Born on July 5, 1983 in Pisa (Italy), in 2010 Marco Landi graduated in Microbial and Vegetable Biotechnologies at the University of Pisa (110/110 cum laude). In 2013 (8 months), he was a visitor at the Victoria University of Wellington (Wellington, NZ) where, under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Gould, he conducted some experiments related to his PhD project. In 2014, he obtained a PhD in Plant Science (University of Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies joint PhD Program in Crop Science), with a dissertation: “Can anthocyanins photoprotect purple genotypes of Ocimum basilicum L. against boron toxicity and high light?” (SSD AGR/13; Advisor: Dr. Lucia Guidi). In 2016 he obtained the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) as Associate Professor (SSD AGR/13 sector 07/E1). In July 2019 he won a Research Assistant position (RTDa) at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa.

Dr. Landi scientific interest is mainly focused on the structural, biochemical, molecular and physiological mechanisms through which plants accommodate environmental stress. Another line of research concerns the evaluation of bioactive compounds in crop species typical of the Mediterranean area when subjected to different pedo-climatic/agronomic/post-harvest factors, with the aim to increase their nutraceutical values and shelf life. Most recently, Dr. Landi has started to characterize the bioactive profile of Mediterranean wild edible species in an attempt to select some of them as new functional foods. In addition, the scientific interest of Dr. Landi has included the innovative uses and recycle ways of biomasses.

The scientific activity is documented by more than 120 research or congress papers, 100 of them published on peer-reviewed journals (90 indexed in Scopus; H-index 18; citations > 1100). Editor-in-Chief of ‘American Journal of Agricultural and Biological Sciences’ since 2015, Associate Editor of ‘Photosynthetica’ and ‘Frontiers in Plant Science’ since 2016, Dr. Landi has edited several special issues in high-rank journals as ‘Plants’, ‘Molecules’, ‘Agronomy’, ‘Frontiers in Plant Science’ and was the Guest Editor of the book ‘Metal Toxicity in Higher Plants’. He also acts as referee for high-rank journals, including New Phytologist, Plant Cell Environment, Environmental Experimental Botany, Planta, Science of the Total Environment. Dr. Landi was also invited speaker in international congresses and his PhD thesis was awarded by the Italian Society of Agricultural Chemistry (SICA) in 2015 and by CNR in 2016 as the best PhD thesis.

Dr. Landi is a member of Italian Society of Agricultural Chemistry (SICA) since 2014 and the Italian Society of Photobiology since 2015. He participated to some national project (PRIN 2010-2011; Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo (PRA) 2015, 2017) and in 2019 he was the Principal Investigator for the project: “Phenotyping of red-leafed species to reveal the role of anthocyanins in resistance to metalloid and metal toxicity” developed to the Slovak Plant Screen Phenotyping Unit (SPPU, Nitra, SK) financed by the European Plant Phenotyping Network (EPPN 2020). He is also the PI for the 2020 PRA project “Fragoal” financed by the University of Pisa. He was the external referee of several international projects and participated as external examiner for international PhD thesis.

As teaching experience, he has actively collaborated to the final projects of several degree-students and PhD students, he has served as assistant in teaching “Analytical techniques in plant biochemistry” (2013-2019; 30 h/year; University of Pisa). From 2019, he is responsible for the teaching “Use and recycle of biomasses” (60 h/year; University of Pisa) and from 2020 for the teaching “Analysis in agricultural chemistry” (20 h/year; University of Pisa).

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Gianluca Brunori has studied Agricultural Science at University of Pisa. As a researcher, he has accumulated 30 years of experience in the fields of Agricultural Economics, Rural Sociology and Food Policy, participating to several European Projects, in three of them (TRUC, GLAMUR, and DESIRA) as scientific coordinator.

The research group he leads works on small farmers’ individual and collective strategies, on the socio-economic impact of food supply chains, on the link between collective initiatives and rural development, on support policies for small farming and rural development at local and regional level.

He has been President of the Research Committee “Sociology of Agriculture and Food” of the International Sociology Association, and vice-president of the European Society of Rural Sociology. He has been Chief Editor of the journal “Rivista di Economia Agraria” and is now editor in chief of the journal Agriculture and Food Economics. He has served as a member of the expert panel of SCAR 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th foresight exercise.

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He holds a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Costa Rica, where he also worked as a researcher and academic assistant on various projects. His second academic title is an International Master in Rural Development funded by the European Commission. In his master he had the opportunity to study in 3 countries for 2 years: at the University of Ghent, the Humboldt University and the University of Pisa.

He has more than 4 years of professional experience in international cooperation. For two years he worked as a consultant in the development of methodologies for the development of a food security program in Central America funded by the United States Agency for International Development. More recently, he also worked as a community impact manager at a social tourism company in Costa Rica and as a local coordinator at the Rustic Pathways Foundation.

he feels passionate about rural development, food security and human rights which led me to start a PhD. at the University of Pisa this year. His research focuses on food insecurity, nutrition and inequalities in food systems, mainly in the context of an African country.

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Fabio Lepore holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Economics of agri-industrial system and a master’s in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies – both from the University of Bologna. His research was related to preventing and reducing food waste and social innovation as a way to help manage food waste. During both studies, he was an intern at the Department of Agricultural and Food Science and Technology.

He has over 5 years of professional experience which is quite diverse. This includes working as an agronomist in the private sector, as an employee harvesting fruits, and as a manager in a food store. In the past, he also collaborated with FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano). He is currently involved in the work of various food banks and NGOs working on health & well-being issues in Italy as a volunteer. He is actively engaged in initiatives related to protection of the environment and animal rights.

In November 2019, he has started his PhD at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa. His research will focus on examining socio-economic change in agri-food systems and potential impact of policies. His PhD research is funded by and will be linked to the EU project DESIRA on socio-economic impact of digitisation in agriculture and in rural development.

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Project Manager-researcher on Animal Production, Food Security and precision farming Directorate for environmental and territorial statistics, Division for statistics and surveys on agriculture at ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics). Expert in the fishery sector, eggs, milk and dairy products.  Long experience in designing and analysing agriculture data; in harmonizing methodologies and data in European and official statistics; national expert in Eurostat Working Group Ani-prod and Fishery and in international cooperation in the straightened of official statistics.

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Senior technologist at Istat, expert in territorial analysis and environmental statistics. Responsible since 2013 for the domain Landscape and Cultural Heritage within the Istat Report on Equitable and Sustainable Well-being in Italy (BES). Responsible since 2017 for the Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 15 (Life on Land) within the Istat SDGs Report.  

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Researcher at ISPRA (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) in plant biodiversity conservation and territorial sustainability of agricultural and forest ecosystems. Extensive expertise in Strategic and Impact EnvironmentalAssessments of plans and projects (territorial planner and environmental adviser). Author of scientific publications and conferences speeches. Long experience of social and environmental innovations in grassroots networks. Protection and regeneration of coupled socio-ecological systems are his main research and action aim.

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Salvatore Ceccarelli, Ph.D. is a former Full Professor of Applied Genetics at the University of Perugia (Italy), has conducted international agricultural research for nearly 40 years and is now an international consultant.

He is author of nearly 300 papers and a number of books.

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Andrea Bertaglio is an environmental journalist, social media strategist, content manager and digital communication consultant specialized in sustainability and environmental topics. He writes for the Italian daily La Stampa, among other publications

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Giuseppe Pulina, Ph.D. in Rome, is Full Professor of Animal Science at the Department of AGRARIA, University of Sassari (Italy) and President of no-profit association Carni Sostenibili (Sustainable meat).

He is author of 360 papers and several books.

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2nd year PhD student at the Department Agricultural Food and Environment. Field of PhD research about the Development of dietary strategy to mitigate methane emissions from ruminants. Master’s degree in Biosafety and food quality (2016-2018) with a thesis on the histochemical features of skeletal muscle fibres in
steers. Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural sciences (2013-2016).

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Michelangelo Becagli was born in Florence onNovember 8th, 1989. He graduated in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies with honours at the University of Pisa in July 2016. He obtained professional qualification for agronomist in 2017. Currently, he is PhD student in Soil Sciences at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the University of Pisa and his main research interests are soil chemistry and biochemistry, particularly soil quality, and application of residual biomasses to soil.  Co-author of 5 publications on ISI journals. Ordinary member of Italian Society of Soil Sciences (SISS) and ICHAR - Italian Biochar Society.

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Juan C.Sanchez-Hernandez is a professor of Environmental Toxicology at University of Castilla-La Mancha (Toledo, Spain). He graduated with Ph.D. in EnvironmentalSciences from the University of Siena (Italy). Current research activity inEcotoxicology of Agrochemicals, particularly environmental risk assessment of pesticides on non-target terrestrial organisms by using multiple experimental approaches (biomarkers, toxicity testing and field monitoring). Recently, his interest has moved to Vermiremediation (use of earthworms to degrade soil contaminants) and Biochar Technology topics for the in situ remediation of polluted agricultural soils. His keep active research collaborations with groups from Italy, France, USA, Chile and Argentina. He has published 82peer-reviewed scientific articles, 15 book chapters, and edited a CRC Press book on Bioremediation of Agricultural Soils. He has leaded numerous national and international research projects and contracts with small-medium enterprises.

