Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Academia
Università degli studi di Milano
Università degli studi di Milano
Highlights
Research projects
News
Outputs
With almost a century of history, the University of Milan (UniMi) is the fifth largest university in Italy in terms of size, welcoming approximately 80,000 students and more than 980 doctorates to its facilities (2020/21).
The teaching staff is made up of more than 1500 full and associate professors. The staff of permanent researchers amounts to almost 300 units while there are about 570 temporary researchers of which almost 50% are under 40 years of age.
Leader of the spoke
Food quality and nutrition
To push towards sustainable and tailored food and nutrition
Lead organisationUniMi
Spoke leaderPatrizia Riso
Participant in the spoke
Leader of the work package
People involved
Alberto Battezzati
Alessandra Marti
Alessandra Mazzocchi
Alessandro Leone
The Organization Profile
With almost a century of history, the University of Milan (UniMi) is the fifth largest university in Italy in terms of size, welcoming approximately 80,000 students and more than 980 doctorates to its facilities (2020/21).
The teaching staff is made up of more than 1500 full and associate professors. The staff of permanent researchers amounts to almost 300 units while there are about 570 temporary researchers of which almost 50% are under 40 years of age. The University offers 77 three-year degree courses (11 of which are related with the themes of the call), 64 master's degree courses (10 of which related with the themes of the call with 5 provided in English), 36 research doctorate courses (4 of relevance for the call, i.e. PhD in Food Systems; PhD in Nutrition Sciences; PhD in Agriculture, Environment and Bioenergy and PhD in Veterinary and Animal Livestock Sciences). The University also offers 12 university masters, 38 postgraduate courses and 4 advanced courses related to the call. The numerous research centres, laboratories, didactic and multimedia classrooms ensure qualified support for teaching and research, as well as third mission activities.
Research Projects
Very active in participating in the European Commission's framework programmes, the University has been very successful in recent years, particularly in the areas of life sciences, food quality and safety, nanotechnology and environmental sciences.
Between 2017 and 2021, the University received more than 150 grants from the H2020 Programme (for more than 80.000.000,00 € funding to UNIMI groups), almost 250 international grants (mainly US grants) and hosts 22 ERC projects. In addition, there are 690 grants at national level (65% in the Life Sciences sector of which 73 focused on food related themes such as production, quality and safety, sustainability but also nutrition and health).
The Interdisciplinary Approach
UniMi, which is a "generalist" university, is characterised by a wide variety of disciplines. The interdisciplinary vocation, the contiguity and the reciprocal methodological and cultural connection between different fields of knowledge in continuous development create a stimulating environment for study and work. Specifically, UNIMI has been widely promoting interdisciplinary approaches applied to research in the - food, health and environment - related areas as also demonstrated by numerous Departments dedicated to the topic and by expertise provided for the ON FOODS project which include food (bio)technology, food safety, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, nutrition and medicine, food and consumer economy, social and legal science up to environmental science and engineering.
Research Collaborations
UniMi has partnerships with many public and private institutions. UNIMI is part of the 4EU+ Consortium, an alliance with the Universities of Paris Sorbonne, Heidelberg, Warsaw, Prague and Copenhagen, aimed at building a European model for teaching, research and governance. UNIMI is also part of Elixir, which coordinates and develops life science resources across Europe so that researchers can more easily find, analyse and share data, exchange expertise, and implement best practices. With regard to research collaborations in the field of food science, in addition to partnerships with numerous national and international universities, UNIMI has established research collaborations with agencies and institutes both at national and at European level. Moreover, numerous are the research contracts and collaboration with large, medium and small enterprises in the food related area.