Overview
The team of Maria Cristina Rulli (Polytechnic of Milan, Italy) and Paolo D’Odorico (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
The work of Rulli and D’Odorico advances our knowledge of the water-energy-food nexus, describing the complex manner in which a multitude of factors relating water resources to food systems, land use, economic development, globalization, and human health, interact. From their sophisticated analyses, they provide managers and policy makers better ways to be stewards of freshwater, and to optimise water utilisation for food production in a changing and globalised world. A key outcome of their work is to identify new approaches and actions for a more sustainable future, with the goal of minimizing unintended consequences on regional and global water resources.
Winner Profile
Maria Cristina Rulli
Maria Cristina Rulli is Full Professor of Hydrology and Water and Food Security at the Politecnico di Milano and vice president of the Italian Society of Water Engineering (GII).
Education:
• 1999– PhD; Politecnico di Milano, Italy (Hydraulic Engineering) • 1994 – MSc; University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy (Civil Engineering for Environmental protection and land planning)
Selected Awards:
2024 – Fellow, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
2003 – Young Researcher Award, Institute for Mountain Research
2002 – Prize: Innovations for The Environment, Legambiente Foundation
Paolo D’Odorico
Paolo D’Odorico is the Thomas J. Graff Professor of Water Resources at the University of California, Berkeley.
Education:
• 1998 – PhD; University of Padua, Padova, Italy (Hydraulic Engineering)
• 1994 – MSc; University of Padua, Padova, Italy (Civil Hydraulic Engineering)
Selected Awards:
2023 – Hydrologic Sciences Medal, American Meteorological Society
2011 – Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
2009 – Sustainability Science Award, Ecological Society of America
Acceptance Speech
Your Royal Highness, Honorable Secretary-General, Distinguished members of the Prize Council and of the Review Panel, Excellencies, Honorable Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel truly honored and humbled to receive the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Creativity Water Prize.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to His Royal Highness, the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz for this International Prize on Water. I am thankful to the Distinguished members of the Prize Council and of the Review Panel for awarding this Prize to Professor Paolo D’Odorico and me. I am also thankful to the colleagues who nominated us for this prize and supported the nomination.
This prize serves as a great encouragement to continue pursuing excellence in our work.
Receiving Creativity Water Prize fills me with joy and pride. Indeed, I do believe creativity is fundamental for scientific research because it reflects ability to think ‘out of the box’ and come up with innovative understanding of, and solutions to, complex problems. Creative solutions are essential to address the nowadays environmental challenges and foster a more resilient and sustainable future.
Major emerging environmental problems stemming from human actions are closely linked to the unsustainable use, consumption, of natural resources for food and energy production. Many of them have to do with water. Global food demand is a major contributor to the overuse of regional water resources through a variety of pathways, including domestic markets, global trade and international land investments. Intensified agricultural practices, driven by the demand for higher yields, often lead to water resources depletion and pollution, soil degradation, and loss of biodiversity. The environmental impacts of agriculture production are compounded by those of energy needs and unsustainable climate change mitigation programs. The result is the exacerbation of climate change and its far-reaching impacts on ecosystems and human health.
As human pressure on natural resources intensifies in a changing, globalised world, there is an increasingly urgent need to understand the drivers of water scarcity. This understanding is essential for designing more sustainable practices that can balance food and energy demand with environmental stewardship.
Our work has explored the dynamics underlying the global food-energy-water nexus describing the complex interaction among these factors, while informing a better freshwater stewardship in a changing, globalised world.
This prize would have not been possible without the support and guidance of my mentors, collaborators, colleagues, and loved ones. Their unwavering belief in me has been a source of strength and encouragement. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my beloved family and especially to my dear parents. Though my parents are no longer with us, their enduring influence continues to inspire me every day. This honor would not have been possible without the foundations and strength they provided me with, and the values they instilled in me.
I am extremely thankful for the guidance and support of Prof. Renzo Rosso, whose teachings have played an invaluable role in shaping my journey in science. I am also grateful for the freedom he has always given me in pursuing my scientific endeavors and unleashing my creativity.
I would like to express my profound gratitude to Prof. Andrea Rinaldo for his continuous and invaluable support and for pointing me every day the qualities that a scientist should embody: rigor, creativity, and enthusiasm.
