IRTA and UDG join efforts in agri-food research

The rector of the University of Girona (UdG), Joaquim Salvi Mas, and the general director of the Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA), Josep Usall, have signed a new agreement with the main objective of promoting collaboration between their research staff in joint activities between IRTA and the UdG. The signing ceremony was also attended, on behalf of IRTA, by the scientific director, Jordi Garcia-Mas; the director of Institutional Relations, Rosa Cubel, and the institutional delegate in the counties of Girona, Joan Tibau. On behalf of the UdG, the vice-rector of Research and Knowledge Transfer, Maria Pla de Solà Morales. The agreement foresees the reciprocal use of their general services, research support services and experimental facilities and spaces, as well as coordinating the acquisition of scientific equipment - particularly large equipment of common interest - and managing them in a shared manner. They have also agreed to stimulate collaboration between the two institutions through joint participation in coordinated research projects, and to facilitate the stay at IRTA centers of students from the UdG on internships or those who are doing their bachelor's and master's degrees in the fields of agri-food, environmental and biomedical technologies and sciences. Other aspects in which IRTA and UdG will collaborate are the co-direction of doctoral theses and the co-financing of the associated costs, the participation of IRTA research staff in postgraduate and specialization teaching and in the doctoral programs of the UdG, and at the same time the participation of UdG staff in the conferences and seminars organized by IRTA. The agreement also includes the possibility that IRTA research staff can participate in the Sectorial Campuses of the UdG, in particular in the Food and Gastronomy Campus and the Health and Water Campuses. A long-standing collaborationIRTA, which operates throughout Catalonia, has two centers in the counties of Girona specialized in sustainable plant and animal production systems, product quality, food safety and technologies applied to agri-food innovation, located in Monells and La Tallada d'Empordà. IRTA and UdG have been collaborating for many years in different activities and projects, and IRTA's research staff teaches in the undergraduate studies in Agri-Food Engineering and in the undergraduate studies in Food Safety and Innovation, in the Master's degree in Food Biotechnology and in the PhD in Technology. With this agreement, the aim is to continue stimulating the collaboration of research personnel from one institution and the other in joint research and teaching activities in areas of common interest.