Piero Bellanova studied Earth Sciences at the University of Münster and was awarded his PhD in 2019 at RWTH Aachen University with a thesis on organic-geochemical proxies of tsunami deposits. He subsequently worked there as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Neotectonics and Geohazards Research Group, as well as at the Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal. Research campaigns have taken him around the world, including to Japan, Hawaii, Spain, Portugal, Chile and Greece, amongst them Research Cruise M152 and IODP Expeditions 386 and 405 in the Japan Trench.

His research focuses on sedimentary processes at the interface between land and sea. Holocene sediment archives serve as the key to understanding current and future coastal changes. He combines high-resolution sedimentological methods with organic and inorganic geochemistry to reconstruct these coastal dynamics. 

Four research areas are central to this work:

• research into natural hazards and climate impacts, which examines how extreme events (storm surges, floods, tsunamis) and sea-level rise are reshaping coastal areas; 
• Holocene sediment archives, which, as the coast’s long-term memory, help to contextualise present-day changes; 
• the interactions between sediments and the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, anthroposphere and atmosphere, in which sediments act simultaneously as habitats, reaction spaces and sinks for substances; and 
• the spread of sediment-bound pollutants and their consequences for ecosystems. 

In this way, his research lays the foundations for climate adaptation, natural hazard management and the sustainable management of coastal and marine areas, from our coastlines to the deep sea.