people) and evacuees and homeless in Italy.

Centre of Competence for Civil Protection
IRPI is a Centre of Competence of the Italian National Department of Civil Protection, an office of the Prime Minister. The competence of the Institute is on geo-hydrological risks, and in particular on landslide and flood. For the Italian National Department of Civil Protection IRPI execute applied research and provides consulting services before, during and in the aftermath of natural disasters. IRPI has helped to identify areas for the construction of settlements in areas affected by the 1997 earthquakes in the Umbria-Marche Apennines, and by the 2009 Abruzzo earthquakes, determined the residual risk in areas affected by hydro-meteorological extreme events (for example, in Sicily and in the Marche regions), and has executed the topographic monitoring of large landslides, including the Montaguto landslide (AV), the Rotolon (VI) landslide, and the Montescaglioso (MT) landslide. The techniques and methods used to monitor the landslides were used to monitor the Costa Concordia ship wrecked at Isola del Giglio (GR). For the Italian National Department of Civil Protection IRPI has developed and operate SANF; a prototype warning system for the operational forecasting of rainfall-induced landslides in Italy.

Outreach
IRPI contributes to undergraduate and post-graduate education on natural, environmental and human-made hazards and risks, their prediction and mitigation, on soil conservation and land use planning, and on civil protection. The Institute carries out dissemination activities working with schools, and informing the general public on the risks posed by landslides and floods to the population of Italy. IRPI participates in the campaign Io non rischio promoted by the Italian National Department of Civil Protection in collaboration with ANPAS, INGV and RELUIS.

Headquarters
The headquarters of IRPI is in Perugia, and the Institute has centres in Bari, Padua, Rende (CS), and Turin. The Institute is a network of laboratories and expertise in Italy. The geographical distribution is functional to the R&D activities because it allows scientists to study natural phenomena where they occur, and where they are more frequent or abundant. This facilitates the collaboration with local authorities interested in the activities and the products & services offered by the Institute.

Personnel
One hundred employees of the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR) work in the Institute (September 2014), including scientists, technologists, technicians and administrative staff. In addition, about 50 external collaborators contribute to the activities, including research fellows, graduate students, contract staff, and research associates.

History
The Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica was established by the CNR President on 22 January 2001. The Constitutive Act was first amended on 25 September 2008, and a second time on 20 October 2013. The Institute is the result of the merging of five Institutes and Centres of the Italian National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR), including:


 * The Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica nel Bacino Padano, in Turin,
 * The Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica nell’Italia centrale, in Perugia,
 * Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica nell’Italia Meridionale ed Insulare, in Rende (CS) ,
 * The Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica nei bacini dell'Italia Nord-Orientale, formerly Istituto di Geologia Applicata alla Pianificazione Viaria e all'Uso del Sottosuolo, in Padua,
 * The Centro di Studio sulle Risorse Idriche e la Salvaguardia del Territorio, in Bari, and
 * Personnel of the Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, in Florence.

Main history steps

 * 1970 - Following the 1966 flood of the Arno River in Florence, CNR establishes new institutes in Turin, Perugia and Rende (CS).
 * 1984 - CNR establishes the Centro di Studio sulle Applicazioni di Tecnologie Avanzate nel campo dell'Idrogeologia" (CSATAI) in Bari . The centre is next changed to Centro di Studio sulle Risorse Idriche e la Salvaguardia del Territorio (CERIST).
 * 1994 - The CNR Istituto di Geologia Applicata alla Pianificazione Viaria e all'Uso del Sottosuolo in Padua becomes Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica nei bacini dell'Italia Nord-Orientale.
 * 2001 - CNR establishes the Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica (IRPI) in Perugia with support units in Bari, Rende (CS) , Padua and Turin.
 * 2008 - CNR establishes a unit of IRPI in Florence.
 * 2013 - CNR closes the unit of IRPI in Florence.

Directors

 * Prof. Lucio Ubertini (2001 - 2008)
 * Dr. Marino Sorriso Valvo (2008 - 2009)
 * Dr. Fausto Guzzetti, facente funzioni (2009 - 2011)
 * Dr. Fausto Guzzetti (2011 - )