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Full Name : Maria Cristina Rulli
Role : Full Professor
Email : mariacristina.rulli@polimi.it
Office : P.za L. da Vinci, 32 - Milan
Telephone : +39-02-23996292

Dr. Maria Cristina Rulli is Full Professor of Hydrology and Water and Food Security at the Politecnico di Milano since 2019, she is vice president of the Italian Society of Water Engineering since 2021 and she is Fellow of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti since 2024. In 2024 she has been awarded the Creativity Prize-Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. Her research focuses on the interaction between hydrological processes and humanity. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus perspective, she has been investigating the impacts on food and water security induced by global changes. She has focused on the emergent phenomenon of Large Scale Land Acquisition (LSLA) and its implication on water, energy and food security, as well as on water governance, rural livelihoods, and the emergence of water conflicts and migration. Her most recent research concentrates on the nexus between Health and Dry Environment focusing on the potential nexus between the unsustainable food system and the insurgence of diseases (e.g., zoonotic, food and nutrition related, uncommunicable).

Education and Professional Career

PH.D. IN HYDROLOGY. Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.

Febraury 2000

Full Professor, Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Sept. 2019 -Present

Associate professor,Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Mar 2013 - Sept 2019

Adjunct Researcher, National Research Council of Italy, Biometeorology division, Sassari, Italy.

Mar 2013 - Sept 2019

Assistant Professor, Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Sept 2003 - Mar2013

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Mar 2000 - Sept 2003

Research Associate, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

May 1998 - Dec 1998

Research

Maria Cristina Rulli is author of 150 publications, 140 of them published in peer reviewed scientific journals

BIBLIOMETRY
Google Scholar
Total Citations:9635 (as of September 11th , 2024), H-INDEX: 54, I10-INDEX: 89

Scopus
Total Citations: 6479 (as of September 11th, 2024),
H-INDEX: 45

Web of Science
Total Citations: 5736 (as of September 11th, 2024),
H-INDEX: 42
Highly Cited Papers: 5; Hot Cited Paper:1

H-index

45 (scopus)

Publications on International Journal

140

Number of Publications

150

Co-coordinator of the research group AWARE (aware.polimi.it) since its constitution

Since 2016

Associate editor of Journal of Cleaner Production

Since 2021

Member of the Technical Advisory Board (TAB) on Environmental Footprint of the European Commission (DG Environment)

Since 2020

Co-coordinator of the working group DIRE (Development and Improvement of LCA methodology: Research and Exchange of Experiences) of the Italian Network on LCA, since its constitution

Since 2010

Member of the management board of the Italian Network on LCA

Since 2019

Member of the working group n. 3 “Tools to measure the circular economy” inside ICESP (Italian Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform)

Since 2019

Member of the working groups "Construction and demolition waste” and “Plastics” inside the Observatory for the circular economy and the energy transition by Regione Lombardia.

Since 2019

Stakeholder in the project INTERREG “LCA4Regions Improved environment and resource efficiency through use of life cycle instruments for implementation of regional policies of the European Union”

Since 2019

Member of the working group n. 5 “Legislative issues” inside SUN (Symbiosis Users Network)

Since 2018

Co-coordinator of the working group “Management and treatment of waste” of the Italian Network on LCA

Since 2016

Member of the scientific committee and of the editorial board of the national journal "Ingegneria dell'ambiente"

Since 2014

Member of the scientific board of the Research Centre MatER (Material & Energy from Refuse) (mater.polimi.it)

Since 2011

Member of the Technical Secretariat for the development of the Product Environmental Footprint -Category Rules (PEFCR) for intermediate paper products in the context of the European Commission project "Environmental Footprint Pilot Phase"

2014 - 2019

Member of working group 1 “Resource potential of construction & demolition waste” of the COST Action “Mining the European Anthroposphere”

2018 - 2019

Member of the working group “Circular Economy” coordinated by ASTER

2018 - 2021

2024

Rulli, M.C., Sardo, M., Ricciardi, L., Govoni, C., Chiarelli, D., Galli, N., Komarek, A., D’Odorico, P. (2024) Meeting the EAT-Lancet ‘healthy’ diet target while protecting land and water resources. Nature Sustainability, accepted for publication.

D’Odorico, P., Dell’Angelo, J., Rulli, M.C. (2024) Water commons grabbing and (in)justice. Nature Water 2, 300–302.

