Agri-food Technology and Biotechnology

Description

The doctoral programme in Agri-Food Technology and Biotechnology was born of the UPC’s earlier programme in Agri-Food Biotechnology and Sustainability (Royal Decree 778/1998), which was started in the 2003-04 academic year.

In fact, this programme arose as the result of the academic collaboration between the Barcelona School of Agricultural Engineering (ESAB) and the UPC that aimed to delve into studies and research in the agri-food field. This collaboration was established before the year 2000, at a time when the ESAB was not a stand-alone institution, but rather one dependent academically and financially on the Diputació de Barcelona.

The doctoral programme is currently associated with the UPC’s Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology, and it collaborates with some of the professors from the UPC’s Department of Chemical Engineering, who, due to the nature of their particular research work, fit better into our programme’s framework. The programme also collaborates with researchers from other universities and research centres (the IRTA and the CSIC). The Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology was created in 2001 specifically to integrate ESAB personnel into the UPC. As previously mentioned, classes began under the name Agri-Food Biotechnology and Sustainability, and later, once legislative changes were passed by the EHEA, the name was changed to its current one: Agri-Food Technology and Biotechnology.

The need for the programme is warranted by the large amount of agri-food trade in Catalonia, especially in the province of Barcelona, where it exceeds 60% of all trade. Given the growing sophistication affecting the agri-food industry and the high level of complexity and multidisciplinary nature of some of its technological aspects (sensors, packaging, logistics, tools for molecular analyses and detection, etc.), there is demand in the industry for personnel specialised in innovation and research. The fact that this doctoral programme is offered from a polytechnic university, such as the UPC, means that the technological aspects that are not specific to research in our Department, but which are covered by other UPC centres and departments, can be easily handled. For example, other UPC bodies conduct research into the fields of chemical engineering, electrical engineering, applied physics, mathematics, communication and signal theory and business management and administration.

It is for this reason that the research performed by the groups that make up this doctoral programme can be directed at a large number of sectors, including,:

• Sustainable agriculture and food quality
• Environmental engineering
• Plant pathology
• Aquaculture production systems
• Computational biology and simulations
• Agriculture economics (in collaboration with the University of Lleida)
• Weed control and plant ecology (in collaboration with the University of Lleida)
• Food technologies
• Precision agriculture (in collaboration with the University of Lleida)

All of these sectors are currently growing notably, both in production and in the innovation and complexity of the technologies that they use. The only way to prepare personnel specialised in research in these fields is through this doctoral programme.

The doctoral programme in Agri-Food Technology and Biotechnology is clearly warranted, not only because of its direct relationship with the industrial sector closest to home, but also because of the existence of other similar programmes across the USA and Europe (e.g., at TI Eindhoven, U. di Bologna, Nottingham, Alberta University and the University of British Columbia, among others). Many Spanish universities offer programmes with similar contents (the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the Universities of Cádiz, Vigo, Oviedo, Valladolid, etc.). More specifically, in Catalonia, the Universities of Lleida (UdL), Tarragona (URV) and Barcelona (UB) offer doctoral programmes with similar contents, and we maintain close scientific ties and teaching collaborations with them.

The main objective of the programme is to train specialists in research techniques that are specific to the fields of agricultural and food-related technology and biotechnology. These specialists should be able to implement and carry out the most advanced and most technologically competitive techniques and protocols in their fields. Finally, these specialists should be able to form part of the business world as academics and be renowned worldwide.

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