The Institute of Applied Ecology (Istituto di Ecologia Applicata, IEA) is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1987 with the aim to support public and private organisations, in Italy and abroad, in their activities related to the management of natural assets, particularly terrestrial and marine wildlife and habitats.

IEA also promotes the implementation of research and ecology projects that significantly support the incrementation of progress in the field of development and participatory conservation of natural resources.

IEA has a long-established collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome, where most of the collaborators of the association had their University degrees. The collaboration with Sapienza and other Universities grants the application of most updated scientific research strategies and results obtained through rigorous methods and approaches.

Initially focused on the implementation of ecological field researches and with a strong orientation towards the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for spatial planning and wildlife management, IEA has broadened its expertise in management of human-wildlife conflicts, particularly related to mammals, and it is able to deal with several aspects related to environment study and management, through a wide range of skills.

Luigi Boitani
President

Luigi Boitani, founder and president of the Istituto di Ecologia Applicata (Institute of Applied Ecology) of Rome, has a very long experience and skills in teaching and research activities. He was full professor on Conservation Biology and Animal Ecology at the “Sapienza” University of Rome until 2016, when he retired and became Professor Emeritus. He was a tutor of more than 260 master-level thesis and more than 35 doctoral thesis at Italian and North-American Universities. The main focus of Luigi’s research is the ecology and conservation of large mammals and the design and management of protected areas. Since 1973 he worked on a series of projects on the ecology and conservation of the wolf (Canis lupus) and other large carnivores in Italy and in several other European countries. He also wrote the Management Plans of more than 30 National Parks in Italy and Africa and the Action Plan and guidance documents for the conservation of wolf at European scale. He gave seminars at several Universities in Europe and in other countries of the world and he is a member of more than 25 professional organizations, working groups, and Boards of Governors including chair of the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE) and of the Wolf Specialist Group, SSC/IUCN.

Marco Lucchesi
Councillor

Marco Lucchesi is freelance, and member of the board of directors of the Institute of Applied Ecology since 2021. With long experience in the fields of ecology and wildlife management, incidence assessment, technical training and vertebrate monitoring, he has been an active member since 2020 . After graduating in Biological Sciences at the University of Pisa, he has collaborated with various public and private bodies for training, monitoring and management activities and has maintained his interests in vertebrate ecology and conservation, with a particular focus on predators He has coordinated groups of volunteers in various projects, conducted highly specialized training courses and talks on conservation and wildlife management. He is a member of the Italian Theriological Association for the GLAMM group and GriMeC groups, member of the CAI, founding member of the “Selvatica” social promotion association, and member of the Society for Naturalistic Studies of Romagna and of the Tuscan Ornithological Center.

Valeria Salvatori
Councillor and general secretary

Wildlife research and management are the main interests of Valeria Salvatori, Italian from Rome. She has worked in international environments collaborating with foreign research institutes since 1992. Spatial analyses of environmental processes, mainly wildlife management and conflicts between wildlife and local communities are the subjects of her latest working activities. She has a good knowledge of technical issues involving management of projects related to wildlife monitoring, as well as of more socially-oriented issued involved in the conservation of wild species and the conflicts they may bring among representatives within local communities. In 2002, she held a PhD in Geography at the University of Southampton. The research project was developed all across the Carpathian Mountains and aimed at identifying suitable areas for the conservation of bears, lynx and wolves. She has interacted with hunters, foresters, livestock breeders, shepherds, farmers, scientists, and citizens in areas where wildlife species of particular interest such as large carnivores are present. She then continued working in the area of large carnivore management, has become a member of the IUCN LCIE task and has directed several LIFE projects targeting wolves and bears. She is currently managing a EC funded project for the establishment of participatory processes on large carnivore management in high conflict areas in Europe and is a consultant for ISPRA within the national wolf monitoring plan.

The other members of Istituto di Ecologia Applicata are:

CHIARA BRASCHI

DANIELE DE ANGELIS

PAOLA FAZZI

AGNESE MARINO

DAVIDE PAGLIAROLI

RICCARDO RAO

SIMONE RICCI

CARLO RONDININI