BIOFRESHCLOUD
Enhancing Mediterranean Fresh Produce Shelf-life using Sustainable Preservative Technologies and communicating knowledge on dynamic shelf-life using Food Cloud Services and Predictive Modelling (PRIMA-S2-2019-PCI2020-112015)
The proposal aims to develop an integrated, innovative, and eco-friendly approach to assess optimal shelf-life and minimize food losses of strawberries and tomatoes produced in the Mediterranean region, by combining food bio-preservation technologies, food modelling, and Food Cloud tools. The technological solutions will be imbued by a sustainable and circular view, making use and valorising Mediterranean agri-food resources to develop natural preservative, that will be applied so as to extend food shelf-life and provide safer and fresher products to consumers. The limitation in resources of Mediterranean food enterprises, typically small or medium size, will be overcome through the application of Information Technologies (IT) and Predictive modelling based on Food Cloud Computing enabling food traceability and control at distance in automatic manner.
The scientific results will be shared to a large group of producers and retailers via participant networks. The project is active in qualitative research and also aims at bringing an assessment of the quantitative performance as a basis for the future commercial exploitation of the innovation results. In the last quarter, the technologies will be performed under simulated and real food environments including all project partners and third parties interested in the project.
Objetivos generales
- Objective 1. To obtain and assess lignocellulose nanofibres (LCNF) and microorganisms from agrifood residues, as a sustainable and circular approach, for application in active packaging and preservation of vegetable products.
- Objective 2. To extend shelf-life of fresh tomatoes and strawberries by applying bio-protective cultures and bio-active compounds, in combination with LCNF nanocomposite, using suitable methods such as edible coating and nanocomposites (e.g. package pads and films).
- Objective 3. Generate and validate mathematical models to predict microbial dynamics and sensory dynamics in the targeted produces under real storage conditions considering the effect of the natural preservative techniques obtained from Objective 2.
- Objective 4. To develop a Cloud Computing based system for food transparency and dynamic shelf life prediction.
- Objective 5. To optimize logistics and retail to reduce food waste using smart contracts.
- Objective 6. To test the full solution simulating real world conditions based on associated food stakeholders from farm to fork, including testing of consumer acceptance.
Papel de la Universidad de Córdoba
- WP1. Toward a sustainable and eco-friendly approach for generating biopolymers, from agri-food residues, for application in food preservative and packaging systems.
- WP2. Looking for natural and bio-protective cultures to fight against microbial pest at postharvest.
- WP3. Development of an expert system based on the application of Predictive Models to manage shelf-life in vegetable products.
- WP4. Food cloud system to combine product, logistic and quality data along the supply chain and to provide enriched information regarding shelf-life and supply chain optimization
- WP5.Application of the developed technologies under different scenarios simulating food distribution conditions
- WP7. Management.
Investigador principal: Fernando Pérez Rodríguez (Coordinator)
E-mail: b42perof@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: https://biofreshcloud.eu/
“”BIOFRESHCLOUD” project, PCI2020-112015, is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR”.
CILIFO
Centro Ibérico para la Investigación y Lucha contra Incendios Forestales (INTERREG-POCTEP-0753_CILIFO_5_E)
For some years now, fire risk and emergency management have been very serious threats to the territory of Andalusia/Portugal, especially in the border area. In fact, the progressive abandonment of cultivation and grazing has allowed the development of combustible and permanent biomass which can generate large forest fires which have the particularity of being rapid, powerful and difficult to stop. In addition to the high risk of fire associated with the physical characteristics of the territory, the difficulties due to the border situation between two states have so far prevented this risk from being reduced. There are serious obstacles to obtaining data, exchanging information, inadequate anticipation and management plans; and a difficulty in coordinating between emergency services, elements which limit the effectiveness of the intervention and place it in a situation of great legal uncertainty.
