Research profile
Research trajectory & current work.
Valentina Olmo is a Technical Specialist at the Phytosanitary and Chemical Service, Research, Experimentation and Technical Assistance of ERSA, the Regional Agency for Rural Development of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. She joined ERSA in May 2026 after several years of research at the University of Trieste.
Her research focuses on the spatial assessment of ecosystem services, ecological networks and green infrastructure, combining GIS and field ecology with satellite, UAV, hyperspectral and LiDAR remote sensing. Her work addresses both regional and urban planning questions, including carbon storage, recreation, erosion control, temperature regulation, runoff regulation and ecological connectivity.
Valentina completed her PhD in Environmental Life Sciences at the University of Trieste–Udine in 2024 under the supervision of Giovanni Bacaro, with Maurizia Sigura and Erika Kosuta as co-supervisors. Her doctoral thesis, “Ecosystem services modelling and mapping for sustainable land management and planning”, developed reproducible and transferable approaches for quantifying and mapping ecosystem services across Friuli Venezia Giulia.
From 2023 to 2026 she was a Research Fellow at the University of Trieste, where she worked on the ecological network of the city of Trieste, updated green-infrastructure mapping through remote sensing and assessed associated ecosystem services. Her broader scientific activity also includes vegetation monitoring, functional and spectral diversity, forest disturbance, marine heatwaves, wildfire response and biodiversity-offset feasibility studies.
