Visiting
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 2023
Professor Christian Maltecca
Institution
North Carolina State University - USA
Invited by
Francesco Tiezzi Mazzoni Della Stella Maestri
Activity during the visit
Prof. Christian Maltecca has focused his research activity at DAGRI on the use of microbial information in predictive models in the animal field. Recently, multi-omics models are evolving thanks also to the advent of Machine Learning. Multi-omics models are those that incorporate genomic, microbial, transcriptomic and phenomics data to be able to validate complex biological hypotheses through the inclusion of information from different sources. The research activity led to the preparation of four manuscripts to peer-reviewed, high-impact international journals. Prof. Maltecca held seminars and lectures in the Master's Degree Course in Biotechnology for Environmental Management and Sustainable Agriculture, which included data analysis genomics on plants and animals, starting from the mapping of the loci that determine the quantitative characters up to genomic selection. Additionally, lectures were taught in the "Intro to R" course of the Doctoral School in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences on the use of the R software for data handling and analysis.
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 contributed to the scientific activities of the project "New approaches to develop sensory-hedonic based interventions to promote healthier and more sustainable eating in school canteens", in which the use of hedonic contrast to encourage the consumption of healthy and sustainable foods in children and adolescents is studied. Similarly, he participated to the project “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, and to the project “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 magazines. He also offered lectures and lessons in the frame of the GeSoRAFA Doctorate, and in the master's degree course in Food Science and Technology.
Professor Diego Hernan Chifarelli
Institution
Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNAM) - Argentina
Invited by
Edgardo Giordani
Activity during the visit
The visiting professor, together with a team of DAGRI experts on perennial woody crops, carried on a study on the environmental impact of the production of Yerba Mate in Argentina. The results, based on the application of Life Cycle Assessment, were analysed and a draft of a scientific publication was prepared. Professor Diego Chifarelli offered a number of lessons and seminars on the Yerba mate value chain and on the sustainability of innovative agro-silvo-pastoralism system adopted in Misiones (Argentina) to the students of the Master Courses in Natural Resources Management for Tropical Rural Development and in Agricultural Science and Technologies.
Professor Konstantinos Karantininis
Institution
Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences (Slu) - Sweden
Invited by
Leonardo Casini
Activity during the visit
The visiting professor worked on producing preliminary research papers from the research project SASI-SPI (SUSTAINABLE AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS INTELLIGENCE - SCIENCE-POLICY INTERFACE). The project produces new narratives and reference frameworks on food system transformations, and thrives to accompany decision makers in the policy dialogues related to the identification of food system challenges and in the co-design/adoption of effective transitions towards more sustainable and inclusive food systems. SASI-SPI project focuses on changes within food systems and in the external drivers that influence them; territorial specificities; interactions (and trade-offs) between food system dimensions the key sectors (agriculture, energy, health, etc.) and the overall economy.
Professor Rafael Ruben Sola Guirado
Institution
Department of Mechanics, University of Córdoba (UCO) - Spain
Invited by
Daniele Sarri
Activity during the visit
During his visit at DAGRI Professor Rafael Ruben Sola Guirado, specialist in industrial design and CAD / CAE techniques, shared research experiences on topics common to the development of mechanized solutions and precision agriculture. In particular his activity was related to i) testing and measurements in laboratory conditions on real target for the evaluation of a 2nd generation ultrasound sensors; ii) design of a proof of concept and prototyping of a digitized fruit picker for yields tracking in high landscape value olive growing; iii) data analysis of an experimental yield monitor for small farmers and generation of yield maps; iv) study of the logistics of autonomous agricultural vehicles. Finally, he collaborated on the reorganization of the SIMSOE Life project proposal on the spreading innovation in Mediterranean small olive enterprises/farms. The research activities were aimed at producing scientific publications on Q1 specialized journals.
Last update
16.01.2024