Raffaele Bruschi

Raffaele Bruschi (1997) is a PhD student at the University of Trieste within the National Interest Doctorate in Design for Made in Italy: Identity, Innovation and Sustainability, funded by the PNRR. After obtaining his diploma as a Chemical Expert, he completed his bachelor's degree in Biotechnology for the Environment at the University of Ferrara and his master's degree in Global Change Ecology at the University of Trieste. His research activity is focused on microplastic pollution, the development of sampling and analysis methodologies in different environmental matrices, and the assessment of the biodegradability of new materials and biopolymers. Within his doctoral programme, he has developed microplastic monitoring activities in drinking water and in effluents from wastewater treatment plants, in collaboration with CAFC S.p.A., and is working on the development of fast screening methods for biodegradation, based on respirometric techniques, for the preliminary evaluation of new polymers and materials with reduced environmental impact. In parallel, his experience as a speleologist has directed part of his research towards karst and underground environments, including remote and hard-to-reach areas. He currently collaborates with the Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU in Postojna, where he studies the passive atmospheric deposition of microplastics in the Postojna Cave and their transport through the Reka–Timavo karst system. He has also been collaborating for several years with the BioScience Research Center (BsRC) for the analysis and characterisation of microplastics.