Ricciardi, L., D’Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C. (2024) To what extent can agriculture be reshaped to address healthy and sustainable diets by boosting pulse production locally?. Global Food Security, 40, 100734

2023

Govoni, C. P. D’Odorico, L. Pinotti, Rulli, M.C. (2023), Preserving global land and water resources through the replacement of livestock feeds with agricultural by-products. Nature Food, 4, 1047–1057. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00884-w

Dell’Angelo, J., Rulli, M.C., D’Odorico, P. (2023) Will war in Ukraine escalate the global land rush? Science, 379 (6634), 752-755.

Wolde, S., D'Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C. (2023). Environmental drivers of human migration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Global Sustainability, 6, E9.

Sardo, M., Epifani, I., D’Odorico, P., Galli, N., Rulli, M.C. (2023) Exploring the water–food nexus reveals the interlinkages with urban human conﬂicts in Central America, Nature Water, 22-0477.

2022

Wang, L., Jiao, W., MacBean, N. , Rulli, M.C., Manzoni, S., Vico, G., D’Odorico, P. (2022) Dryland productivity under a changing climate. Nature Climate Change 12, 981–994 (2022).

Galli, N., Dell’Angelo, J., Epifani, I., Rulli, M.C. (2022) Socio-hydrological features of armed conﬂicts in the Lake Chad Basin. Nature Sustainability 5, 843–852.

Chiarelli D.D., D’Odorico P., Müller M.F., Mueller N.D., Davis K.F., Dell’Angelo J., Penny G., Rulli, M.C. (2022) Competition for water induced by transnational land acquisitions for agriculture, Nature Communications, 13, 505.

Tatlhego, M., Chiarelli D.D., Rulli, M.C., D’Odorico, P. (2022). The value generated by irrigation in the command areas of new agricultural dams in Africa, Agric. Water. Management., 264, 107517.

Ricciardi, L., D'Odorico, P., Galli, N., Chiarelli, D.D., Rulli, M.C. (2022) Hydrological implications of large-scale aﬀorestation in tropical biomes for climate change migration, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 377 20210391.

Muylaert, R. L., Kingston, T., Luo J., Vancine, M.H., Galli, N., Carlson, C.J., John, R.S., Rulli, M.C., Hayman, D.T. S. (2022) Present and future distribution of bat hosts of sarbecoviruses: implications for conservation and public health, Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2892022039720220397.

2021

Rulli, M.C., D’Odorico, P., Galli, N., Hayman, D.T.S. (2021), Land-use change and the livestock revolution increase the risk of zoonootic coronavirus transmission from rhinolophid bats, Nature Food, 2(6), 409-416.

Jenkins, W., Rosa, L., Schmidt, J., Band, L., Beltran-Peña, A., Clarens, A., Doney, S., Emanuel, R.E., Glassie, A., Quinn, J., Rulli, M.C., Shobe, W.l, Szeptycki, L, D’Odorico, P. (2021)Values-Based Scenarios of Water Security: Rights to Water, Rights of Waters, and Commercial Water Rights, BioScience, 71, 11, 1157–1170.

Müller, M.F., Penny, G., Niles, M.T., Ricciardi, V., Chiarelli, D.D., Davis, K.F., Dell’Angelo, J., D’Odorico, P., Rosa, L., Rulli, M.C., Mueller, N.D. (2021). Impact of transnational land acquisitons on local food security and dietary diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(4),e2020535118.

Rosa, L., Rulli, M.C., Ali, S., Chiarelli, D.D., Dell’Angelo, J., Mueller, N.D., Scheidel, A., Siciliano, G., D’Odorico, P. (2021), Energy implication of the 21st century agrarian transition, Nature Communications, 12(1), 2319.

2020

Rosa, L., Chiarelli, D. D., Rulli, M.C., Dell'Angelo, J., D'Odorico, P. (2020). Global agricultural economic water scarcity. Science Advances, 6, eaaz6031.

Chiarelli, D.D., Passera, C., Rosa, L., Davis, K. F., D'Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C. (2020). Global gridded dataset of crop-speciﬁc green and blue water requirements, the WATNEEDS model. Scientﬁc Data. 7, 273

D’Odorico, P., Chiarelli, D.D., Rosa, L., Bini, A., Zilberman, D., Rulli, M.C. (2020). The global value of water in agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117, 21985-21993.

Rosa, L., Chiarelli, D.D., Sangiorgio, M., Beltran-Peña, A.A., Rulli, M.C., D’Odorico, P., Fung I. (2020). Potential for sustainable irrigation expansion in a 3 °C warmer climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117.

