Renato Vacondio is Associate Professor of Hydraulic Structures and Hydrology (ICAR/02) at the University of Parma. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the same institution and works on hydraulic and hydrological modelling, flood‑risk reduction, and meshless numerical methods—particularly Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)—with a strong focus on high‑performance computing (GPU, HPC). He is the author of 60+ papers in international peer‑reviewed journals and is included in Stanford University’s list of highly cited researchers. He coordinates and contributes to national and international projects and provides scientific support to basin authorities and civil protection agencies. He is President of the SPHERIC Steering Committee and a leading developer of the open‑source DualSPHysics software. His teaching covers flood protection, management of hydraulic infrastructures, and advanced numerical methods for free‑surface flows.
Main research projects
- RESILIENCE / RESILIENCE 2 / RESILIENCE 3 – Emilia‑Romagna Civil Protection (2015–2026)
Scientific responsibility for multi‑year agreements on hydraulic‑risk assessment, flood modelling, and operational support to civil protection. - PGRA – Po River Basin Authority (2019–2020)
Scientific coordination of Annual Operational Plans for flood‑risk mapping and the update of the Flood Risk Management Plan, with a consortium of Italian universities. - ECOSISTER – PNRR (Spoke 6, WP3 leader)
Ecological transition based on HPC and data technology: advanced modelling and computational applications for environmental sustainability. - PARFLOOD – SIR MIUR (PI)
Flood‑risk management through large‑scale parallel numerical simulations. - Andritz–SPH (scientific coordinator)
Algorithms for particle‑distribution control in SPH simulations for industrial applications. - NJIT / General Motors (industrial research, 2023–2024)
DualSPHysics code development for automotive applications and technology transfer. - DualSPHysics (core development, ongoing)
Coordination and development of the international open‑source SPH reference code with academic and industrial partners.
Invited keynote lectures / invited talks
- SPH Global Seminars (2021) – “An introduction to the Grand Challenges for SPH numerical schemes”
- UK Meshless Methods Network Conference (Manchester, 2013) – Keynote
- Collaborative Research Centre SFB 716 (University of Stuttgart, 2015) – Invited keynote
- DualSPHysics Workshops (Manchester, 2015; 2016) – Keynotes
- Imperial College London – Aeronautics Seminar Series (2017) – Invited speaker
- SPH Continuing Professional Development Course – University of Manchester (2018) – Invited lecturer
