Coastal Resilience to Sea Level Rise
The course is organized in collaboration with the Coastal Resilience School of the Decade Collaborative Centre for Coastal Resilience:
Sea level rise is one of the most pressing challenges facing coastal communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure around the world.
This hybrid course, organized by the Future Earth Research School of the CMCC Foundation (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation) and the Decade Collaborative Centre for Coastal Resilience (DCC-CR) in collaboration with the supercomputing center CINECA, offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary in-depth analysis of the physical, environmental, and socio-economic dimensions. It explores the driving physical processes as well as the human and ecological impacts.
Through three online asynchronous modules and an in-person, hands-on training week, participants will study challenges and solutions associated with Sea Level Rise and learn to perform risk assessment. The course will cover risk management strategies such as coastal defense infrastructures, and solutions ranging from nature-based approaches to urban design innovations. Special attention will be given on adaptation planning, with real-world case-studies from diverse coastal regions. Participants will also develop skills to synthesize knowledge by working on Sea Level Rise (SLR) data, as well as to effectively communicate sea level risks to stakeholders.
The course is delivered together with OceanTeacher Global Academy (OTGA) e-learning platform.
Applications to the course must be submitted through the OTGA website. By clicking the Apply Now button, you will be redirected to the application form
The course will be structured over four weeks.
Estimated total learner workload: 94 hours (including independent study and assignments)
- 20 online hours for pre-recorded lessons
- 2 hours live tutoring
- 36 onsite hours for in-person week
- 36 hours – estimated independent study/homework
Time zone is not relevant as lessons will be available on-line and in-presence
Online asynchronous activities will include the following lectures:
Module 1 – Understanding Sea Level Processes and Variabilities
- Understanding and measuring Sea Level (processes, in situ data, remote sensing data)
- Numerical modelling of SLR and impacts
- AI/data-driven modelling of SLR and impacts
- Coastal Resilience and SLR Early Warning Systems
Module 2 – Adaptation and Solutions
- Adaptation Planning for Coastal Resilience
- Sustainability Transition & Coastal Resilience for Business
- Coastal Resilience Solutions: examples
Module 3: Technical tools for data access and analyses
- Introduction to Cloud Space and the Jupyter Notebooks
- Visualization and Extraction of Time Series for Specific Coastal Areas
- Hazard Mapping for Waves and Sea Level
Between December 9-12, a tutoring session will be organized, as participants engage in self-study activities.
Finally, in person activities between December 15 to 19 will focus on strengthening the knowledge gained in the previous weeks through additional lectures on related topics and hands-on activities. Participants will also have the opportunity to interact with lecturers and guest speakers.
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the physical processes driving SLR risks
- Asses regional vulnerabilities and coastal risks
- Perform data analysis on SLR Coastal risks using remote sensing, in-situ measurements, and open-access datasets
- Gain insights on how to develop comprehensive adaptation strategies and plans for coastal resilience, with a specific focus on measures and solutions
- Communicate Sea Level Risks to various stakeholders
Begoña Pérez Gómez – Director of the Course
Begoña Pérez Gómez is a physical oceanographer at Puertos del Estado (Spain’s National Ports Authority). With over 30 years of experience in operational oceanography, she has contributed to developing ocean-meteorological services to support Spanish ports and coastal management. Her expertise covers sea level processes at different timescales, including monitoring, forecasting, and tsunami early warning systems. She currently heads the Climate Change and Prediction Department, focusing on climate services and adaptation strategies for Spanish ports. Internationally, she serves on the Management Board of Mercator Ocean International and contributes to global ocean observation and prediction efforts through various projects and programs. She was co-chair of the EuroGOOS Tide Gauge Task Team (2015–2021) and, since March 2025, chairs the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) Group of Experts.
Giulia Galluccio – Director of the Course
Giulia Galluccio holds a degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University and a PhD in Science and Management of Climate Change from Cà Foscari University of Venice. She is Director of the Future Earth Research School and Director of CMCC Advanced Training and Education Center. She is a science policy analyst working at the interface of science, policy and society. She is currently Vice-Chair of the European Joint Initiative on Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe, a pan-European intergovernmental initiative that brings together European countries to jointly coordinate climate research and fund new transnational research initiatives.
Villy Kourafalou – Director of the Course
Villy Kourafalou is a Professor at the University of Miami’s Department of Ocean Sciences. She is a renowned ocean scientist specializing on coastal ocean dynamics with applications on predictions and forecasts that bring ocean influence to the coastal, land and urban environments. Under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, Prof. Kourafalou is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Decadal Collaborative Center for Coastal Resilience (DCC-CR) and co-chairs the endorsed Program “CoastPredict: observing and predicting the Global Coastal Ocean”. Prof. Kourafalou has co-chaired the international Coastal and Shelf Seas Task Team under OceanPredict and is currently a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of the EU Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service.
