Marco Vighi

Marco Vighi tooks the degree in Biology at the University of Milano, in 1969. He operated in the field of environmental pollution since 1969, working at the Water Research Institute of the National Research Council in Italy. In 1983 he got a chair at the University of Milano where he was professor of Agricultural Ecotoxicology. In 1998, he moved to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Milano-Bicocca, where he was professor of Ecology and Applied Ecology and responsible of the Research Group on Ecotoxicology up to November 2015, when he retired.

Up to the early 1980s, his scientific activity was mainly addressed to applied hydrobiology and eutrophication of marine and fresh waters. In the last three decades, the research activity moved toward ecotoxicology. Main research fields are: ecotoxicology of organic pollutants on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems at different levels of organization; Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR); distribution and fate of contaminants (monitoring and modeling); long range transport of persistent organic pollutants; effects and environmental fate of complex mixtures; environmental risk assessment; bridging ecotoxicology with environmental economy. He published more than 160 scientific papers and books on applied ecology and ecotoxicology.

From 1991 to 2013 Marco was member of Scientific Advisory Committees on Toxicology and Ecotoxicology of the European Commission, DG SANCO (CSTE, CSTEE, SCHER). Since April 2016 he is member of Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risk (SCHEER) of the European Commission. In several occasions he was consultant on environmental issues for the FAO/UNEP, for the World Health Organisation and for the UNEP/POPRC (Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee) on issues related to the Stockholm Convention. From 2002 to 2005 he was Senior Consultant of the Project “Phase-out of pesticidal POPs in China”, developed by the UNPD (United Nations Development Programme) in collaboration with the Chinese government, with the aim of the implemetation of the Stockholm Convention in China.

Marco is incorporated at IMDEA Water since December 2015 with the objective of developing a new research line on Aquatic Ecotoxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment.