WHO WE ARE
A team of professionals who have decided to undertake a new challenge: scientific research for the protection of threatened species and their habitats

OUR RESEARCHERS.

Yari Roggia
BEEZOOM PROJECT REFERENT
THE PAST.
He graduated in Evolution of Animal and Human Behavior (ECAU), at the University of Turin with a thesis in bioacoustics on the comparison of the songs of two species of larks in Spain.
In 2011 he started working as an Animal Keeper at Zoom and today he is responsible for the management of the large African herbivores hosted in the biopark's Serengeti habitat.
In his free time he has always been passionate about the world of pollinators and in particular bees which led him to 2016 a Panama, where he conceived and supervised the development of a meliponiculture project on behalf of the NGO CEASPA, in the rural community of AchiotAnd
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THE PRESENT.
Thanks to his great passion for beekeeping and the skills acquired on pollinators in general and their important ecosystem role, he is the contact person for the BEE ZOOM project of the Foundation.
for a couple of years he has been involved in the study and biomonitoring of pollinating insects in the 1.5ha research area adjacent to the park, which the Foundation has decided to regenerate by planting various floral essences useful for pollinators to promote ecosystem services.
Specifically, every 10 days from April to October, the period of activity of the pollinators, it deals with the counting and identification of the most common species of local diurnal butterflies, following the European method eBMS (European butterfly monitoring scheme)
He collaborated with the ZOOM Foundation in the implementation of the Beekeeping project in Botswana: a November 2021 he made his first trip to the community of Kaudwane at the gates of the Kalahari, where he still today, 2-3 times a year with the field support of Leopard Ecology & Conservation, she goes to follow and train a first group of five women in the creation and management of an apiary.
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Gaia Riscossa
HIPPO ENERGY PROJECT REFERENT

THE PAST.
After humanistic studies at the classical high school and the University in Psychology, from 2010 to 2017 works for the CSD Coordination of the Valli Works at the Uliveto accommodation community and with the DIAPSI association, Val Pellice section, covering the role of operator and taking care of the educational and recreational projects of the two structures that host people with disabilities serious physical and mental.
In 2017 he started working at the Bioparco Zoom Turin in the educational sector mainly dealing with organizing and carrying out educational workshops for schools of all levels- and guided tours.
Since 2021 it has managed the laboratories, transformed into a Distance Learning version, providing more than 80 hours of live web links
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THE PRESENT.
From 2022, thanks to his studies and his experience, he starts a collaborating with the Zoom Foundation dealing with the "Hippo-Energy" project
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16 1-hour meetings, 2 per month in 2022 from February to November, live from the park with i/le children admitted to the Pediatric Oncohaematology Department of the Regina Children's Hospital Margherita of Turin
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once a week he goes to the hospital, in the Isola Margherita ward, to take care of the maintenance of the aquarium built by the Foundation for the hospital which houses several fish of the Cichlid family from the Zoom Bioparc.
During 2022, she collaborated with the hospital psychologists in the creation of the experiential book "A rainbow of emotions" which will be given to the children in the ward during 2023, in order to provide moments of relief , alongside the educational activities concerning the world of animals and emotions.

Michela Cogo
BEE FRIENDS PROJECT REFERENT
THE PAST.
After graduating in Animal Conservation and Biodiversity in 2008 at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of Turin, thanks to the SCNV, she collaborates with the Province of Turin, Office of Protected Areas and Voluntary Surveillance for the drafting of educational materials to be proposed within schools of the territory. In the same year he acquired the qualification of Technician in Territorial Information Systems. From 2009 to 2013 he worked at ELOR DSC, a company operating in the field of scientific dissemination, winning for two consecutive years the Master of Civil Society Talents scientific research grant awarded by the CRT Foundation. From 2014 to 2017 he was QMS Manager for Arpex TN Srl, where he created and managed the company quality system together with the reporting of indirectly managed European projects. From 2017 to 2021 he is a biology teacher in secondary schools and technology at the Lorusso and Cotugno prison. In 2017 he began his collaboration with the educational department of Zoom, where he is mainly responsible for designing and carrying out educational workshops for schools of all levels, as well as educational visits and all the educational activities proposed by the biopark. In 2020 he obtained the Level I University Master's Degree in Didactic, Psychological, Anthropological Methodologies and Design Theories and Methods.
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THE PRESENT.
Since February 2023 he has collaborated with the Zoom Foundation and is currently the contact person for Bee Friends, a project financed by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation which aims to safeguard pollinating insects, through the involvement of schools and municipalities neighboring the Zoom Biopark.
Giorgia Ruffa
ANIMAL WELFARE PROJECT

THE PAST.
Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Turin, with a thesis work carried out at the Zoom Turin biopark on the behavior of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) hosted in the park.
Subsequently he obtained a master's degree in Environmental Biology which ended with a thesis on bioacoustics aimed at analyzing the vocalizations of three species of lemurs (Lemur catta, Eulemur macaco, Eulemur rubriventer), also housed in the park.
In 2011 she began working at Zoom Turin as an animal keeper, where over the years she has specialized in the enrichment and management of primates, currently taking care of the lemurs and siamangs housed in the park.
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THE PRESENT.
From July 2022 he began a training course in the newly created Zoom Foundation, returning to the University every week to follow the lessons aimed at perfecting scientific knowledge, with a particular focus on statistical methods applied to studies ethological and research methodologies necessary to learn more about animal behavior and welfare.
Since October 2022, in collaboration with the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, a study has begun aimed at analyzing the songs of siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) hosted in the park, thanks to a ten-year database of videos and audio recordings, collected by park keeper over the years.
Dalila Frasson
ANIMAL WELFARE COLLABORATOR RESEARCHER

THE PAST.
Born in Carpi on 21 April 1993. Always passionate about animals and nature, he obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2016. Subsequently he specialized in Marine Biology at the University of Pisa, where he graduated with top marks, 110 cum laude in 2019. After his university studies, he began a collaboration as an independent researcher at the Zoomarine zoo, where he conducted various research on dolphin behavior which was published in international journals and presented in national and international conferences. One of these studies earned him, in 2024, the prestigious "Young Researcher" award awarded by the SIE (Italian Society of Ethology). In the following years, he continued to work as an independent researcher in various Italian and foreign zoological structures, dealing with numerous animal species. In 2020, he became a consultant for the ethological part, research and evaluation of animal welfare at the Abruzzo Zoo.
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THE PRESENT.
Since 2022, he has taken on the role of biologist consultant at the Zoo al Maglio in Switzerland, where he dealt with various aspects related to zoo management, welfare, animal training and exhibit design.
In 2023, he formalized a collaboration agreement as a researcher with the ZOOM Foundation, together with which he deals with the development and implementation of research projects in both the ethological and environmental fields and analysis of the data collected.