Visiting Scientists
DAGRI welcomes foreign academics, researchers and students in order to foster scientific and cultural collaborations. Every year a number of researchers and students from abroad are involved in the research and teaching activities of our Department. During their visit our guests may offer Courses for PhD students, Seminars, Workshops, Presentations or simply informal meetings.
Visiting professors at DAGRI Year 2024
Professor Helene Hopfer
Institution
Penn State University
Invited by
Erminio Monteleone
Description of Teaching Activities Conducted
During her stay, Professor Hopfer engaged in teaching activities for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students. Specifically, the professor was involved in the following lessons:
- Master's Degree in Food Science and Technology: - Lectures conducted jointly with Prof. Erminio Monteleone and Prof. Sara Spinelli on the organization of sensory preference tests for food products and the main methods of data analysis.
- Bachelor's Degree in Food Technology: - Lectures conducted jointly with Erminio Monteleone and Caterina Dinnella on the introduction to sensory sciences, including the perception of flavor in food products and its evaluation.
- Ph.D. Course in Sustainable Management of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Resources (GeSoRAFA): "Consumer acceptance for novel foods, food ingredients, and processing technologies." This course is part of the training offerings for Ph.D. students specializing in Food Science and Technology and Wine Economics and Rural Development within GeSoRAFA.
Description of Research Activities Conducted
The stay also provided an opportunity to finalize the preparation of a manuscript accepted for publication in Food Quality and Preference, on the development of an EmoSemio questionnaire to evaluate emotions evoked by cell-cultivated meat label terms.
Professor John Prescott
Institution
Director, TasteMatters Research & Consulting
Conjoint Professor, School of Psychology, University of Newcastle - Australia
Invited by
Caterina Dinnella
Activity during the visit
During his visit at DAGRI Professor John Prescott collaborated on doctoral projects supervised by the members of the UniFI SensoryLab team, through the critical review of experimental designs, contribution to data analysis planning and interpretation of the results. Prof Prescott contributed to the scientific activities of the following doctoral projects:i) “Sensory strategies to reduce food waste in school canteen” to encourage the consumption of healthy and sustainable foods in children and adolescents; ii)“ALTERTASTE” which aims to study the evolution of perceptive alterations, with particular attention to the gustatory and chemesthetic system, in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and their influence on food preferences and quality of life; iii) “Capturing the dynamics of sensory and emotional experience for sustainable product innovation”. During his stay, Prof. Prescott collaborated with the SensoryLab team on the drafting of works to be submitted for publication in Q1 journals. He also offered lectures in the frame of the GeSoRAFA Doctorate, and in the master's degree course in Food Science and Technology .
Professor Pablo Horacio Demaio
Institution
Universidad Nacional de Catamarca
Invited by
Edgardo Giordani
Activity during the visit
During his visit at DAGRI Professor Pablo Horacio Demaio contributed to define future shared activities on the identification of superior genotypes of cactus species from western Argentina. He also offered lessons and seminars to the students of the Master Courses in Natural Resources Management for Tropical Rural Development and in Agricultural Sciences. in detail: i) "Fruit species of Cactaceae from north-western Argentina" in the subject "Genetic resources and fruit supply chains"; ii) "Native fruit trees of Northwest Argentina" in the subject "Tropical Tree Crops"; iii) Seminar "Native fruits of the Sierras pampenas and subandinas of Argentina”. A testing session has been organized with the students to evaluate local Argentinian infusions (namely Chañar, Mate and Algarrobo).
Professor Marco Fusi
Institution
Dove Marine Laboratory Cullercoats, North Shields NE30 4PZ - UK
Invited by
Carlo Viti
Activity during the visit
During his stay at our university, Prof. Fusi formed collaborations with faculty members aimed at developing projects on the ecology of terrestrial and intertidal ecosystems. Moreover, the professor Fusi was involved in:
- Ph.D. Course in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: 3 ECTS credits - Topic: Multivariate data analysis in ecology: using generalised linear model for multivariate abundances data.
- Bachelor Degree in Forestry and Environmental Science: - Lectures conducted jointly with Carlo Viti on the soil microbial ecology.
Professor Rafael Ruben Sola Guirado
Institution
Department of Mechanics, University of Córdoba (UCO) - Spain
Escuela Politécnica Superior de Córdoba
Invited by
Daniele Sarri and Marco Vieri
Activity during the visit
The activities during the visiting period were focused on teaching and research. The research activities were a continuation of those initiated in 2023 in the biosystem engineering division and were aimed at sharing knowledge in precision agriculture technologies and robotics.
Prof. Rafael Ruben Sola Guirado presented the seminar “Machinery design criteria and precision solution for olive-growing” on 24th May to our Ph.D. students and within the master degree Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie, Laboratorio di agricoltura digitale e alta tecnologia LADAT course and will hold some lessons in collaboration with Prof. Daniele Sarri and Marco Vieri of the course. Moreover, he took part as a co-teacher and held some lessons in the course with specific focuses on robotics, automation, and olive mechanization; He held a seminar on June 26, 2024 on Precision farming and robotics for the sustainable precise management of agricultural productions with a speech on the digitalization of agricultural practices, mechanization, precision farming and robotics, which will be included in the PhD Program in Advanced and Sustainable Agricultural-Forest System a joint program from the Universities of Florence, Pisa, and Siena.
During the visiting period, management methods for robot advancement in agricultural contexts were analyzed and discussed, and critical issues and possible solutions for optimizing all movement phases were identified. Furthermore, the results of the aforementioned research activity have been presented in a research paper entitled “Implementation of a Mechanical Steering System for Autonomous Tractors in Tree Farm Environments”, which was accepted for publication on Computer and Electronics in Agriculture edited by Elsevier. The activities also included the preparation of criteria to optimize the continuation of the implementation of an H2020 project proposal focused on the use of robotic systems in agricultural contexts for the optimization of work phases.
Last update
30.01.2025