Keynote Speakers
Dr. Massimo Cocco
Dr. Massimo Cocco is a chief scientist at the Istituto Nazionaledi Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) of Rome. He is an expert on earthquake physics. He has contribtued to understanding of earthquake mechanics including fault friction, stress-transfer and fault zone rheology.
He has a Ph.D. from the University of Rome (1984). Massimo Cocco participated to numerous international projects and participated or coordinated several national projects focused on seismic hazard, tectonics and earthquake physics. He is presently the coordinator of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS PP) a long-term integration plan of research infrastructures for solid Earth science.
Dr. Robert Muir-Wood
Robert Muir-Wood is the Chief Research Officer of Risk Management Solutions. He co-founded the London office of RMS in 1996. He has degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Earth Sciences both from Cambridge University. He is the author of many scientific papers on the analysis of earthquakes, hurricanes and windstorms, more than 150 articles and six books. He has more than 20 years experience in developing probabilistic catastrophe models, and has led projects to build models for earthquake, tropical cyclone, windstorm and flood, in Europe, Japan, North America, Caribbean and Australia and has been the technical lead on a number of Catastrophe risk securitization transactions. He has also lectured widely on catastrophe risk and the business response to climate change. He was Lead Author on Insurance, Finance and Climate Change for the 2007 4th IPCC Assessment Report and is Vice Chair of the OECD High Level Advisory Board of the International Network on the Financial Management of Large Scale Catastrophes.
Prof. Sinan Akkar
Sinan Akkar is a Professor of Earthquake Engineering at the Bogazici University, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute. The main research interests of Dr. Akkar are displacement-based seismic assessment and prediction of strong ground-motion parameters for seismic design.
He received his MSc (1995) and Ph.D. (2001) in Structural Engineering from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Middle East Technical University. Dr. Akkar is currently the Principal Investigator of the Turkish National Strong Motion Project and the NATO Project Director of the Harmonization of Seismic Hazard Maps for the Western Balkan Countries. He is involved in the Seismic Harmonization in Europe project (SHARE, EC-FP7) as a research member. He also serves as consultant on seismic safety assessment and other related issues to several companies. Sinan Akkar is a faculty member at the Rose School Earthquake Engineering Graduate Program of the Pavia University, Italy.
Prof. Warner Marzocchi
Dr. Warner Marzocchi is a chief scientist at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) of Rome. Prviously he was Associate Professor of Physics of Volcanism at the Osservatorio Vesuviano of Naples (1998-2002).
He is an expert on volcanology and probabilistic forecasting of natural disasters including volcanoes and earthquakes and worked on risk assesment extensively. He has a Ph.D. in physics (1992) from University of Bologna.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Analysis and Monitoring Environmental Risks (AMRA) (2012-2014), Advisory Board for UK ESRC-NERC IRNH STREVA "Strengthening Resilience in Volcanic Areas" project (2012-2017), Global Volcano Model (GVM) Scientific Steering Committee (2012-present) and Scientific Review Panel for the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3) project (2010-2012).
Prof. Yücel Yılmaz
Prof. Yılmaz is a Professor of Geology. He was a former faculty of Istanbul Technical University where he was the dean of the Faculty of Mining. He also served as the founding rector of Kadir Has University. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kadir Has University.
His main research interest is the tectonic evolution of Anatolia. His work with Prof. Celal Sengor on the tectonic evolution of Anatolia has received more than 1000 citations.
He recieved his Ph.D. (1972) from University College, University of London.
Dr. Yilmaz has served as a visiting faculty at SUNY Albany (1979), and Dept. Géologie, Paris Univ. Sud d'Orsay(1981) and was a visiting researcher at Cambridge University (1988-1990). He is as a member of the Science Academy of Turkey.
Prof. Efim Pelinovsky
Efim Pelinovsky is a chief scientist at the Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia and a Professor at the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University.
Prof. Pelinovsky is an expert on tsunami and freak waves, nonlinear differential equations and extreme ocean waves. He has published many articles, book chapters and textbooks on these subjects.
Efim Pelinovsky obtained his Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics from Gorky State University, Nizhny Novgorod), Russia.
Prof. Pelinovsky is the recipient of the The EGU Sergey Soloviev Medal (2006) for his contribution to understanding of the tsunami hazard. He is a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. He is a member of Editorial Boards for Springer Book Series "Advances in Geophysical and Environmental Mathematics and Mechanics", (2006-), Int. "Open Oceanography Journal" (2008-).