Università degli studi di Bologna

Nowadays, it remains one of the most important institutions of higher education across Europe. UNIBO is one of the largest and most active Italian universities in research and innovation. UNIBO is organised in a multi-campus structure (Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini), with 32 Departments and 5 Schools. It offers 243 Degree programmes (a.y. 2021/2022) of which 96 international ones, and 56 delivered in English and 48 PhD programmes (approx. 1819 candidates). The total number of enrolled students is 90.291. (A.Y. 2021/2022), of which 7.062 are international. The UNIBO community is composed of 5882 permanent employees, of which 2917 professors and researchers, and 2965 staff.

Within the framework of this proposal and specifically on the focuses in which UNIBO team is involved, the team has achieved and is achieving excellent results, among the main projects it is possible to mention, HEU (ex H2020) FOODCoST (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on food costing and Internalisation of externalities for system transition, HEU (ex H2020) CHORIZO (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on changing practices and habits through open, responsible, and social Innovation towards zero fοod waste, HEU (ex H2020), FishEUTrust (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on the integration of new technologies and socio-economic solutions for increasing consumer trust and engagement in seafood products, EU COMFOCUS (UNIBO as Transnational Access Leader) focused on communities of food and on consumer science, UE FOODE (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on food systems in European cities, UE LOWINFOOD (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on multi-actor design of low-waste food value chains through the demonstration of innovative solutions to reduce food loss and waste, UE FOODLAND (UNIBO as Coordinator) focused on food and local, agricultural, and nutritional diversity between Africa and Europe, UE AGRUMIG (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on migration governance and agricultural & rural change in ‘home’ communities: comparative experience from Europe, Asia and Africa, EU REFRESH (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on resource efficient food and drink for the entire supply chain, EU FUSIONS (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on food use for social innovation by optimising waste prevention strategies, EU INGREEN (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on production of functional innovative ingredients from paper and agro-food side-streams through sustainable and efficient tailor-made biotechnological processes for food, feed, pharma and cosmetics, EU INTAQT (UNIBO as WP Leader) focused on innovative tools for assessment and authentication of chicken meat, beef and dairy products’ qualities, EU CHANCE (UNIBO as Coordinator) focused on low cost technologies and traditional ingredients for the production of affordable, nutritionally correct foods improving health in population groups at risk of poverty, EU PATHWAY-27 (UNIBO as Coordinator) focused on pivotal assessment of the effects of bioactives on health and wellbeing, from human genome to food industry, EU NEWTECHAQUA (UNIBO as WP leader) focused on new tools and strategies for a sustainable, resilient and innovative European aquaculture, EU FUTUREUAQUA (UNIBO WP leader) focused on future growth in sustainable, resilient and climate friendly organic and conventional European aquaculture, EU CIRCLES (UNIBO as WP leader) focused on controlling microbiome circulation for better food system, EU RISE (UNIBO as WP leader) focused on Roma inclusive school experiences, EU InTrans (UNIBO as WP leader)focused on inclusive transitions across the early years, EU FIT4FOOD2030 (UNIBO WP leader) focused on towards sustainable food systems, EU PEN (UNIBO WP leader) focused on policy evaluation network - public policies addressing health-related behaviors in Europe.

More specifically the UNIBO research team engage economists, engineers, ethnographers, food technologists, biomedical researchers, nutritionists, pedagogist, psychologists, statisticians, all with significant experience in collaborative projects.

Over the last 20 years UNIBO has established national and international research collaborations (both in Europe and outside the EU) with many public and private research institutes, universities, and national and multinational companies. The food sector has always been an area in which important research collaborations were stipulated, only in the last 5 years have agreements been signed with 143 national and multinational companies. Always in the food sector, research collaboration and exchange activities were signed with the most relevant international Universities and international research centers. UNIBO is member of relevant networks at European level, such as EIT Food, EUFIC, EPSO, FABRE-EFFAB, among others, which covers the entire food chain.