Through this project, it is proposed to create CILIFO (Iberian Centre for Research and the Fight against Forest Fires) in the province of Huelva, preferably located in an already built site, and which can maintain its functionality once the project has been completed, as well as to establish subheadings and strategic antennas which are estimated, with CILIFO being the administrative headquarters and promoting training and research in the different laboratories and centres of the participating partners. The Andalusian provinces in which this project has being develop are Huelva, Sevilla, Córdoba and Cádiz.
The aim is for CILIFO to become a reference point for forest fires throughout the Iberian Peninsula and Europe, and more specifically for:
– Forest fire fighting operations in Spain and Portugal.
– Research, information and dissemination entities on forest fires.
– The population in general and schoolchildren in particular.
In this sense, CILIFO will be established as a technical-scientific Research and Dissemination Centre, a Technology Centre specialised in forest fires and forest management that coordinates research and disseminates it. CILIFO is an opportunity to lay the foundations so that, after three years of economic viability, the centre can be sustainable or almost self-financing. A CILIFO with a vocation for international leadership will be committed to different lines of research, aspiring to European funds, and to the incorporation of companies and administrations, leading, or at least participating, in the research being developed in this sector in Europe through the different public calls, or through private sponsorship, with the vision of management-research so necessary to ensure the transfer of R&D&i results.
Objetivos generales
- To strengthen and unite cooperation, working procedures and training between the Forest Fire Prevention and Extinction mechanisms in the cooperation area of the Euroregion Alentejo-Algarve-Andalusia.
- To promote the creation of lasting and quality employment in the area; to reduce the economic cost of fires by creating a rural economy linked to the landscape.
- To improve the response capacity to forest fires of the administrations and authorities involved in fighting them in the three participating regions.
Papel de la Universidad de Córdoba
The University of Córdoba will participate in the following project activities:- A0 – Project preparation
- A2 – Training, accreditation and joint protocols
- A4 – Development and Innovation Programme
- A5 – Management and Coordination
- A6 – Communication
Investigador principal: Francisco Rodríguez y Silva
E-mail: ir1rosif@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: http://cilifo.eu/FORCE
Molecular basis underlying the QTL responsible for the genetic control of flowering time in chickpea: an integrative approach (H2020-MSCA-IF-2018-844431)
Our ability to feed the world with innovative products depends on new breeding methods and technologies that will require well-trained plant breeders who understand fieldwork, skilled scientist who understand the genetic basis of the traits to improve and data scientist to help geneticist and breeders to make more informed material selections. Flowering time is the major domestication trait defining the adaptation of chickpea to different agroclimatic conditions, and therefore is a major determinant of its productivity. Understanding how individual genetic variants combine to provide adaptation in specific situations is fundamental to accelerating introgression of new traits into adapted backgrounds. Today a number of genomic resources developed in the past for model plant systems are available for agronomically important crops. In FLOWERING CHICKPEA we will dissect the molecular basis controlling flowering time.
Adopting an integrative approach will open new prospects for the biological understanding of flowering time adaptation. A major objective proposed in FORCE (FlOweRing ChickpEa) is to (i) identify the molecular basis underlying the QTL responsible for the genetic control of flowering time in chickpea. By the end of the project, if we understand and learn the allelic variation of the gene network controlling flowering time, we will be able to (ii) obtain molecular tags for early/late flowering that will ultimately be used by the breeding programs to develop adapted cultivars to their specific environments.
This will allow us the construction of high- density integrated physical and genetic linkage maps, and eventually the assessment of colocalization between flowering time loci/QTL and flowering time genes. Results will be an important resource for geneticists currently investigating legume phenology around the globe. Moreover, the project could have useful applications in agriculture.
Objetivos generales
The specific objectives of the project involve:
- Characterizing a comprehensive inventory of genes controlling flowering time.
- Constructing the highest-density genetic map available using large-scale mapping populations through a novel genotyping by sequencing strategy.