Davis, K. F., Koo, H. I., Dell'Angelo, J., D'Odorico, P., Este,s L., Kehoe, L. J., Kharratzadeh, M., Kuemmerle, T., Machava, D., Pais, A. J. R., Ribeiro, N., Rulli, M.C., Tatlhego, M. (2020). Tropical forest loss enhanced by large-scale land acquisition. Nature Geoscience, 13, 482-488.

2019

Rulli, M.C., Casirati, S., Dell'Angelo, J., Davis, K.F., Passera, C., D'Odorico, P. (2019), Interdependencies and telecoupling of oil palm expansion at the expense of Indonesian rainforest, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,105, 499, 512,21.

Rosa, L., Chiarelli, D.D., Tu C., Rulli, M.C., D'odorico, P. (2019) Global unsustainable virtual water flows in agricultural trade, Environmental Research Letters, 14, 11, 114001.

2018

D’Odorico, P., Davis, K.F., Rosa, L., Carr, J.A., Chiarelli, D., Dell'Angelo, J., Gephart, J., MacDonald, G.K., Seekell, D.A., Suweis, S., Rulli, M.C. (2018) The Global Food Energy Water Nexus, Review of Geophysics, 56,3,456-531.

Davis, K.F., Chiarelli, D.D., Rulli, M.C., Chhatre, A., Richter, B., Singh, D., Defries, R. (2018) Alternative cereals can improve water use and nutrient supply in India, Science advances 4 (7), eaao1108.

Rosa, L., Rulli, M.C., Davis, K.F., Chiarelli, D.D., Passera, C., D'Odorico, P. (2018) Closing the yield gap while ensuring water sustainability, Environmental Research Letters 13 104002.

Rosa, L., Rulli, M.C., Davis, K. F., D'Odorico, P. (2018). The water‐energy nexus of hydraulic fracturing: A global hydrologic analysis for shale oil and gas extraction. Earth's Future, 6.

Dell’Angelo, J., P. D’Odorico, Rulli, M.C. (2018). The Global Water Grab Syndrome, Ecological Economics, 143, 276-285.

2017

Davis, K.F., Rulli, M.C., Seveso, A., D’Odorico ,P. (2017) Increased food production and reduced water use through optimized crop distribution, Nature Geoscience 10 (12).

D’Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C., Dell’Angelo, J., Davis, K.F., (2017): New frontiers of land and water commodiﬁcation: socioenvironmental controversies of large-scale land acquisition, Land Degradation and Development,28,7,2234-2244.

Rosa, L., Davis, K.F., Rulli, M.C., D'Odorico, P. (2017) Environmental consequences of oil production from oil sands, Earth's Future, 5, 158–170.

Rulli, M.C., Santini, M., Hayman, D.T.S., D’Odorico, P. (2017) The nexus between forest fragmentation in Africa and Ebola virus disease outbreaks. Scientiﬁc Reports 7: 41613.

2016

Dell’Angelo, J., D’Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C., Marchand, P. (2016) The Tragedy of the Grabbed Commons: Coercion and Dispossession in the Global Land Rush. World Development, 92, 1-12.

Rulli, M.C., Bellomi, D., Cazzoli, A., De Carolis, G., D’Odorico, P. (2016) The water-land-food nexus of ﬁrst-generation biofuels. Scientiﬁc Reports, 6, 22521.

2015

Davis, K. F., Yu K., Rulli, M.C., Pichdara, L., D'Odorico, P. (2015). Accelerated deforestation driven by large-scale land acquisitions in Cambodia. Nature Geoscience, 8, 772-775.

Davis, K. F., Rulli, M.C., D’Odorico, P. (2015), The global land rush and climate change, Earth’s Future, 3, 298–311.

2014

Rulli, M.C., D'Odorico P. (2014). Food appropriation through large scale land acquisition. Environ. Res. Lett., 9, 1-8. Davis, K.F., D'Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C. (2014). Moderating diets to feed the future. Earth’s Future, 2, 559-565.

D'Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C. (2014). The land and its people. Nature Geoscience, 7,324-325. htp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2153.

2013

Rulli, M.C., Saviori, A., D'Odorico, P. (2013). Global land and water grabbing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110, 892-897.

D'Odorico, P., Rulli, M.C. (2013). The fourth food revolution. Nature Geoscience, vol. 6, p. 417-418, ISSN: 1752-0894.