Ioannis Androulidakis
Ioannis (Yannis) Androulidakis is a Physical Oceanographer and Associate Professor at the Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, Greece. With over 20 years of experience in ocean observations and modeling, he specializes in coastal and shelf dynamics, river plume dispersion, ocean–atmosphere interactions, and marine hazards. His work integrates field measurements, numerical simulations, and data analysis to study extreme events, pollution transport, and climate impacts on the marine environment. He has participated in numerous national and EU- and US- funded projects and authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters.
Salvatore Causio
Salvatore is a Junior Scientist at the CMCC Foundation, where he leads the Advanced Coastal Ocean Modelling and Application Research Unit. He holds a PhD in the framework of Physical Oceanography from the University of Salento and a Master’s degree in Coastal and Marine Biology and Ecology. He joined CMCC in 2026, and he specializes in coastal ocean dynamics and extreme events and he represents the Principal Investigator for wave modeling within the GOCO Division. His expertise covers both wave and circulation numerical modeling and their interactions, using WAVEWATCH III, SHYFEM-MPI, and NEMO. His current research explores the integration of artificial intelligence with numerical models through hybrid modeling approaches. He develops high-resolution unstructured-grid coastal models for global and local hazard assessment, supporting risk analysis, early warning, and coastal resilience. His interests also include the characterization of abiotic parameters influencing species distribution and the study of nature-based solutions for coastal protection and resilience. Salvatore is scientifically responsible for several European and national projects and contributes to the development of Digital Twins of the Coastal Ocean.
Megi Hoxhaj
Megi Hoxhaj is a telecommunications engineer and technical lead at the CMCC Foundation, within the GOCO division. She oversees the design, coordination, and monitoring of operational data workflows and Decision Support Systems (DSS) for coastal and climate research. With a strong focus on system integration, team leadership, and project delivery, she ensures the reliability and efficiency of HPC-based oceanographic data pipelines and cloud platforms. Her experience spans cross-sector collaborations, including secure authentication systems and infrastructure monitoring in finance and retail environments.
Lorenzo Mentaschi
Lorenzo Mentaschi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Bologna, specializing in coastal and ocean modeling. His research covers waves, hydrodynamics, biogeochemistry, and the integration of numerical models and AI for coastal system analysis, with particular attention to extremes and hazard mapping. In 2024, Lorenzo Mentaschi was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate and as a Top Scholar in the ScholarGPS global ranking. His work advances predictive tools for sustainable coastal and marine management
Ángel Amores
Ángel Amores is a Physical Oceanographer working as an Associate Professor at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and as a Research Scientist at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB). His research focuses on coastal and open-sea dynamics, extreme sea levels, and the influence of climate variability and change on marine hazards. He has led and contributed to numerous national and European projects, combining observational and modeling approaches, and he is currently the expert in hydrodynamic modelling within his research group. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and four book chapters.
Federica Borile
Federica Borile holds a Master’s degree in Physics of the Earth System from the University of Bologna, where she also completed her PhD in collaboration with the CMCC Foundation. Her doctoral research focused on the effects of tidal forcing on global ocean circulation, with a particular emphasis on the role of internal tides in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bologna, developing a new 45-year Mediterranean Sea reanalysis. Borile’s work aims to improve model setup and better simulate key physical processes, including water mass formation, mesoscale variability, and decadal sea-level trends, to support understanding of climate-driven changes.
Javier López Lara
Javier López Lara is a Professor of Hydraulic Engineering at the University of Cantabria (UC) and the head of the Climate Risks, Adaptation and Resilience Group at the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria (IHCantabria). He also serves as Director of the Department of Water Science and Environmental Techniques at UC. He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Cornell (USA), Bologna, and Oxford. His research focuses on coastal engineering, particularly on the modelling of hydrodynamic processes and their interaction with natural systems and artificial structures. He is also an expert in the assessment of physical risks in coastal areas, including both infrastructures and natural systems, with special emphasis on climate change impacts and the design and implementation of adaptation measures. He is a member of the executive committee of several organizations related to coastal engineering, such as the Coastal Engineering Research Council, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the IAHR Maritime Hydraulics Committee (International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research). He also serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including Coastal Engineering, the leading journal in the field.
Paola Tanguy
Paola Tanguy is a Policy Specialist on Coastal and Water Resilience at CMCC. She contributes to several EU-funded projects, including REST-COAST, MOIRAI, AQUA, and MAGICA. Within the ATEC division, her work supports stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and co-creation processes, developing innovative tools such as physical and digital serious games to foster dialogue and collaboration.