- Addressing differential expression profiles for the candidate genes
Supervisor: Juan Gil Ligero e-mail: juan.gil@uco.es
Investigador Principal: José Die e-mail: jodiera@upv.es
Página web del proyecto (enlace CORDIS): https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/844431/es
LAGMED
Improvement of preventive actions to emerging LAGoviruses in the MEDiterranean basin: development and optimisation of methodologies for pathogen detection and control (PRIMA-S2-2018-PCI2019-103698).
The traditional epidemiologic triad model holds that clinical infectious diseases result from the interaction of the pathogen, the host and the environment. The initial impact in the 1980s of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) on wild and domestic rabbits slowly abated over time in rabbitries as a consequence of the use of efficient vaccination campaigns and other control measures. However, in 2010, a new genotype named RHDV2 or RHDVb, and more recently GI.2, emerged in France with an unknown origin, but linked to the European (Mediterranean) area. This new genotype that possibly represents a new serotype, was detected both in wild and farm animals, including rabbits vaccinated against RHDV GI.1 (former G1-G6) or naturally immunised, and showed the relevant impact of this disease, particularly on the fragile equilibrium of the Mediterranean ecosystem. Indeed, RHD is still one of the most (if not the most) devastating diseases of rabbits, with high mortality rates occurring within a few days and with an outstanding ability of transmission at long distance.
The main objective of this project is to increase interdisciplinary scientific and technical knowledge on the epidemiological characteristics of RHD and its aetiological agent, the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). This will contribute to develop effective preventive actions, capable to reduce the socio-economic impact of future outbreaks or of the emergence of new genotypes of unknown origin. This is especially relevant for African countries of the Mediterranean basin where rabbits have been promoted for poverty reduction programmes due to the “low investment and early benefits, and subsistence on renewable resources for feeding, housing and general management”.
General objectives
The following objectives were set:
- O1. Epidemiology and surveillance.
- O2. Optimisation and validation of technical tools for better prevention and control of RHDV.
- O3. Analyses of RHDV-host interactions; induction and regulation of immune responses.
- O4. Biosecurity measures, control and prevention strategy.
- O5. Mediterranean networking activities and technology transfer.
Role of the University of Cordoba
- WP1. T1.1: collection of rabbit/hare samples, mainly liver, spleen and duodenum samples, and when possible, blood, from leporids killed through regular hunting season from several different geographical areas from Spain. Additionally, samples will also be collected from deceased leporids found by the network of collaborators (e.g. WWF, hunting federations, farmers, etc.).
- WP1. T1.2: analysis of the epidemiological status and its potential correlation with different biotic and abiotic variables obtained from samples collected and variables measured during the implementation of Task 1.1.
- WP2. T2.1: will test diagnostic tools developed in this task in samples collected during rabbit control operations carried out in game emergency zones, to assess its rapid and sensitive diagnosis.
- WP4. T4.1: participation on the review of the intervention plans and on the writing of a Manual and implementation of specific intervention plans to prevent and/or control occurring outbreaks, particularly in cases affecting African countries.
- WP4. T4.2: will evaluate the efficiency of defensive and offensive measures; will contribute for the search of passive vectors of the disease.
- WP5. T5.1: participation to the consortium annual meetings and co-organisation of one of them; presentation of the results in at least one international and one national congress; supervision of a PhD dissertation based on the analysis of data collected along the project.
- WP5. T5.2: co-organisation of workshop 2 “Biosecurity measures against RHDV”, in order to communicate scientific knowledge gathered during the project to transfer best practices to reduce the impact of RHD in wild rabbit populations and rabbitries.
- WP6. T6.1: will participate in the development of the Data Management Plan.
- WP6. T6.2: will contribute to the elaboration of the “Consortium Agreement”.
- WP6. T6.3: will contribute with data and protocols produced within LAGMED for the internal database.
Investigador principal: Carlos Rouco Zufiaurre
E-mail: crouco@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: https://lagmed.eu/
TAO
From Data to Decision: Collecting, Mobilizing, and Harmonizing Tropical Andes Observatory Data for Improved Conservation Planning (ERA-Net LAC17-PCI2019-103734).
