Dr Benedetta Dini PhD, MSc, BSc, BA

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Assistant Professor in Environmental Sciences

Contact details

Email: b.dini@bham.ac.uk

Dr Dini is an engineering geologist and geomorphologist with a strong interest in unravelling the physical processes underpinning landslides and the environmental factors influencing their distribution. Her work spans multiple disciplines, combining high-level remote sensing techniques such as InSAR, innovative wireless technologies, fieldwork, and spatial analyses to detect and investigate slope instabilities through the interpretation of surface deformation.

Her current primary focus revolves around the development of pioneering InSAR methods that draw from signal processing, ultimately enhancing landslide monitoring and precursory identification, both at regional and local scales. Dr. Dini's research is driven by a strong commitment to producing impactful results with real-world applications as well as enhancing resilience of vulnerable communities in the Global South.

In addition to her work in geology and geomorphology, Dr. Dini has a background in meteorology and a keen interest in coastal and periglacial environments.

Qualifications

PhD in Engineering Geology, ETH Zurich (2019)

MSc in Geophysical Hazards, UCL (2007)

BSc in Geology and Applied Geology, Università Milano-Bicocca (2006)

BA in Piano, Conservatorio di Musica “G. Verdi” Milano (2006)

Teaching

First year – Research methods and GIS

Second year – Geological natural hazards

Third year – Professional placement

Switzerland field course

Other activities

Obtained the Mental Health First Aider (MHFA) certificate in 2023

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Dini, B, Lacroix, P & Doin, M-P 2026, 'Beyond and beneath displacement time series: towards InSAR-based early warnings and deformation analysis of the Achoma landslide, Peru', Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 863-879. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-863-2026

Dini, B, Bennett, GL, Franco, AMA, Whitworth, MRZ, Cook, KL, Senn, A & Reynolds, JM 2021, 'Development of smart boulders to monitor mass movements via the Internet of Things: a pilot study in Nepal', Earth Surface Dynamics, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 295–315. https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-295-2021

Daout, S, Dini, B, Haeberli, W, Doin, M-P & Parsons, B 2020, 'Ice loss in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau permafrost as seen by 16 yr of ESA SAR missions', Earth and Planetary Science Letters. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116404

Dini, B, Aaron, J, Manconi, A, Palézieux, LBD, Leith, K & Loew, S 2020, 'Regional‐Scale Investigation of Preconditioning Factors of Rock Slope Instabilities in NW Bhutan', Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jf005404

Dini, B, Manconi, A, Loew, S & Chophel, J 2020, 'The Punatsangchhu-I dam landslide illuminated by InSAR multitemporal analyses', Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65192-w

Dini, B, Daout, S, Manconi, A & Loew, S 2019, 'Classification of slope processes based on multitemporal DInSAR analyses in the Himalaya of NW Bhutan', Remote Sensing of the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111408

Chapter

Lacroix, P, Dini, B & Cheaib, A 2022, Measuring Kinematics of Slow‐Moving Landslides from Satellite Images. in Surface Displacement Measurement from Remote Sensing Images. Wiley, pp. 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119986843.ch10

Conference contribution

Reyes-Carmona, C, Agliardi, F, Gallia, L, Burrows, K & Dini, B 2025, Timescales and interplay of complex mass movements in a periglacial alpine rock slope revealed by geomorphological, InSAR and thermal data. in EGU General Assembly 2025., EGU25-6387, EGUsphere, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27/04/25. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-6387

Dini, B, Lacroix, P & Doin, M-P 2022, InSAR application for the detection of precursors on the Achoma landslide, Peru. in EGU General Assembly 2022., EGU22-12583, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23/05/22. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12583

Dini, B, Doin, M-P, Lacroix, P & Gay, M 2022, Satellite-based InSAR: application and signal extraction for the detection of landslide precursors. in Le programme du colloque GRETSI'22. GRETSI, GRETSI'22, Nancy, France, 6/09/22. <http://gretsi.fr/data/colloque/pdf/2022_dini987.pdf>

Dini, B & Bennett, GL 2021, Analysis of controlling factors on boulder production on the hillslopes of the upper Bhote Koshi catchment, Nepal. in EGU General Assembly 2021., EGU21-15605, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2021, 19/04/21. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15605

Shobe, C, Turowski, JM, Nativ, R, Glade, RC, Bennett, GL & Dini, B 2021, Great big boulders and landscape self-organization. in GSA Connects 2021., 88-1, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, no. 6, vol. 53, Geological Society of America, GSA Connects 2021, Portland, Oregon, United States, 10/10/21. https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2021AM-368401

Doctoral Thesis

Dini, B 2020, 'Remote Sensing Analyses of Slope Instabilities in Northwestern Bhutan'. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000387619

Poster

Glade, R, Shobe, C, Turowski, J, Nativ, R, Bennett, G & Dini, B 2021, 'Progress in boulder-mantled landscapes: A Sisyphean challenge', AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans, United States, 13/12/21 - 17/12/21.

Review article

Shobe, CM, Turowski, JM, Nativ, R, Glade, RC, Bennett, GL & Dini, B 2021, 'The role of infrequently mobile boulders in modulating landscape evolution and geomorphic hazards', Earth-Science Reviews, vol. 220, 103717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103717

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