Nadia Pinardi holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University, and she is full professor of Oceanography at Bologna University, Italy. Her interests range from ocean numerical modelling and predictions to data assimilation, numerical modelling of the marine physical-biological interactions and pollutants at sea. The last topics of her research are oil spill hazard mapping and submesoscale to mesoscale ocean interactions. She is now co-president of the Joint Committee for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), a WMO and Unesco-IOC coordinating group for the development of operational meteo-marine and oceanographic services.