Mariastella Gelmini, the Minister of Education, University and Research (MIUR), has named Corrado Clini as the new President of the Trieste AREA Science Park Consortium.

A doctor by training, specialising in occupational health, hygiene and public health, Corrado Clini is Director General of the Ministry of the Environment and replaces Giancarlo Michellone at AREA Science Park.

The criteria used by MIUR in selecting the heads of Public Research Institutions (which are under the Ministry's direct control) include not only scientific merit and academic credentials, but also managerial capabilities and skills.

Minister Gelmini also named Paola Secchiero - professor of Human Anatomy in the Morphology and Embryology Department at the University of Ferrara - as the second of the three members of AREA's Board of Directors.

Brief profile of Corrado Clini

Director General for Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. Focal point in Italy for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Chairman of the Global BioEnergy Partnership, a G8+5 initiative that involves 18 countries and promotes the sustainable production and use of bioenergy. President of the Regional Environmental Center, an intergovernmental organisation based in Budapest. Member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

Visiting Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Member of the Board of the European Environment Agency. 2000-2001: Chairman of the G8 Task Force on Renewable Energy. 2004-2007: Member of the Board of ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development). 2008-2010: Chairman of the European Environment and Health Committee.