Effective and timely conservation and sustainable development policy relies on high quality biodiversity information. Yet the capacity to generate, integrate and deliver this information in user-friendly formats is a particular challenge in biodiversity hotspots such as the Tropical Andes. Existing efforts suffer from taxonomic, spatial and temporal biases and inadequate integration, and often remain within the academic context thereby limiting their access and utility to policymakers. Recent advances in biodiversity informatics, communication tools and observation network design, combined with petabytes of satellite information, offer a unique opportunity to improve efficiency and impact of biodiversity observatories in the region. The challenge is to harness these advances through the establishment of a network of harmonized, efficient national observatories that can not only improve change detection capacity, but also inform effective conservation and policy.
General objectives
We propose to address this challenge through the applied integration of:
- Biodiversity Observation Network design approaches developed by GEO BON.
- State of the art data collection & management systems promoted by GBIF and iNaturalist.
- NatureServe data analytics and visualization capacity for powerful, and userfriendly Biodiversity indicators.
Role of the University of Cordoba
Work Package 5: Capacity building and knowledge Exchange.
T 5.1: Biodiversity Monitoring for decision makers Training Course.
T 5.2: Biodiversity Monitoring using insitu and remote sensing observations, Training Course.
T 5.3: Data mining and data integration Training Course.
Investigador principal: Francisco Javier Bonet García
E-mail: bv2bogaf@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: https://geobon.org/about/projects/tao-tropical-andes-observatory/
SMARTINCS
Self-healing, Multifunctional, Advanced Repair Technologies IN Cementitious Systems (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019-860006).
SMARTINCS is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action started in December 2019 dealing with the implementation of new life-cycle thinking and durability-based approaches to the concept and design of concrete structures. Concepts such as self-healing concrete, repair mortars and grouts appear as key enabling technologies. In SMARTINCS, 15-entrepreneurial early-stage researchers will be trained in the development of innovative, multifunctional self-healing strategies for new concrete structures, and in the implementation of advanced repair technologies for repairing existing concrete infrastructures. In the Project, research institutes, pioneers in smart cementitious materials, works together with leading companies along the SMARTINCS value chain, and with certification and pre-standardization agencies. The collaborative efforts of all partners have two main focuses:
- Develop sustainable and durable concrete solutions for new and existing structures.
- Scientifically substantiate the durability, sustainability and robustness of the developed self-healing cementitious materials.
The planned activities within the ETN divided in a structure with 3 – work package structure. Training is given to the early stage researchers by their individual PhD projects which all fit within the scientific work packages 1-4, dealing with improved self-healing concrete (WP1), advanced local (self-)repair (WP2), durability, service life and sustainability (WP3) and technology transfer and entrepreneurship (WP4).
General objectives
Three main scientific objectives can be highlighted for SMARTINCS Project:
(i) To develop and model innovative self-healing strategies for bulk and local application, including optimization of mix designs and development of multi-functional self-healing agents with attention to cost, applicability and environmental impact.
(ii) To scientifically substantiate and model the durability of self-healed concrete and repaired systems for an accurate service life prediction and to integrate self-healing into innovative service-life based structural design approaches to foster the market penetration through an innovative life-cycle thinking.
(iii) To quantify and prove the eco-efficiency of newly developed smart concrete / mortars by life cycle assessment modelling
Role of the University of Cordoba
The University of Córdoba is responsible for the ESR 6 Project “Crystalline self-healing technology for non-shrinkage cementitious grouts in non-structural applications”, mainly contributing to the WP2. The main objective of UCO’s Project is the ad-hoc design of multifunctional non-shrinkage cementitious gouts with enhanced performance in specific non-structural applications:
- Grouts for pre-stressing strands incorporating corrosion inhibitors.
- Cementitious coatings with non-shrinkage crystalline grouts for improving the corrosion resistance of steel rebars.
- Cementitious non-shrinkage grouts incorporating antimicrobial activity based on the technology of Layered Double Hydroxides (LDH).
