Special Session 18

SPECIAL SESSION #18

Mariagabriella Pugliese

Department of Physics "E. Pancini", University of Naples Federico II, Italy

• mariagabriella.pugliese@unina.it

Giuseppe La Verde

Department of Physics "E. Pancini", University of Naples Federico II, Italy

• giuseppe.laverde@unina.it

Salvatore Procopio

ARPA Calabria, Italy

• s.procopio@arpacal.it

Marina Poje Sovilj

Department of Physics, University of Osijek, Croatia

• marina.poje@fizika.unios.hr

Natural radioactivity constitutes an existing and inevitable exposure, however it is necessary to monitor it through measurements and evaluations.

The goal is to highlight and share with specialists information relating to: indoor environmental monitoring activities; identification of the most important pollutants, with particular attention to those deriving from building materials (for example ionizing radiation, radon); studies and feasibility tests relating to the use of residues from other industries as components of building materials (for example residues from the NORM industries); innovative metrological approaches; the state of the art of remedial actions in order to improve the risk management of indoor environmental pollutants.

Cover topics include, but are not limited to:

• Indoor and outdoor Radon exposure;
• Radon in Geological Environment;
• Building Material;
• Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM);
• Metrology and methodology for radiometric characterization;
• Innovative solutions to improve the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ);
• Radiological Risk management;
• Dose assessment.

Mariagabriella Pugliese, is Associate Professor of Applied Physics at the Department of Physics "E. Pancini" of the University of Naples Federico II. The field of interest of her research activity is environmental radioactivity (terrestrial and space) and radiation protection in the medical, environmental and industrial fields, both of workers and of the population. MP was President of the Italian Society for Radiation Research (SIRR) from 2017 to 2021. Since 2022 she has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Italian Association of Radiation Protection (AIRP). She also dedicates to scientific communication and dissemination for high school students. For this activity, last year she was awarded the 2023 Scientific Communication Award of the Italian Physics Society. (SIF). She holds roles of coordination of research projects in collaboration with ASI, ESA, NASA, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, INAIL, INFN, INGV, CNR and other national and international research institutions. Mariagabriella Pugliese is author of more than 180 papers published in international journals, and invited speaker at national and international conferences.

Giuseppe La Verde, is a Biologist graduated with honors with a study on radon measurements in historic buildings and exposure dose assessment. His PhD involved studying the effects of radiotherapy on targeted therapy using functionalized nanoparticles.
His research has always concerned topics of applied physics with a multidisciplinary approach. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Department of Physics "E. Pancini" of the University of Naples Federico II.
His research interests focus on: i) environmental radioactivity, ii) indoor radon measurements; iii) radiometric characterization of environmental matrices, drinking water and Building Material; iv) study and identification of matrices that can be included in production processes (circular economy); v) study of exposure scenarios to radiation of natural origin in working and living environments; vi) study of the effects of radiation on biological systems and drug delivery.
GLV is the author of more than 50 papers published in international journals, and a speaker at national and international conferences.

Salvatore Procopio, born in Calabria (Catanzaro), is an environmental health physicist and carries out control and research activities in the environmental field at the Regional Agency for the protection of the environment of Calabria. He is responsible for the Ettore Majorana physical laboratory, regional reference for the measurement of radon in environmental matrices and for the determination of the concentration of radionuclide activity deriving from the presence of Norm and Tenorm.

Marina Poje Sovilj, is graduated in Physics in 2006 at the Department of Physics, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer of Osijek, Croatia. She received her PhD in 2012 in the field of Atomic and Molecular Physics at the Physics Department, Faculty of Natural Sciences, at the University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Since 2006 she has been employed at the Department of Physics, University of Osijek, first as an assistant, then a senior assistant, and since June 2015 as an assistant professor. The area of interest and scope of research is in the field of radiation physics, radiation protection and radiation dosimetry, particularly radon as well as naturally and artificially created neutrons. She is a member of the Laboratory for Low-level Radioactivity at the Department of Physics. Currently, she is the deputy head of the Department for teaching and students.
She is a member of the Board of directors of the Croatian Radiation Protection Association (CRPA) and a member of the International Radiation Physics Society (IRPS). She was a member and chairman of the organizing/scientific committee for several Symposia.