Giampaolo Schillaci

Updated to 200211

GIAMPAOLO SCHILLACI

Present and past in pills: Dean of Mechanics and Mechanization Section of Dept. Di3A – UNICT – IT- Past Constitutor and manager Stage Office (2000s), Constitutor and manager Counselling Office (80s), - Person in charge for the spread of information technology at the Faculty of Agriculture (80s). Convener of the Int. Conf. RAGUSA SHWA, a periodic conference on Safety Health Welfare in Agro-food Systems, started in 2008, the last (VII edition) 6- 9 Sept 2023, in presence.

Personal details:
Born in Catania (Italy, Sicily, a town sited on foot of Mount Etna), 01/01/1955, since 2007 lives in Scicli (a small town in the core of Sicilian Barocco, south western Sicily), via Noce 24, CAP 97018. Email: giampaolo.schillaci AT unict.it, giampaolo.schillaci@gmail.com, mob. +39 320 4328344, fax +39 095 7147 512, home fax +39 0932 835070. Married, 3 sons: Luca, Lorenzo, Valeria.

Qualifications:
Degree in Agricultural Science, University of Catania, obtained at the end of fourth year in 1981, with maximum classification. In the same year gets the licence to practise as Agronomist (with maximum score in that examination session). Associate professor in Agricultural Mechanisation (1992 – 2004), Full professor since 2005. Since 2009 head of the Mechanics and Mechanisation Section of the Dept. of Environment and Agri-Food Systems Management – University of Catania. Convener and Organizer of RAGUSA SHWA (2008 – 2010 – 2012, 2015), the solely International Conference entirely focused on Safety, Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-Systems. The Conference gets the High Patronage of the President of Italian Republic ad the aegis of AIIA and of V CIGR Sect. Since 2009 is Consultant Member of Accademia dei Georgofili as concerns Safety in Agriculture and in 2010 becomes “Membro Corrispondente”. Since 2010 to 2016 is member of the executive board of SIE (Italian Ergonomics Society) and president of the SIE Sicily. Since 2009 is Vice – president of III Section of AIIA (Italian Association of Agricultural Engineers) and then president of V Section, till 2016..

Teaching
Starting from 1987 – 1988 academic year he has taught Agricultural Mechanisation in the course for university diploma in Scicli and Modica (both sited in the province of Ragusa, south western Sicily) and then Agricultural Mechanics at the Reggio Calabria University (South Italy). Having won an open national competition, since November 1992 he has been associate professor of Agricultural Mechanisation at Faculty of Agricultural Science of the University of Catania, where he is lecturer of Mechanics and Agricultural Mechanisation. Since 2005 he teaches the same courses as Full professor.

Research
Before and after degree he has taken part and organized scientific researches which were required by public institutions and private enterprises. In the past and presently he is the person in charge as concerns scientific and managerial aspects of researches involving small and medium size enterprises, the financial support often obtained from passing public competitive exams.
He has been involved in safety and ergonomics in agriculture (open field and packing houses), labour and energy requirement in agricultural (mainly subtropical) crops, harvest and post-harvest of orchard crops and other fruits, soil conservation, mechanization of subtropical crops. Topics as robotic, image analysis, mechanization of pest protection crop on field and in greenhouses were investigated. Recently, some topics in which he is deeply involved concerns remote-controlled vehicle and studies and researches deal with human safety, ergonomics, work organization, both on open field and in greenhouses. Work Related Musculo Skeleton Disorders (WMSDs) represents a field of interest.

 

Research
Before and after degree he has taken part and organized scientific researches which were required by public institutions and private enterprises. In the past and presently he is the person in charge as concerns scientific and managerial aspects of researches involving small and medium size enterprises, the financial support often obtained from passing public competitive exams.
He has been involved in safety and ergonomics in agriculture (open field and packing houses), labour and energy requirement in agricultural (mainly subtropical) crops, harvest and post-harvest of orchard crops and other fruits, soil conservation, mechanization of subtropical crops. Topics as robotic, image analysis, mechanization of pest protection crop on field and in greenhouses were investigated. Recently, some topics in which he is deeply involved concerns remote-controlled vehicle and studies and researches deal with human safety, ergonomics, work organization, both on open field and in greenhouses. Work Related Musculo Skeleton Disorders (WMSDs) represents a field of interest.
 

Other information
After the degree he continues to manage the family’s farm (citrus orchard), goes into the profession of Agronomist and wins a grant published from a private corporation sited in Catania (A.I.D.). Thanks to those experiences he realize his propensity for research, interpersonal relations, an autonomous or semi-autonomous job and all these factors address him toward a career as academic researcher. Starting from 1983 he collaborates for a short period with Agricultural Hydraulics Institute and then with continuity and untill today he deals with Mechanics and Mechanization.
In the middle ‘80 he took part in the Committee who built the first website of the University of Catania and he was appointed as the person in charge to spread the use of the web in the Faculty. Until today he has worked as tutor of a number of phd (Doctorate on Agricultural Engineering). He set up and had in charge for more than 10 years the Counseling Office of the Agricultural Faculty of University of Catania. Similarly, he had in charge for 6 years the Stage Office of the same Faculty with the aim to set up the procedures and to establish a fruitful matching between the Faculty, the Students and the Enterprises. Starting from 1992 he is deeply involved in not-motorized mobility that concerns the town and the connection between the towns and the towns and the countryside (greenways, mainly by reusing abandoned railways). He was national councilor and  regional president in office of a national federation and local organizations both. In Sicily he had organized a numbers of local and national events connected with cycling. During the rare spare moments he practices some more sports activities as running (preferably ecotrail), cycling (preferably mtbiking) and sea – kajak.