Rulli, M.C., P. D'Odorico (2013). The water footprint of land grabbing. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 1-6.

Teaching

Professor at Politecnico di Milano of WATER AND FOOD SECURITY since 2012; CLIMATE AND GLOBAL CHANGES IN THE AGE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT since 2019, CLIMATE and HYDROLOGY since 2017. For tfurther details on teaching see page on Politecnico website.

RECENT GRANTS (project value):

Role: OU coordinator

2019-2022

AG-WAMED-Advancing non conventional water management for innovative climate-resilient water governance in the Mediterranean Area. Project granted by European Union (1400K €).

Role: OU coordinator

2021-2024

NEXUS-NESS-NEXUS Nature Ecosystem Society Solution: Fair and Sustainable Resource Allocation Demonstrator of the Multiple WEFE Nexus Economic, Social and Environmental Benefits for Mediterranean Regions- Project granted by European Union (1800K €).

Role: participant

2019-2023

AWESOME- Managing Water, Ecosystems and food across sectors and Scales in the sOuth Mediterranean. Project granted by European Union (1900K €).

OU coordinator

2019-2023

NEWAVE -Next Water Governance H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network. Project granted by European Union (5000K €).

Role: OU coordinator

2019 - 2021

FLORIMAP- Smart FLOod RIsk MAnagement Policies. Project granted by Cariplo foundation (300K €).

Role: Principal investigator

2018 - 2020

MHYCONOS- Mapping the HYdrological Control on shallOw landSliding. Project granted by CARIPLO Foundation.

Role: participant

2018 - 2020

Sustainable MAnagement of sediment transpoRT in responSE to climate change conditions (SMARTSED), Project funded by CARIPLO Foundation. (200K €).

Role: OU coordinator

2016 - 2018

HERASE -Hydrogeological modeling for Erosion Risk Assessment from SpacE. . Project granted by CARIPLO Foundation (200K €).

Role: OU coordinator

2011 - 2012

MIIUR-Methodologies and Indicators for forest fire risk in the Mediterranean urban-rural interface. Project granted by Sardinia Region (300K €).

Role: OU coordinator

2010 - 2013

SHARE-STELVIO. Un Parco-Osservatorio per lo studio dei Cambiamenti Climatici e Ambientali in alta quota. [A park observatory for studies of climate change at high altitudes]. Project granted by CARIPLO Foundation (1.5K €).

Role: Researcher

2010 - 2013

SHARE-PAPRIKA-Effects of climate change on water resources Karakoram range (Pakistan, Asia). Project granted by EVK2CNR (2000K €).

Role: Researcher

2010

I CARE: Impact of Climate change on Alpine water REsources: the case of Italy and Switzerland. Project granted by POLITECNICO DI MILANO (80K €).

HONORS, RECOGNITION AND AWARDS

CREATIVITY PRIZE – PRINCE SULTAN BIN ABDULAZIZ INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WATER

2024

FELLOW - ISTITUTO VENETO DI SCIENZE, LETTERE AD ARTI

2024

DISTINGUISHED LECTURE - ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DEI LINCEI LECTURE ON THE ROLE OF WATER IN ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND WATER SECURITY

2022

GENERAL LECTURE - AGU UNION SESSION “THE GRAND TRANSFORMATION NEEDED TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE” LECTURE ON “FOOD, ENERGY AND WATER NEXUS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL HEALTH”

2021

GENERAL LECTURE - US EMBASSY MANILA LECTURE ON LAND USE CHANGE, THE LIVESTOCK REVOLUTION, AND CORONAVIRUSES”

2021

GENERAL LECTURE - AGU CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, BEIJING, CHINA. LECTURE ON THE GLOBAL FOOD-ENERGY-WATER NEXUS: HOW WATER CONTROLS SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY

2019

GENERAL LECTURE - ITALIAN REPUBLIC SENATE LECTURE ON GENDER AND WATER SECURITY

2016

DISTINGUISHED LECTURE - ISTITUTO LOMBARDO ACCADEMIA DI SCIENZE E LETTERE LECTURE ON WATER RESOURCES TO FEED THE PLANET

2015

SCIENCE (SECURITY IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES) STUDIES AWARD, POMI FOUNDATION

2015

PRIZE INNOVATIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, LEGAMBIENTE FOUNDATION

2002

MAGNA CUM LAUDE DISTINCTION, UNIVERSITY OF PERUGIA

2009