Currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy. Previously Full Professor of Soil Chemistry (1986-2013, now retired) at the Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, Head of the Department of Agroforestal and Environmental Biology and Chemistry (2005-2011) at the University of Bari. Previous academic career: Assistant Professor: 1969-1980, Associate Professor: 1980-1986. Courses taught: Soil Chemistry, Soil Science, Agricultural Chemistry, Wood Chemistry and Technology, Organic Chemistry, and General and Inorganic Chemistry. Visiting professor and/or scientist for various periods (months/years) in Universities and Research Institutions in Canada, USA, Somalia, Indonesia, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina, Brasil, Venezuela and Colombia. Honors/Awards: Doctor Honoris Causa Institute National Polytechnique de Toulouse (INPT), France (2000); Dokuchaev Award, Int. Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) (2022); Emeritus Fellow, Division VI-Chemistry and the Environment, Int. Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) (2022); Fellow of American Society of Agronomy (ASA) (1995) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) (1996); Service Award, Mediterranean Scientific Association of Environmental Protection (MESAEP) (2005) ; Honorary Scientist, Rural Development Administration (RDA), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, South Korea (2005).

Honorary Member of: Int. Humic Substances Society (IHSS) (2009), Polish Soil Science Society (2011), Int. Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) (2012), Italian Society of Soil Science (2014), Azerbaijan Soil Science Society (AzSSS) (2012). Former President of: the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies (ECSSS), Division VI-Chemistry and the Environment and Chair of the Subcommittee Biophysico-Chemical Processes in Environmental Systems of the Int. Union of Pure and Applied Chemists (IUPAC), the Mediterranean Scientific Assoc. for Environ. Protection (MESAEP), the Int. Humic Substances Society (IHSS) and Chairman of Division II-Soil Properties and Processes of the Int.

Union of Soil Science (IUSS), the Italian Soil Science Society (SISS). Currently, Associate Editor of Pedosphere and previously of Geoderma, European Journal of Soil Science, Soil Science, CLEAN-Soil, Air, Water and other international and national peer-reviewed technical and scientific journals. President of Organizing and/or Scientific Committees of various Congresses, Conferences, Symposia and Workshops, among which: Biomass 1991, 6th Int. Meeting IHSS (1992), XIII Int. Symp. on Environmental Biogeochemistry "Matter and Energy Fluxes in the Anthropocentric Environment", 4th Int. Congress EUROSOIL 2012 "Soil Science for the Benefit of Mankind and Environment", Int. Conference Biowaste, Compost, Digestates BCD 2013, 1st Joint Meeting Soil and Plant System Sciences, SPSS 2019.