Prof. Federico Fanti is a vertebrate paleontologist and sedimentary geologist investigating how local or large-scale palaeocological dynamics as documented in sedimentary rocks drive evolutionary patterns in the fossil record via adaptations and extinction events. As a field scientist, he's been involved in field-oriented projects in Europe, Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Africa, and Australia. Since 2016 he is leading an international team developing a new methodology for countering the illegal trade of fossils in the Gobi desert of Mongolia.

2017 National Geographic Emerging Explorer, Fanti teaches vertebrate paleobiology at the University of Bologna in the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences.