Academia

Università degli studi di Parma

Address

Via Università, 12, Parma, Italy


Official websitehttps://www.unipr.it/
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Highlights

Research projects
News
Outputs
Blog postOct 10, 2024

PARCA Project. Spoke 7 launches a challenge for university students from Bologna and Parma with a final prize


Blog postJul 31, 2024

The Role of Origin in Sustainable Localised Food Systems: an International Conference by Origin for Sustainability and the University of Parma


Blog postJul 11, 2024

Genome editing: navigating regulatory challenges and innovations in Agri-Food


Blog postMar 25, 2024

Scientific Workshop. "The sustainability of food supply chains: theory, tools and empirical analysis"


Blog postNov 22, 2023

The University of Parma launches the first cascade funding call for collaborative research projects on the themes of Global Sustainability.


Blog postMay 4, 2023

Sustainable food production amid systemic limitations and the rising demand for food.


The University of Parma (UNIPR), whose foundation dates back to 962 A.D., is one of the oldest universities in the world and one of the most well-known universities in Italy, with more than 30,000 students. 

UNIPR has 1,739 employees, of which 833 are faculty members, almost 100 of them working on ONFOODS topics. UNIPR ranks 4th in Italy, and 46th in the world according to the 2021 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects ARWU in Food Science & Technology.

Leader of the spoke

Spoke 01

Global Sustainability

Fair food market for healthy citizens

Lead organisationUniPr

Spoke leaderFilippo Arfini

People involved

Alessandra Dei Cas

Alessandro Pirondi

Alice Rosi

Benedetta Grandi

The Organization Profile

The University of Parma (UNIPR, www.unipr.it), whose foundation dates back to 962 A.D., is one of the oldest universities in the world and one of the most well-known universities in Italy, with more than 30,000 students.

UNIPR has 1,739 employees, of which 833 are faculty members, almost 100 of them working on ONFOODS topics. UNIPR ranks 4th in Italy, and 46th in the world according to the 2021 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects ARWU in Food Science & Technology. It proposes 92-degree programs (7 taught in English), 20 PhD programs and 39 master programs, coordinated by 9 departments. The departments of the areas of social sciences and humanities, medicine and surgery and veterinary science are located in the city centre, while the remaining departments (areas of food and agriculture, pharmacy, engineering and architecture, mathematical, physical and natural sciences) are located in the Science and Technology Campus, a 77ha area in the southern side of the city. In this campus, a Technology Transfer Office (TTO) plays a valuable role in protecting and commercialising intellectual property developed by UNIPR researchers. A leading Industrial Technopole is also located within the campus, a physical infrastructure funded under the ROP ERDF 2007-2013 that hosts cutting-edge research centres and laboratories for industrial research and technological transfer, such as SITEIA.PARMA which is the interdepartmental centre on Safety, Technologies and Agri-food Innovation. The technopole promotes the contact between companies and researchers, reducing the distance between innovation demand and supply. 

Research Projects

The quality of the research groups involved in the ONFOODS consortium is due to their ability to manage and implement projects in the fields of both fundamental and applied research.

Actually, UNIPR is one of the best performing universities in Italy in the major EU funding schemes, with more than 100 grants in FP7, H2020, JPI, PRIMA programmes and more than 278 National and Regional projects. In particular, UNIPR researchers have been awarded 11 prestigious European Research Council (ERC) in the last two EU framework programs. UNIPR has obtained numerous international projects focused on food, for a total of about € 8 million in the last five years. 

The Interdisciplinary Approach

UNIPR brings together a strong interdisciplinary team involving researchers from several different and complementary areas of food research. The very concept of the “Food Project'' of our university was at the base of UNIPR, our interdisciplinary and holistic approach. For this reason, we are including in this proposal academic researchers from a variety of sectors, ranging from agro-economists to chemists, from nutritionists to legal experts and including biologists, veterinary scientists, as well as food technologists and microbiologists. 

Research Collaborations

National and international collaborations are demonstrated by the involvement in National and European projects and thanks to the active collaborations of the University of Parma with a large number of national and international public and private institutions. UNIPR, during the last 5 years, has stipulated research or academic agreements with 76 national companies and international companies working in the area of food, and has direct exchange activities or research collaborations with all the most relevant international universities bearing a specific research interest in food science. Of particular interest are the active collaborations with EFSA, as an Art. 36 listed institutions, but also due to the physical proximity, that makes the interaction with the agency easier and to the participation of many colleagues to EFSA’s working group matters strictly related to this proposal. Finally, UNIPR is an associated member of the European Food Information Council (EUFIC).