Prof. Sfarra attained the Ph.D. title in Mechanical, Management, and Energy Engineering at the University of L'Aquila (UNIVAQ), Italy, in 2011.  

In order to choose the proper course of study, Prof. Sfarra attended – after a selection for merit –, the XIX university orientation course at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (Italy) (168th position in the QS World University Rankings – 2023).  

Following the achievement of the Ph.D., Prof. Sfarra was a Research Fellow at UNIVAQ until 2017, before becoming a Researcher in October of the same year. 

He carried out research and/or teaching periods abroad at prestigious Institutions, such as:

Université Laval (Québec city, Canada), Institut National du Patrimoine (Paris, France), Arts et Métiers ParisTech, I2M - Institut de Mécanique et d’Ingénierie - (Bordeaux, France), Escola superior de Conservacion e Restauracion de bens culturais de Galicia (Pontevedra, Spain), Tomsk Polytechnic University (Tomsk, Russia), Universidad de Sevilla - Facultad de Bellas Artes - Degree en Conservación Restauración de Bienes Culturales (Seville, Spain), National Tsing Hua University - Department of Chemical Engineering (Taiwan, ROC), Universidad de Cantabria - Departamento de Tecnología Electrónica and Ing. Sistemas y Automática (Santander, Spain), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia - Facultad de Bellas Artes - Degree en Conservación Restauración de Bienes Culturales (Valencia, Spain), National Technical University of Athens (Athens, Greece), and Inha University (South Korea).  

Prof. Sfarra was an Invited-Scientific Researcher at Tomsk Polytechnic University (Tomsk, Russia), as well as a member of several Scientific Committees at International Congresses.

He also is an Editor of Infrastructures (MDPI), and Sensors (MDPI).

Since December 2020, Prof. Sfarra is the Editor-in-Chief of the Quantitative InfraRed Thermography (QIRT) Journal (Taylor & Francis) [1st Quartile (Scimago) in: 1) Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and 2) Instrumentation].

Prof. Sfarra is deeply involved in the non-destructive evaluation and characterization of materials, especially using optical and infrared vision non-destructive testing techniques, numerical simulations centered on heat transfer phenomena (by Comsol Multiphysics), development of ad hoc scripts in Matlab environment. In these research areas, he authored - co-authored more than 270 manuscripts in Journals and International Conferences. Prof. Sfarra have written six chapters in Books, too. 

Prof. Sfarra was chairman and member of Organizing Committees in various International Conferences.  

Prof. Sfarra is acting as reviewer of more than 50 scientific journals; he organized Special Issues as an Editor for Journal of Physics, Applied Sciences (MDPI), Advances in OptoElectronics, Sensors (MDPI), Polymers (MDPI), Quantitative InfraRed Thermography Journal (T&F), Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (Springer), and Advances in Mechanical Engineering (AIME).  

He is a collaborator, principal investigator and local contact person in international research projects.

He was a member of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy, as an Associated Technologist within group 5, and he currently is a member of Associazione MASTER, and Associazione Italiana Prove Non-distruttive - Monitoraggio Diagnostica (AIPnD). He received awards - mainly focused on scientific recognition - from UNIVAQ, National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) (233th position in the QS World University Rankings – 2023), and Universidad de Cantabria (Spain).  

He was a supervisor/co-supervisor of 14 Degree Theses, as well as a member of Evaluation Committees of Ms and Ph.D. Theses. 

Up to 2021, he was an Adjunct Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of L'Aquila (Italy); in the latter case, he was mainly involved in the five-year single-cycle School of Restoration. In October 2020, he became Associate Professor at UNIVAQ after obtaining the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) in the competitive sector 09/C2 (Technical Physics and Nuclear Engineering).

Prof. Sfarra is a member of the Academic Board of the Ph.D. in Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics (UNIVAQ). 

Some time ago, he took the 3rd level of qualification as a technician in IR Thermography, with a specialization in Civil Engineering, Architecture, and Cultural Heritage sector.

Prof. Sfarra has been included in the list of "World's Top 2% of Scientists" both in 2022 and 2023, edited by Stanford University. It is the most prestigious worldwide ranking based on bibliometric information in Scopus including more than 190,000 researchers from all the world out of about 9 million scientists.

Since November 2022, he is an adjunct Professor (Professeur Associé) at Université Laval (Canada).

Finally, Prof. Sfarra have a consolidated experience in thermographic diagnostics of composite materials made by natural and non-natural fibers. 

The H-index linked to Stefano Sfarra' name on SCOPUS is equal to 34.