Matteo Mura
Matteo Mura is Professor of Management Engineering at the Department of Management, University of Bologna. His research focuses on performance measurement and management systems, sustainable transitions in firms and value chains, decarbonization strategies, and circular economy. He collaborates with research centers in the UK, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, and Brazil, and coordinates projects funded by the European Commission and private organizations. Since 2020, he has been Director of the Centre for Sustainability and Climate Change at Bologna Business School, where he also serves as Associate Dean.
Chiara Trozzo
Chiara Trozzo is Senior Scientific Manager at the Advanced Training and Education Center, CMCC Foundation. After a 2nd level International Master in Cooperation and Development (CDN Network- IUSS Pavia) and a Master Degree in International and Diplomatic Affairs (University of Bologna- sede di Forlì), she mainly delved with project management, resource mobilization and donor relations with international organizations and NGOs in different countries in Latin America.
Johannes Pein
Johannes Pein has a background in environmental and marine environmental sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Marine Environmental Sciences from the University of Oldenburg where he received his specialisation in numerical modelling of the coastal ocean. Since 2016, Johannes has worked as a scientist at the Institute of Coastal Systems, Analysis and Modelling, Hereon Research Center, Geesthacht, Germany. Johannes specialises in coastal and estuarine modelling and is involved in numerous national and international projects addressing coastal climate change and human intervention. His work particularly focuses on coupled modelling hydrodynamics, biogeochemistry and sediment dynamics.
Wenyan Zhang
Wenyan Zhang is a Physical Oceanographer and head of the department Sediment Transport and Morphodyamics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Germany. His expertise mainly lies on sediment dynamics, coastal morphodynamics and benthic-pelagic coupling. In particular, the role of benthic fauna and flora in morphodynamics, coastal protection and carbon cycling is the focus of interest. He is member of the expert group Climate change in the Baltic Sea of HELCOM (lead author of coastal sediment transportation), and member of ICES working groups Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs (WGFBIT) and Impact of Fishing on Oceanic Carbon (WKFISHCARBON).
Location
Online activities (Synchronous and Asynchronous)
The synchronous and asynchronous online activities will be carried out on a dedicated platform, access to which will be communicated to participants upon delivery of the information package. Participants will be required to access the platform independently via the provided link.
The online activities will be hosted on the OceanTeacher Global Academy (OTGA) platform.
In-person activities
The in-person week of the course will take place at the University Residential Center of Bertinoro (CE.U.B.).
Bertinoro is halfway between the cities of Forlì and Cesena, 6 km from SS9 (Via Emilia). Forlì is the town of reference for transport by train and bus to and from Bertinoro.
Food and Accommodation
The accommodation will be at the University Residential Center of Bertinoro. Please remember that participation in presence is mandatory.
The school will provide and offer lodging and meals for all participants during the onsite week of the course
Participants are free to organize themselves at their own expense upon notice. The school will not cover any extra costs.
Transport
Nearest airport: Bologna’s airport “Guglielmo Marconi”.
Nearest train station: Forlì Station (20 min. far from Bertinoro by car)
On how to get to the Centre, please check this link
Given that most of the participants will arrive in Bologna – especially from abroad – the school will organize a shuttle to bring participants from Bologna to Bertinoro. More details will be given to the selected candidates.
The school offers limited financial assistance covering the course fee (800 €).
We are committed to fostering inclusion and equal opportunities. Our financial assistance is available for participants who may otherwise face difficulties in accessing the course. It does not cover travel and visa costs.
If you wish to apply for the financial assistance, please add a statement in the motivation letter within the application form explaining why you should benefit from this assistance. Financial assistance will be awarded by the Future Earth Research School based on the explanation provided and the other information received. Meeting the eligibility requirements or expressing interest in receiving one does not guarantee the award of the financial assistance.
All successful applicants will be notified once the selection process is complete. If the request is accepted, you will receive an email confirming your financial assistanceby secretariat@fersschool.it. If you have been awarded our financial assistance, this will be clearly stated in your notification.
The selection committee’s decision is final and cannot be appealed. The School is unable to provide individual feedback on scholarship outcomes and reserves the right not to award any financial assistance.
- The School is mainly geared towards Ph.D. students, postdocs and young professionals in the fields of environmental science, marine biology, coastal engineering, urban planning, or a related discipline.
- 1-5 years of relevant work experience in coastal management, environmental consulting, urban planning, marine conservation, or related fields
- It is also open to applicants with experience from (but not limited to) coastal consulting companies, coastal management, and operations, environmental protection agencies, civil protection entities, government offices, industry, and higher education institutions. Applicants from other backgrounds may also be eligible if their experience is relevant to, or demonstrates familiarity with, the topics covered in the course.
- Proficiency in written and spoken English
- Familiarity with basic data analysis tools
- Basic programming experience in Python and familiarity with QGIS will represent an advantage