Silvano Focardi

Silvano Focardi, born on November 12, 1946, is a Full Professor of Ecology at the University of Siena.
From 1987-1991 he was member of the Italian Antarctic Scientific Expeditions at Terranova Bay, Antarctica , and since 1992 has been coordinator of the "Ecophysiology and Ecotoxicology" Project of the Italian National Antarctic Program (PNRA).

Since 1991, Silvano Focardi has been the Italian representative in the "Ecosystem Monitoring Program" Working Group of the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and since 1994 coordinator of the EEC ALA Contract (Italia-Chile) "Use of biomarkers for evaluating the presence and effects of pentachlorophenols in the Biobio river basin".
He has served as Head of the Department of Environmental Biology of the University of Siena (1992-1998).
He has been member of the University Senate since 1995 and was elected Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physical and Natural Sciences at the University of Siena in 1999.

Prof. Focardi was elected Rector of the University of Siena in March 2006.

His main areas of research have recently regarded:
1) Contamination in the Mediterranean.
2) Contamination of remote areas.
3) Adélie Penguin ecology at Edmonson Point (Victoria Land, Antarctica).
4) The effects of persistent contaminants on organisms.
5) The development of techniques for revealing the quality of terrestrial, brackish and marine      environments.