To accomplish these objectives, a collaborative work with other universities (PoliMi, UCam), and with the industry (Penetron) will be carried out.
Supervisor: Mercedes Sánchez e-mail: msmoreno@uco.es
Project website: https://smartincs.ugent.be/index.php
International Projects Office’s projects
GOTHAM
Governance tool for sustainable water resources allocation in the Mediterranean through Stakeholder’s collaboration (PRIMA-S1-2019-GOTHAM)
The overarching objective of the GOTHAM project is to develop and validate a user-driven and scalable tool that enables effective groundwater governance to preserve the quantity and quality of this strategic resource on the Mediterranean basin. One of the main strengths of the tool (GTool) is that it involves the different water users in a common framework where they can exchange information in order to reach the most optimal water governance at each point in time as well as in future scenarios. In this sense, this tool will be tested and validated by the own users, ensuring its potential replicability and transferability in other Mediterranean areas with similar geological and environmental constraints.
GOTHAM project presents a scalable and user-specific tool for decentralizing water resources management, including water availability and demand forecasting and their impact on groundwater balance and quality dynamics. GTool will also incorporate two key modules related to Managed Aquifer Recharge/remediation and agro-economic impact assessment, with the possibility of simulating several economic instruments for water policies. An optimised water allocation module will be developed to calculate the optimal Water Resource Mix, assuming socio-economic boundary conditions and several water availability and demand scenarios.
A broad range of impacts are expected as a consequence of project development, including the reduction of groundwater balance uncertainty, the implementation of cost-effectiveness criteria in water allocation as well as the recommendation of water strategies for increasing water resilience and security. Aquifer overexploitation and pollution will be analysed by applying Data Analytics algorithms to time series from data-loggers and remote sensing imagery. The development and validation of an user-based water allocation tool will boost the creation of GWUAs, which self-regulation offers tremendous potential for effective groundwater governance.
General objectives
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- Carry out comprehensive analysis and a complete diagnostic of the water balance and water quality dynamics in Mediterranean groundwater bodies, paramount to understanding the current management decisions and other natural causes that are leading to quantity and quality problems in aquifers and thus establish limits to the governance decisions that can be taken.
- Determine the best alternatives for groundwater quality and quantity improvement through an optimised allocation system, that takes into account different type of water resources (conventional vs non-conventional) and uses (agricultural, urban and industrial), temporal scales (short – daily operation – and mid/long term – infrastructure planning and management), and environmental, economic and societal impacts.
- Develop a Groundwater Governance Framework (GGF) that could be applied in all the Mediterranean countries.
- Effectively implement a set of economic policy instruments in groundwater management.
- Predict future water demand and drought events in the area of influence of the groundwater body and assess their derived groundwater quantitative impacts (over-abstraction and depletion) and chemical status degradation (seawater intrusion, transport of contaminants including nitrates and organic contaminants) in order to establish the need to change water management decisions with enough time.
- Calculate the potential feasibility and benefits of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and aquifer remediation as an additional groundwater governance decisions.
Investigador Principal: Julio Berbel Vecino
Correo electrónico de contacto: es1bevej@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: https://www.gotham-prima.eu/
PRIMA MED-BERRY
Developing new strategies to protect strawberry crop in Mediterranean countries (PRIMA-S2-2018-PCI2019-103396)
Strawberry is fundamental crop for Mediterranean countries, the fruits have unique flavour and precious nutritional properties and their economic value is extremely high. Growing healthy strawberry using sustainable protection solutions that preserve the fruits quality and yield, and respect human health and environment is a challenging task..
In this project complementary expertise of researchers from public and private institutions from Italy, Spain, France, Morocco and Turkey are joined in the effort to develop innovative tools, protocols and strategies suited to revise the pathogen control strategies in view of innovative concepts of protection management. Here, conventional in struments (e.g. traditional breeding programs made with local germplasm) are integrated with New Breeding Techniques (NBT) able to develop new plants and products that counteract the most aggressive pathogens and the new phytosanitary emergences.