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Francesco Barbagli isCEO and founder of Romana Maceri Centro Italia Srl, a waste disposal and transport company that operates throughout central Italy for over 25 years.From 1998, the plant engineering division of RM Impianti srl, has developed innovative technological solutions for production of renewable energy from biomass.

With BioDea, in collaboration with a group of agronomists, Francesco has developed innovative and natural products for agriculture, derived from the transformation of the biomass, with the aim of providing to farmers a valid economic alternative, sustainable, respectful of the environment and human and animal health. With its technologies, RM Impianti produces high level quality biochar and wood distillate for agricultural uses.

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Dr. Agr. AlessandroPozzi, MsD in Agricultural Science and freelancer agronomist, is founder of Enerion Renewables (enerionrenewables.com), company specialized in providing consulting and auditing services for greenhouse gas emission (GHG) management projects, carbon neutrality and sustainability in agribusiness. The main services that Enerion Renewables can provides are: carbon emission management strategies, certification of activities in the service and industry sector (Airport Carbon Accreditation, CarbonNeutral Certification, Carbon Credits); innovative agricultural management skills to increase and guarantee the sustainability requirements and the continuous improvement of products and organizations.

Currently, he isPresident of ICHAR – Associazione Italiana Biochar a registered non-profitassociation that supports Italian researchers, commercial entities, development agents, farmers, and others on sustainable biochar utilization systems for removing carbon from the atmosphere and enhance the earth’s soils. In 2012,ICHAR presented an istance for the inclusion of biochar among the ammendments admitted in agriculture to the Fertilizers Commission of the MiPAAF. The instance, elaborated by an interdisciplinary group under the leading of ICHAR, provides the types of biomass, the production methodologies, the physico-chemical parameters and other characteristics of the final product. InItaly, from 2015, biochar can be used as fertilizer in the productive agriculture processes and, from December 2019, in organic agriculture too.

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Lorenzo Gabriele Tramacere is a PhD student inAgricultural Science at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE)of the University of Pisa. He graduated in Agri-environmental production and management of agro ecosystems at the University of Pisa on 17 July 2017 (110/110cum laude) with a thesis entitled: “Combined effect of cover crops, nitrogen fertilization, and soil tillage techniques on the chemical-physical fertility of the soil”

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Daniele Antichi, Ph.D., is assistant professor in Agronomyand Crop Science at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE)of the University of Pisa. He teaches Organic Arable Crop Management andAgricultural Ecology in the MSc Course “Produzioni agro-alimentari e Gestione degli Agroecosistemi” at the DAFE. His main fields of research are organic crop production, sustainable farming systems, cover cropping and inter cropping, conservation agriculture, integrated weed management. Since 2017, he is operational contact for the RUS at UNIPI and since 2020 is member of the CoSA as responsible for Green Spaces and Ecosystems.

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Carolina Chiellini hold a Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Evolution at the faculty of Biology of theUniversity of Pisa (2009). She obtained a PhD in Biological and MolecularSciences at the University of Pisa in 2013, and then she moved in Florence(2013-2018). She worked at the Dept. of Biology of the University of Florence where she started working with plant bacterial endophytes, and plant-microbesinteraction. Then she moved to the CREA-AA (Consiglio perla Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria—Centro di RicercaAgricoltura e Ambiente), where she worked on soil and rhizospheric microbial communities. In2018 she started a PhD course in Agriculture Food and Environment at theUniversity of Pisa, working on microalgae as a technology applied in water remediation. From July 2020 she is a full-time researcher at the ItalianNational Research Council, Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology.

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Tommaso Lotti graduated Cum Laude at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering of theUniversity of Florence in 2008. Since then he conducted research in the field of biological wastewater treatment in several important laboratories betweenItaly and The Netherlands. He got two PhDs, both in Italy (joint project between University of Florence and University of Basilicata, 2011) and in TheNetherlands (Delft University of Technology, 2016) and have held post-docs positions in both these Universities and ultimately at the Politecnico diMilano where he was also granted with a Marie S. Curie Action IndividualFellowship grant funded by the European Union via the framework programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020. He was awarded the prestigious international prices Waternet Watercycle Innovation Award 2016 (13/01/2017) and Jaap van der Graaf Award 2014 (09/01/2015). He is currently hired as experienced researcher and lecturer (contract Professor) at the University ofFlorence, his native town, at the faculty of Environmental Engineering.

