Piero Lionello, professor of Atmospheric Physics and Oceanography at the University of Salento and co-coordinator of MedECC, has received two major distinctions within a few days: election as a corresponding member of Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and the Lifetime Leadership Award of the MedCLIVAR network, presented in Limassol, Cyprus.
Joining the world’s oldest active scientific academy
Piero has been elected corresponding member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in the category Astronomy, Geodesy, Geophysics and Applications. Founded in 1603, the Lincei is considered the world’s oldest scientific academy still active today. New members are elected by the academicians themselves, which makes the nomination a recognition by peers.
It is not the first time the Lincei have honoured his work: in 2024, Piero was already awarded the Academy’s international prize for Astronomy, Geodesy and Geophysics (the Luigi Tartufari Prize), shared with Stefano Borgani.
A lifetime award from the Mediterranean climate community
In Limassol, Piero also received the MedCLIVAR Lifetime Leadership Award, which recognises his “visionary leadership”, his steady commitment and his outstanding service to the Mediterranean scientific community. He chaired the MedCLIVAR network from 2006 to 2025, guiding a community that has worked on Mediterranean climate for the past two decades. The ceremony took place during the 8th MedCLIVAR Conference, held in Limassol from 21 to 25 September 2026 and organised by the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of The Cyprus Institute.
A career devoted to the Mediterranean
Piero’s research covers the dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans, climate variability, extreme events and the impacts of climate change, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean, storms, waves and sea-level change. He was a lead author of the chapters on Europe and on the Mediterranean in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Within MedECC, he served as Coordinating Lead Author of the First Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR1) and coordinated the Special Report on Coastal Risks.
The Rector of the University of Salento, Maria Antonietta Aiello, said the double recognition is a source of great pride for the whole academic community. She described his work as research of excellence, built with rigour and with a vision that anticipated issues now at the centre of the global debate. Long before climate became a central topic, Piero treated the Mediterranean as a privileged observatory: a region particularly exposed to global warming and, for that reason, a key laboratory for understanding future scenarios and adaptation strategies.
MedECC is proud to count Piero among its coordinators and warmly congratulates him on this double honour.