NRRP intervention area: Mission 4 – Education and Research
Component: 2 - From research to business
Investment: 1.3 - Extended partnerships with universities, research centres, businesses and research project funding
Duration: the project will end on 31/12/2025
Total project funding: €114,500,000
Proposer: Università degli Studi di Parma
From food science to economics, from medicine to logistics: 26 public and private interdisciplinary research organizations working on food
The objectives of the project are:
- promote sustainable food production and propose innovative strategies to reduce vulnerability and ensure food security for all
- encourage the adoption of more sustainable dietary and nutritional patterns, promoting healthy, diverse, and balanced diets, with particular attention to vulnerable groups
- promote resilient and efficient food supply chains that reduce food waste and loss and ensure improve global food security
- improve the quality of food, diets and nutrition by promoting a better understanding of individual and collective nutritional needs and developing new and improved food products
- develop smart and innovative technologies for sustainable food production and consumption to minimize waste and inefficiencies.
- ensure food and nutrition security for the entire population, especially the most vulnerable groups
Project structure and participation
Foundation Composition
Universities and research institutes
- Università degli Studi di Parma
- Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
- Libera Università di Bolzano
- Politecnico di Milano
- Sapienza Università di Roma
- Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro"
- Università degli Studi di Catania
- Università degli Studi di Milano
- Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca
- Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II"
- Università degli Studi di Pavia
- Università degli Pisa
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics) - CREA
- Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile - ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development)
Private actors
- Fondazione Edmund Mach
- Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
- Tecnoalimenti S.C.p.A.
- Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A.
- Bolton Food S.p.A.
- Cirfood Sc
- De' Longhi Appliances S.r.l.
- Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed S.p.A.
- Sacco S.r.l.
Areas of action
- Spoke 1 - Global sustainability: A fair food market for healthy citizens (leader: Università degli Studi di Parma)
- Spoke 2 - Smart and circular food systems and distribution: Enhancing food waste valorization and efficient logistics (leader: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR (National Research Council)
- Spoke 3 - Food safety of traditional and novel foods. Food quality and nutrition: Ensuring safe food innovation (leader: Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")
- Spoke 4 - Food quality and nutrition: Towards sustainable and personalized nutrition (leader: Università degli Studi di Milano)
- Spoke 5 - Lifelong nutrition: A healthy diet for all (leader: Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II")
- Spoke 6 - Tackling malnutrition: Restoring resilience and overcoming malnutrition (leader: Università degli Studi di Pavia)
- Spoke 7 - Policies, behaviors, and education: Smarter choices for healthier diets (leader: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna)
The University of Bologna participates in Spoke 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. It is the coordinator for spoke 7.
Project team
University of Bologna participants
Scientific coordinator
Professor Matteo Vittuari
Teaching and research staff
- Riccardo Accorsi
- Giovanni Barbara
- Alessandra Bendini
- Alessandra Bordoni
- Patrizia Brigidi
- Sara Capacci
- Francesco Capozzi
- Chiara Cevoli
- Arrigo Francesco Giuseppe Cicero
- Marco Dalla Rosa
- Francesca Danesi
- Luca Falasconi
- Flaminia Fanelli
- Alessandra Gambineri
- Fausto Gardini
- Matteo Gherardi
- Sara Gostoli
- Giovanna Guerzoni
- Rosalba Lanciotti
- Arianna Lazzari
- Riccardo Manzini
- Mario Mazzocchi
- Pietro Rocculi
- Santina Romani
- Andrea Segrè
- Elena Tomba
- Luca Trapin
- Urszula Tylewicz
- Lucia Vannini
- Matteo Vittuari
Staff hired with project funds
Researchers
- Fulvia Antonelli
- Monica Barone
- Enrico Casadei
- Antonio Cervone
- Chiara Dalledonne Vandini
- Silvia De Nicolò
- Gianluca Di Egidio
- Matteo Masotti
- Carlo Mengucci
- Frederique Pasquali
- Vito Sansone
- Lucia Tecuta
- Matilde Tura
- Guido Zavatta
Staff with a research fellowship
- Cecilia Gallotti
- Marco Ricci
- Michele Ronzoni
- Gabriele Sirri
PhD students
- Solidea Amadei
- Elton Dajti
- Edoardo Del Conte
- Giulia Noemi Dicorato
- Marina Giovannini
- Elena Lo Dato
- Giulia Oliveti
- Caterina Rettore
- Giulia Salvatori
- Giovanni Selva
- Fatemeh Shanbehzadeh
- Francesco Tomelleri
Departments involved
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences - DIMEC
- Department of Industrial Engineering - DIN
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences – DISTAL
- Department of Education Studies "Giovanni Maria Bertin" - EDU
- Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari" - PSI
- Department of Statistical Sciences "Paolo Fortunati" – STAT
The University of Bologna’s activities within the project:
- the implementation of new technologies to improve the sustainability of agri-food supply chains, including the reduction of food waste
- the study of models to promote the consumption of healthy and sustainable diets, with a focus on reducing meat consumption and increasing vegetable protein consumption
- analysing the composition of food products sold in Italy, in order to assess their nutritional quality and improve their formulation
- assessing the applicability and safety of novel foods within the food system.
- developing behavioral interventions to promote healthier and more sustainable diets, with a focus on collective catering.
- analyzing existing policies to provide recommendations that support sustainable diets
- conducting research to develop educational and information resources to promote healthy and sustainable diets, especially among young people, by providing guidelines and policy suggestions for schools and school canteens.
- investigating the factors influencing food waste generation and designing interventions to reduce it
- studying the psychological factors that impact the transition to more sustainable and healthy diets
- mapping current dietary patterns in Italy, analysing population needs based on gender and age to determine actual dietary requirements.
- enhancing the valorisation of by-products and food waste through the extraction of bioactive compounds.
- developing a digital twin to monitor and simulate the entire life cycle of food and packaging in the catering supply chain.
- creating innovative, bio-based, and sustainable packaging solutions.
- extending food shelf-life through fermentation technologies.
- evaluating the intestinal effects of food consumption, including microbiota modulation.
- using molecular biomarkers to assess the nutritional status of the Italian population.