General objectives
The Med-Berry project aims are 4:
- 1: Resistant genes identification and exploitation. Local resistant germplasm will be used to develop resistant varieties against fungal diseases
- 2: Development of NBT protocols, and RNA interference molecules. Intragenesis protocols will be applied to study the role of key strawberry defense genes to increase fruit resistance. Specific dsRNA molecules will be designed to target pathogen key genes by topical application on plants (SIGS).
- 3. Socio-economic impact analysis. The economic sustainability of the developed solutions and their social acceptability across the Mediterranean countries will be evaluated to obtain realistic measure of the potential application of the new strategies.
- 4. Dissemination. Large effort will be put to disseminate results in different farming and industrial contexts and to share the newly achieved knowledge through the strawberry research network and the organization of training activities.
Investigador Principal: José Luis Caballero Repullo
Correo electrónico de contacto: bb1carej@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: https://medberry-prima.eu/
BOOST
Building social and emotional skills to BOOST resilience in children and young people (H2020-SC1-2017-PM-07-755175)
It is widely documented that social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are effective in promoting mental health and wellbeing in children and young people. However, a number of shortcomings of these programs have been identified, which may compromise their sustainability and long-term effect.It is widely documented that social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are effective in promoting mental health and wellbeing in children and young people.
The BOOST project will go beyond state of the art of current SEL programmes and develop an approach to integrate SEL in teachers’ pedagogical skills and classroom interaction and a tool for organisational development to facilitate implementation and uptake of the approach in classrooms, schools and among school owners (the BOOST approach).
The development will involve the young themselves, as well as school owners, teachers, policy makers and a multidisciplinary team of researchers from fields of education, public health, psychology and economics. This is to ensure the relevance, acceptability and organisational and political anchoring of the intervention, as well as to increase the potential for scale-up and sustainability of the intervention locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
The end users of the BOOST approach are schools and teachers, but the target population are children and young people. To ensure the relevance of the BOOST approach in a wide range of European contexts, the approach will be developed, implemented and tested in three diverse European settings, Poland, Spain and Norway. The BOOST approach will be evaluated for its short-term and long-term effects on children’s social and emotional well-being, as well as for its economic benefits
General objectives
The overall aim of the BOOST project will be achieved through the following strategic objectives:
- A formative study will secure the cultural and contextual foundation and will provide the basis for the BOOST approach. The study will be a combination of available evidence of SEL programmes and a study of the various cultural, contextual and political educational environments where the approach will be implemented.
- BOOST will design an organisational and pedagogical approach based on findings from the formative study. The approach will then undergo an iterative consultation process in each of the three countries, and revised according to the experience and findings from this process. This process will involve key stakeholders (school owners, teachers, policy makers and researchers). The approach will strengthen SEL based teaching skills and understanding and facilitate its organisational uptake.
- The BOOST approach will be refined and evaluated in real school environments in at least nine schools in three European countries (Poland, Spain and Norway).
- The long-term and short-term effectiveness of the BOOST approach on children’s social and emotional well-being will be evaluated.
- An economic evaluation of the BOOST approach will be conducted in order to inform policy choices and provide evidence of economic feasibility of possible scalability as well as evidence of cost-savings in years, of adolescents and young adults, in relation to the increase of social and emotional well-being achieved by BOOST.
- Close collaboration with beneficiaries/ target population (children and young people), end-users (teachers and schools) and key stakeholders (municipalities/ local governments) throughout the entire project period. Together with targeted dissemination, this will ensure the relevance, ownership and full exploitation of the BOOST approach and its results.
Role of the University of Cordoba
- To ensure and oversee the implementation of the BOOST approach in real school environments in three European countries.
- To measure the short-term and study the potential long term effectiveness of the BOOST approach on children’s social and emotional well-being.
Investigadoras Principales: Eva María Romera Félix y Olga Gómez Ortíz
Correo electrónico de contacto: eva.romera@uco.es y olga.gomez@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: www.boostproject.eu