Partners

CMCC Foundation (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change) is a research organization that conducts and promotes scientific and applied activities within the scope of international climate change research. CMCC aims to gain in-depth knowledge of climate variability, along with the causes and consequences, through the development of high-resolution simulations using global models of the Earth System as well as regional models, particularly focusing on the Mediterranean area. The specific objective of these research studies is to investigate and model our climate system and its interactions with society to provide reliable, rigorous, and timely scientific results that can stimulate sustainable growth, protect the environment, and develop science driven adaptation and mitigation policies in a changing climate. Since 2008, CMCC has operated its own Supercomputing Centre (SCC) located within the University of Salento Campus in Lecce. The CMCC Supercomputing Center is the only computational facility in Italy specializing in Climate Change research. Zeus, the supercomputer currently in operation, has a total of 12.528 cores with a computing power of 1.202 TFlops.

Italian Breeders Association (AIA) was founded in 1944 and it has branched across the Italian territory, supporting each livestock sector and developing a wide range of supportive services to farmers, which have contributed to enhancing the Italian animal husbandry among the most advanced worldwide. AIA is fully involved in the characterization of farm production systems and develops goods and quality services in the fields of technology transfer, animal genetics, extension services, structures, and dedicated systems. AIA cooperates and participates in relevant National and International livestock research projects and is also engaged in strengthening the European and international networks in the livestock sector, to expand the application of proven best practices, to lead rural actors in the adoption of animal welfare towards quality and traceability of productions. AIA implements international innovative and eco-sustainable initiatives while conserving biodiversity, respecting environmental sustainability and the diversity of the territories.

The University of Tuscia (UNITUS) was founded in 1979 and quickly developed into what it is today: the hub of culture and learning in the province, offering courses suited to the requirements of local, national and international students. The educational activities are managed by six Departments. Our degree programmes are tailored to meet the demands of the European and international job markets.
The Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF) is a multidisciplinary research and teaching department whose aim is the scientific innovation and technological processes of exploitation, conservation and management of biological systems, food processing, forest resources and landscape. Other research topics are related to food safety, biotechnology and environmental chemistry, with particular attention to environmental sustainability (green economy, blue economy, white economy). Various approaches, from basic knowledge of chemistry and biology, to those that characterise the food, animal, industrial and environmental biotechnologies are combined and utilised into DIBAF, characterising it as a laboratory of knowledge and innovation for the development of a sustainable bioeconomy to respond to climate change and global challenges.

The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) is the largest Italian free academic Institution, counting five campuses, 12 faculties, and more than 40 thousand students. The Faculty of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science has its campus in Piacenza, in Northern Italy, established 61 years ago. Today, the faculty holds a prestigious reputation that extends well beyond the nation’s borders.

The Department of Animal Science, Food and Nutrition (DIANA) counts more than 40 long-term and temporary researchers. It has labs fully equipped for food, fodder, blood, and milk analyses. Pornutrigen Lab and CRAST lab, both belonging to DIANA, are multidisciplinary infrastructures equipped with cutting-edge post-genomic and remote sensing techniques.

DIANA  includes the CERZOO dairy research farm, housing about 60 top genetics dairy cows and equipped with the last generation precision farming technologies.

DIANA researchers have a long-standing experience in animal science, genetics, genomics, and nutrition, proved by their participation in more than 30 National and International projects. Overall, DIANA researchers in the last years published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles on top scientific journals, including Science, Nature, and Nature Biotech.