Role
Full Professor of Geography at the Department of Humanities of the University of Naples Federico II.
Bio
Maria Paradiso is a full professor of Political and Economic Geography at the University of Naples Federico II, where she founded and directs the MarGeolab – Laboratory of Sea Geographies. Her current research interests include sustainability, citizen science , environmental geopolitics, and equitable science.
A high-profile figure in the international scientific scene, she has held and continues to hold leading roles in important organizations. Within the International Science Council, she was a member of the Governing Board between 2021 and 2026, is an ISC Fellow Founder, and since 2025 has served on the steering committees for the social science of sustainability and as an Ex Officio of ISC GOOS. Within the International Geographical Union, she has been Vice-President since 2022, founder of the ethics committee and the task force on GEOAI, as well as honorary president and founder in 2012 of the Commission on the Mediterranean Basin, having also contributed since 2001 to the development of the geography of the information society and Euro-Mediterranean mobility. A member of Academia Europaea since 2010, she chaired its Social Sciences Section from 2016 to 2020 and its Mobility, Governance, Environment and Space Section until 2024. From 2012 to 2014, she was also the main coordinator of the European FP7 Marie Curie project IRSES MEDCHANGe.