Partners
DROMAMED is composed by 12 partners from 9 countries all along the Mediterranean Area:
1
Misión Biológica de Galicia – CSIC (MBG-CSIC) (Spain) Coordinator. Funding agency: State Research Agency (AEI).
CSIC is the Spanish largest public research institution, and ranks third among Europe’s largest research organizations (https://www.csic.es). The CSIC is attached to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and plays a key role in scientific and technological policy in Spain and worldwide. Its main goals are to foster multidisciplinary scientific and technological research; to increase knowledge transfer to industry and society; to provide education and training of scientific and technical staff; and to support Technology Based Companies.
MBG is one of the CSIC institutes focused on Agricultural Science. The main objective of the MBG is to develop genetic improvements in agro-forest crops, more tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses as well as less dependent on fertilizer and irrigation. Overall, MBG helps to improve the productivity and sustainability of the agro-food sector. The main research activities carried out are agricultural trials, crop biodiversity studies, new cultivar techniques, weed control, fertilizer trials and eco-friendly approaches, among others.
Transfer and innovation activities are also an important element in the MBG’s strategy. The MBG works directly with enterprises, producers and farmers from the agro-food and forest sectors, providing solutions to their problems and needs.
2
École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ENSA) (Algeria). Funding Agency: Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS). Directorate-General for Scientific Research and Technological Development (DGRSDT).
ENSA is an Algerian public university focussed on agronomic research and officially accredited by the “Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique de la Algérie” (http://www.ensa.dz/). Currently, ENSA is composed of 10 scientific departments and 177 teachers-researchers. ENSA leads researches on different topics: Agronomy, plant production, zootechnics, forestry and plant breeding to increase nutrition and food security considering climate changes. On the other hand, ENSA aims to disseminate knowledge by offering courses and programs (engineer and PhD) in several areas.
Regarding the Plant Production Department of ENSA, it aims to increase both yield productivity and stability of various crops such as cereals and legumes, especially under stressed conditions (drought, heat); and, to acquire new knowledge on crop adaptive capability to dry conditions, nitrogen use efficiency and genetic loci that underlie adaptive traits identifying QTLs and candidate genes.
3
Universidade de Vigo (UVIGO) (Spain). Funding agency: State Research Agency (AEI).
UVIGO is an innovative university located in the Northwest Iberia Peninsula. It has a large experience in research and innovation comprising more than 1700 people involved in research.
The UVIGO research team is integrated within the Water Campus (http://campusdaauga.uvigo.es/en/) and it is linked to the strategic group CITACA (http://citaca.uvigo.es/). These are both priority axes in the study of water deficit in agriculture. Collaborators from the University of Barcelona and North Texas complete their multidisciplinary research approach.
4
University of Bologna (UNIBO) (Italy). Funding Agency: Ministry or Education, University and Research (MIUR).
UNIBO is strongly committed to research and innovation and it is one of the most active Italian universities in European and international R&I projects, with more than 400 EU funded projects under FP7 and H2020. https://www.unibo.it/en
UNIBO will act in the project through the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL). http://www.distal.unibo.it/en which is a leading institution with a strong commitment on research and knowledge transfer. Research activity encompasses different fields: Biological Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, Vegetable Production, Food Microbiology, Animal production, Food Science and Technology.
The Crop Genetics Unit at DISTAL is active in crop genetics and breeding, biotechnology and physiology, with a 50-year experience in maize breeding and genetics with focus in quantitative genetics, statistics and analysis of stress-adaptive traits, also by means of molecular marker technology activities including genetic dissection of quantitative traits and the use of molecular markers for plant variety identification and protection issues.
5
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi del l’Economia Agraria (CREA) (Italy). Funding Agency: Ministry or Education, University and Research (MIUR).
CREA is a National Research Organization of the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari, Forestali e del Turismo with scientific competence within agriculture, agroindustry, economics, food, fishery and forestry https://www.crea.gov.it/en/home.
CREA is the leading Italian research organization dedicated to agri-food supply chains. The Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops includes seven territorial sites and it is focused on quality and yield crop improvement through multidisciplinary approaches.
6
Leibniz-Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK-Gatersleben) (Germany). Funding Agency: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BFBM).
IPK is a non-for-profit research institution and member of the Leibniz Association https://www.ipk-gatersleben.de/en/institute/about-us/. IPK is one of the world’s leading international institutions in the field of plant genetics and crop science. Its research program and services contribute materially to conserving, exploring and exploiting crop diversity. Its research goals are driven by the need to ensure an efficient and sustainable supply of food, energy and raw materials, thereby addressing a major global ecological challenge.
The work of IPK’s four scientific departments is focused on revealing the underlying principles of evolution, development and adaptation in crop plants. IPK seeks innovative solutions in scientifically based crop plant germplasm conservation and exploitation, aiming to improve resource use efficiency and enhance sustainability of plant-based production.