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Dr. Lutzu (1977) holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Cagliari (2012) and a B.S. in BiologicalSciences, University of Sassari (2003). He started his interest on the biotechnological applications of microalgae in 2008. His research is addressed to the utilization of microalgae strains for the remediation of different wastewaters, lipid and high-value compounds production. He did a two-year postdoc at the Energy Algae Group, QIBEBT, China (2013-2015) and later worked as a postdoc researcher at the Department of Biosystems and AgriculturalEngineering, Oklahoma State University, USA (2015-2017). Currently he works as lab manager at the Teregroup Srl. an Italian private company located in Modena involved in the use of microalgae for several biotechnological applications.

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Monica Macaluso is graduated with honors in Biosecurity and food quality at theUniversity of Pisa discussing an experimental thesis on the storage of ExtraVirgin Olive Oil. In December 2017 she is the winner of a research grant on the project NTERREG IT-FR Marittimo 2014-2020 CUP C26D16007240007 Sea of ​​citrus fruit entitled “New products obtained from the second choice or from the first processing of citrus fruits”. Actually, she isa PhD student and works in a project entitled “The valorization of olive oils by innovation and optimization of packaging and storage conditions adopted in order to increase the olive growing sustainability”. Her scientific activity is articulated in the field of innovative extractive and conservative technologies aimed at the production of high quality extra virgin olive oil. She is author and co-author of more than 20 scientific papers.

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Susanna Bartolini is Assistant Professor inArboriculture and Fruit culture at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Institute of LifeSciences (Pisa, Italy). Her main research activities cover topics on pre-harvest factors affecting the floral and fruiting biology of several fruit species, and pomological, nutraceutical and sensory traits of fruits. She heads or collaborates in scientific projects sponsored by national institution andEuropean Union. She is author and co-author of more than 160 scientific papers consisting of publications in international and national scientific journals, book chapters, and proceedings of international and national meetings.

Prof. Luisa Pistelli, doctor in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, is Full Professor in Pharmaceutical Biology at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa,Italy.

She is currently teaching ‘Plant Biology’, ‘Botanicals and Herbal Products’, and‘Medicinal Plant Biotechnology’ at the University of Pisa. She was tutor of more than 150 students during the preparation of their degree thesis and of 10PhD students in “Sciences of drug and bioactive substances” - University ofPisa.

She wasPresident of the Herbal Technology Degree Course (University of Pisa, Italy)from 2001 to 2009, and the Coordinator of all the President of Italian HerbalTechnology degree courses (CO.N.P.T.ER.) from 2006 to 2009 and now continued to be the Vice President. She was Director in the Master course on “Medicinal andAromatic Plants” in the University of Pisa from 2008 to 2013. Prof. Luisa Pistelli is the current President of the Italian Society of Phytochemistry(SIF, www.phytosif.it) and a member of several important scientific national and international societies: Italian Botanical Society (SBI),Phytochemical Society of Europe (PSE), Italian Phytotherapy Society (SiFit) andThe Italian Society of Essential oil Research (SIROE). She is member of the Accademia dei Georgofili – Florence (Italy)

She published more than 210 publications in international journals on Pharmaceutical Biology, Phytochemistry, and MedicinalPlant Biotechnology.

Angela ZinnaiPh.D. in Food Technology, Ph.D in Agronomy and food crops, associate professor of enology and food technology. Since 1997, she practised her activity asUniversity researcher by DAFE of Pisa University. In 2006, she obtained the qualify of associate professor and in 2019 the qualify of full professor. Prof.Zinnai   has been carrying out the didactic activities related to the following disciplines:  "Unit operations"; "Unit operations of the oenological processes", Enology, Food storage and transformation, Special wines. She is author of more than 200 articlespublished on national or international journals and co-author or scientific referent of four patents about food technology innovations. On the occasion of the second edition of the Montana Award for Food Research (2008), prof. Angela Zinnai received the "Special Mention" of the jury for the research entitled "An innovation for the cold storage in controlled atmosphere of foods: The smart cell". Two projects in which prof. Zinnai were involved were selected for presentation at Expo, in Milan (2015). She was a chair and/or organizing committee member at several international congresses and member ofEuropean “Glamur Expert Forum”. She is a member of Scientific Committee of Union ItalianWines (UIV), Wine Italian Academy, IASA (International Academy of sensorial analysis) and Master Course in “Italian wines and International markets”, inEuropean Project INTEREG “Mare di Agrumi”. Since November 2017 he is a founding member of the innovative Start-up NexFood Srl, a University of Pisa spin-off.

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