Duration: 3 years
Coordinator: prof Chiara Fanali
CV
- ENGINEERING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
- HEALTH, NUTRITION AND AGING
- FOOD SCIENCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Educational objectives
The PhD in Sustainable development: environment, food and health aims at training experts capable of carrying out basic and applied research for the well-being of the person and the environment with particular attention to the fields of food, nutrition and energy with a global vision and attentive to the areas of sustainability. To achieve these objectives, the Board of Professors is attended by researchers who belong to different disciplinary areas and who have scientific curricula that testify to activities on the topics of the PhD course.
The PhD course is divided into three curricula:
- Engineering for sustainable development and environmental protection
- Health, nutrition and ageing
- Food science and environmental sustainability
These curricula provide for the development of multidisciplinary skills in different scientific, technological and engineering fields but always focused on improving human health also linked to the health of the ecosystem. These goals are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by the United Nations in Agenda 2030. In particular they refer to SDGs 2, 3, 7, 12 and 13 related to ending hunger through food quality, food safety and sustainable agriculture, ensure health and well-being for all, ensure access to sustainable energy systems, guarantee sustainable consumption and production patterns and promote actions to combat climate change. Together with the research activities, the objectives will be pursued through a training offer that includes common activities concerning the acquisition by the PhD students of transversal skills and other specific skills necessary to carry out research activities in the various areas of the doctorate. The PhD therefore aims at training experts capable of dealing with these complex issues, through the interdisciplinary skills of the participants in the Doctoral Board, exploiting the existing synergies. At the end of the training and research path, the PhD in Sustainable development: environment, food and health will be able to operate in the field of fundamental or applied research, related to the issues addressed in their PhD path, with adequate knowledge and specialist skills but with a multidisciplinary vision in addressing the issues of its pertinence.
The educational path of the PhD prepares researchers capable of carrying out basic and applied research in universities, research centres and public and private, national and international companies operating:
- in the development of processes, approaches and methods for the recovery of resources with a view to sustainable development and circular bioeconomy for the treatment/purification of products and/or waste.
- in the development of new methods, systems, devices and transformation processes for the use of natural resources and the production of goods and energy that guarantee sustainability, environmental protection and safety;
- in the development of protocols for the evaluation of nutritional parameters and their impact on the prevention and treatment of pathologies;
- in the experimentation of protocols and procedures applied to clinical nutrition and aging pathologies;
- in the development of cellular and molecular biology methods on in vitro and in vivo systems
- in the development of analytical methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis;
- in experimentation relating to plant productivity also aimed at greater resilience to climate change, human impact and the development of new strategies applicable in agriculture.
Research Areas
The main research areas in which the PhD activities are developed are:
Integration of engineering methodologies and technologies with issues related to environmental conservation and sustainability of transformation processes relevant to human activity such as: production processes storage and use of biofuels, hydrogen and renewable energies; energy efficiency; capture, storage and use of carbon dioxide.
Development of processes for environmental protection and circular economy which include, for example, the use of secondary raw materials in modern biorefineries, the production of biopolymers, the treatment of liquid and gaseous effluents and environmental restoration processes.
Development of innovative methodologies for assessing the sustainability of processes (for example analysis of the life cycle and environmental impact of products) and study of the regulatory aspects of environmental protection.
Development of thermodynamic foundations, evaluation methodologies and mathematical methods for advanced modeling and optimization of chemical-physical and biological processes of industrial interest.
Studies on plant metabolism with reference to the production of bioactive molecules of food, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical interest, also in response to the effect of climate change.
Development, optimization and validation of analytical methods for the extraction and analysis of metabolites/bioactive molecules/phytocomplexes from different biological matrices and from waste products of agri-food chains.
Development of green extraction methods of molecules of food and nutraceutical interest from waste products of agri-food chains with a view to circular bio-economy, as well as technological problems connected to the use of secondary raw materials or their extracts in the food sector.
Evaluation of the biological activity of metabolites of nutraceutical interest through in vitro and ex vivo methods.
Development and application of electronic interfaces for sensor-based monitoring systems for applications in the health, food and environmental fields.
Design, development and validation of hardware/software systems aimed at monitoring and controlling processes, systems and products related to the food and environmental fields.
Regulatory aspects of environmental, food and climate change law.
Mathematical modeling tools applicable to the different systems studied.
Studies of functional relationships between the brain and nutrition in the field of neuroscience applied to neuro-degenerative pathologies.
Evaluation of nutrition in the primary and secondary prevention of gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases.
Identification of new predictors and intervention targets, also of a metabolomic and microbiomic nature, which can be modified with nutrition and which make it possible to reduce the incidence of pathologies;
Experimentation of protocols and procedures applied to nutrition for the basic level study of the effect of specific nutrients on the activity of systems involved in the aging of organs and systems.
Evaluation of the impact of alterations in diet and nutritional status on relevant clinical outcomes for patients at different stages of life, with particular reference to gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and elderly pathologies.
Verification tools
At the end of the first and second year, the PhD students will have to submit a written report on the activities carried out and hold a short seminar in front of the Academic Board which decides on admission to the following year. At the end of the third year, PhD students will have to write an original thesis which will be examined by two external reviewers. Admission to the Final Test is conditional on the evaluation reports of the reviewers and consists in the presentation of the Thesis in front of an Evaluation Commission made up of at least three members, of which at least two are external.
Training activities
The Doctoral Course and the Doctoral School activate teaching of different types and number of hours, including courses, seminars, workshops and laboratories. The teaching activity concerns both interdisciplinary and transversal research topics and specific activities on topics related to the objectives of the Doctoral Course and its three curricula.
The activities of the training plan are therefore developed as follows:
- Main courses: are designed to develop the skills of doctoral students in structuring research within the specific themes of the Doctoral Course as reported in the accreditation sheet of the Course itself. These courses should preferably be attended in the first two years to refine tools and methods to fully develop high-level research in the latter part of the doctoral period.
- Other activities: external courses (held by companies or other institutions), seminars, workshops, doctoral schools, national and international summer schools, courses provided by the Rome Technopole extended partnership of which UCBM is partner.
- Development of the doctoral thesis: all research activities related to the thesis.
Each student enrolled in the Doctorate Course in Sustainable Development: Environment, Food and Health is required to attend at least 90 hours of training activities in the three-year Doctorate period of which:
- an average of 20 hours per year of main courses offered by the Doctoral Course in Sustainable Development: Environment, Food and Health and by the University Doctoral School (for a minimum overall total of 60 hours over the 3 years);
- the remaining 30 hours of training activities, independently chosen by the doctoral student in agreement with the tutor, which include the activities referred to in point 2 held at a national and/or international level outside the Doctoral course.
Each student is also required to attend, at least once in the three-year course, the interdisciplinary training week organized by the University Doctoral School dedicated to transversal training activities aimed at all doctoral students of the University which is carried out on an annual basis , for which seminars are provided on the management of research and knowledge of European and international research systems and on the valorisation and dissemination of results, intellectual property and open access to research data and products. The number of hours of this activity, defined and communicated to the doctoral students at the time of planning, is included in the hours relating to the main courses.