Dr Paolina Bongioannini Cerlini is a research scientist in the Department of Physics and Geology at the University of Perugia. She specialises in atmospheric dynamics, the numerical modelling of convective processes and climate variability. She has expertise in precipitation predictability, land-atmosphere interactions, and West African monsoon systems, and has contributed to EU projects such as AMMA and EFFS. She also collaborates with ECMWF on global datasets.  

Her work integrates advanced modeling (Fortran, C++, Phyton, UNIX HPC systems) with applications in flood forecasting, groundwater management and agro-meteorology, particularly in Umbria’s vineyards. She is the project lead on RIMU CLIMA (a Regional FESR project), which enhances regional forecasts and climate resilience, as well as on WP5.2 of the University of Perugia Climate Action project. She also participates in the MORE4WATER project, contributing to the climate aspect of the Horizon Europe programme.  

An educator since 2014, she teaches Climate Change and Atmospheric Physics at the University of Perugia. Dr. Cerlini has authored over 40 publications on topics ranging from Saharan dust impacts to Mediterranean cyclones. Her recent work has appeared in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems and Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.  

Key Expertise:  

– Atmospheric multi-modeling: hydrostatic models (large scale, IFS) and non-hydrostatic (CPMs) as well as nonlinear systems modeling
– Convective aggregation & climate feedbacks.
– Hydrometeorological forecasting
– ERA5 reanalysis applications
– Multilingual (Italian, English, French).

Contact: paolina.cerlini@unipg.it | Dept. of Physics and Geology, University of Perugia.