The department has 42 units of academic staff, 21 units of administrative staff and 130 non-permanent staff such as PhD students, assistant researchers. The Earth Sciences Department of the University of Firenze is, since 2004, the official Centre of Competence of the Italian Civil Protection for Remote Sensing and Geohazards (Directive of the Italian Prime Minister of 27 February 2004; Decree of the Head of the Italian National Civil Protection Department no. 252 of 25 January 2005).

In 2008 it was entitled "World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction 2008-2011" by International Programme on Landslide (IPL). This recognition was confirmed in 2011 and in 2014 for the third consecutive time. The Geohazards research group, which is established at Earth Sciences Department of the University of Firenze it is one of the largest centres for scientific and technological services on geohazards in Italy, currently composed by 51 full-time employees (Figure 1). The group counts 4 professors, 3 researchers, 7 technicians, 19 post-doc fellows, 15 PhD students and 3 administratives. It is the biggest centre in Italy in the field of Geohazards and Engineering Geology.