Renzo and Andrea’s example as scientists has been truly inspiring. With their mentorship, they contributed to my growth and development as a researcher, providing me with the foundations and insight that are necessary to explore new research grounds and innovate.
I am deeply grateful to my institution, the Politecnico di Milano, for providing opportunities, experiences, and an outstanding learning environment. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my collaborators and colleagues, especially those who are present here to celebrate this prize. I value and appreciate the opportunity to work alongside such talented and committed individuals.
My deepest gratitude goes to prof. Paolo D’Odorico for his invaluable support and collaboration throughout our journey. Sharing this prize with him is a great privilege for me, a true honor and a highlight of my career.
This prize motivates me to continue to positively impact my field of research and society as a whole. Thank you once again for this incredible honor.
-- Maria Cristina Rulli
Your Royal Highness, Honorable Secretary-General, Excellencies, Honorable members of the Prize Council and of the Jury, Distinguished Dignitaries and Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a true and distinct honor for me to receive the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Creativity Water Prize. I am very grateful to His Royal Highness, the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, for having established this award. A special thanks goes to the selection committee and the group of colleagues who nominated us.
This prize recognizes a body of research I have developed in close collaboration with Professor Maria Cristina Rulli, whose scientific intuition, passion, and creativity inspire me every day. It is a tremendous privilege and a particular pleasure for me to share this prize with her!
Our work has related water sustainability to food security and clarified the extent to which human exploitation of water resources is affecting marginalized rural communities, future generations, and the environment. Many longstanding and emerging water challenges are crucial to societal wellbeing, economic development, and the future of the planet. Indeed, it will take creative approaches and foresight to address them. This prize recognizes the need for such a creativity in Water Science. I am therefore humbled that the selection committee has viewed our research as a creative contribution to this field.
This honor would not have been possible without the support of my family and the outstanding group of mentors, collaborators, and students I had the pleasure to work with. They have given me extraordinary opportunities to engage in scientific inquiry while sharing excitement for learning, understanding, and discovery.
I developed a passion for academic research during my doctoral studies at the University of Padova. I was inspired by the contagious enthusiasm of my advisor, Andrea Rinaldo, who convinced me to pursue an academic career.
My post-doctorate with Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe was dominated by a strong excitement for new research in ecohydrology. Ignacio became my role model for his passion for science and fascination with nature and its complexity.
Over the years I have enjoyed working with several exceptional and congenial colleagues who have been incredible collaborators and friends. It would be impossible to name all of them here. I am grateful to all of them.
Any scientific accomplishment I might have achieved has been made possible by the exceptional group of students and postdocs I had the pleasure to work with and who have been incredible companions through this journey.
I owe much of my academic and personal growth to the University of Virginia and the University of California, Berkeley, where I have found outstanding learning and research opportunities.
Indeed, it is a tremendous honor to receive this prize!
-- Paolo D'Odorico
Winning Work
[1] Rulli, M.C., S. Casirati, J. Dell’Angelo, K.F. Davis, C. Passera, P. D’Odorico, (2019). “Interdependencies and telecoupling of oil palm expansion at the expense of Indonesian rainforest”, (2019). Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 105: 499-512, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.12.050.
[2] D’Odorico, P., D.D. Chiarelli, L. Rosa, A. Bini, D. Zilberman, and M.C. Rulli (2020). “Th e global value of water in agriculture”, ,em>Proc. Natnl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 17(36) 21985-21993, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2005835117.
[3] Chiarelli, D.D., P. D’Odorico, M. Müller , N. Mueller , K. Davis , J. Dell'Angelo , G. Penny , M.C. Rulli (2022), “Competition for water induced by transnational land acquisitions for agriculture”, Nature Communications, 13, 505. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-02228077-2.
[4] Ricciardi, L., P. D’Odorico, N. Galli, D.D. Chiarelli, M.C. Rulli (2022). “Hydrological implications of large-scale afforestation in tropical biomes for climate change mitigation”. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 377: 20210391. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0391.
[5] Sardo, M., I. Epifani, P. D’Odorico, N. Galli, and M.C. Rulli (2023). “Exploring the waterfood nexus reveals the interlinkages with urban human conflicts in Central America”, Nature Water, doi 10.1038/s44221-023-00053-0.