A unique feature of the institute is the close relationship enjoyed between its interdisciplinary and internationally focused research teams working within an ultramodern research infrastructure (e.g. in the field of high throughput plant phenotyping) and the genetic diversity conservation activity carried out in one of the world’s longest established and largest ex-situ gene banks. The topic “Biodiversity and Performance” combines scientific excellence, innovation and social relevance, and is targeted at addressing food security and sustainable production within a viable bioeconomy.
7
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL) (Portugal). Funding Agency: Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
Ten different research centres are now together under the UNL http://www.unl.pt/en. UNL will participate in the project through its multidisciplinary research centre, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB NOVA, www.itqb.unl.pt.
ITQB NOVA is one of the leading research centres for the chemical and life sciences in Portugal, and a major national and international resource for basic and applied research. Two ITQB NOVA long collaborating labs joint expertise of relevance to the present project objectives:
– The “PlantX” studying the genetic basis of complex agronomic traits, such as disease and drought resistance in plant genetic resources of national interest like maize, with a strong focus on participatory plant research involving farmers and other end-users;
– The “PCB” studying crop’s stress physiology (e.g. molecular mechanisms underlying drought adaptation) and seed biology and technology.
8
Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) (France). Funding Agency: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR).
Ranked number one agricultural science institute in Europe and number two in the world for publications in agriculture and forestry, INRAE undertakes research for high-quality and healthy food produced by a sustainable agriculture. INRAE aims to: (i) serve the public interest by maintaining a balance between excellent research and addressing the societal needs; (ii) produce and disseminate scientific knowledge and innovation, particularly in the fields of agriculture, food and environment; (iii) contribute to the expertise by training and promoting scientific and technical culture and science/society debate. Three INRAE Scientific Research Units participate in this project: GQE Paris, LEPSE Montpellier and AGAP Montpellier. They bring up complementary skills on the crops studied: diversity analysis, quantitative genetics, genomic prediction, statistics, bioinformatics, crop growth modelling and high-throughput phenotyping. Finally, they will be supported by two experimental units (DIASCOPE Montpellier and UE Maize Saint Martin de Hinx), which provide fields for production and evaluation, with cutting edge phenotyping equipment.
9
Institut National Agronomique de Tunis (INAT) (Tunisia). Funding Agency: Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Widely focused on the issues of sustainable development, INAT has a wide range of skills recognized internationally on several themes such as biodiversity and the environment, operation and development, engineering of natural and cultivated ecosystems, the marine ecosystem, water and environment, animal production, etc.
INAT houses a doctoral school and hosts five laboratories and a research unit working on priority themes, whose scientific productions and publications provide solutions to the agroecology and agro-industry sectors, considered the two pillars of our agriculture.
10
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) (Morocco). Funding Agency: Department of Higher Education and Scientific Research – Morocco (DHESR-M).
INRA is the agricultural research and autonomous government institution within the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for crop and livestock research. INRA Morocco carries out programs of genetic improvement, genetic resources conservation, agronomy, machinery, and technology transfer. INRA has developed most of the cereals, food legume crops and some forage of those that are cultivated all around Morocco.
It has around 120 scientists located in different regional research centres. Over the years, INRA has accumulated vast experience in field crop improvement (especially breeding and prebreeding). The regional Research Centre of Settat will be directly involved in this project.
11
Bati Akdeniz Agricultural Research Institute (BATEM) (Turkey). Funding Agency: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).
BATEM is a Research Institute affiliate to the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies of Turkey (TAGEM), which coordinates the agricultural research throughout the country. BATEM is located in the Mediterranean region of Turkey and carries out research in a wide range of plants, especially regarding intensive maize breeding, with a large number of hybrids released.
12
Hassan I University (HIU) (Morocco). Funding Agency: Department of Higher Education and Scientific Research – Morocco (DHESR-M).
The University is a governmental institution with scientific and technical character and it is a public institution with legal personality and administrative and financial autonomy. The participation of the University is being done through the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques of Settat (FSTS), which has the following missions:
– Academic training in scientific and technical fields;
– Continuing education of the technical staff of the surrounding industries;
– Applied research and service delivery for the development of the regional and national economy (agriculture, industry and technology).
The Faculty is mandated to integrate the agricultural, technological and industrial pole of Casablanca-Settat region and it is a nursery of technicians and staff with high education level.
Stakeholders
Those groups of people that are interested in the objectives and results of DROMAMED are the stakeholders. If you are a person, association, organisation or business interested in what DROMAMED is doing, feel free to contact us and get involved in the project. For DROMAMED is very important the involvement of stakeholders and it has adopted a multi-actor approach by establishing close contacts with different organisations such as:
• Promaïs, a breeders’ association from France.
• The Spanish Society for Organic Agriculture (SEAE).
• The National Federation of Organic Agriculture of the Regions of France (FNAB),
• The Organic Agriculture Association of Turkey (ETO).
• The Breeding Cattle Associations of Antalya Province of Turkey (BCAAT).
• The Tunisian Technical centre for organic Farming (CTAB).
• The Agribiomediterraneo (ABM), an official Regional Group of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement IFOAM.
• The Association Maize Italian farmers (AMI).
• The Italian Confederation Agricultural Producers (COPAGRI).
