Our team

People

Who are the people behind NUTRI-KNOW? Eleven organisations from six different countries working towards one goal: creating easy-to-understand material for farmers and practitioners to make nutrient management more sustainable. Meet our enthusiastic team of scientists and experts.

Victor Carbajal Perelló, Beta Technological Center

Victor is NUTRI-KNOW’s project coordinator. He is the head of the Governance for Sustainability unit at the Beta Technological Center of the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia in Vic, Spain. He completed his PhD in environmental science at the Dundalk Institute of Technology (Ireland). He also holds a master’s degree in applied ecology from Universitat de Barcelona.

Sergio Ponsá Salas, Beta Technological Center

Sergio is the director of Beta Technological Center of University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVIC) in Vic, Spain. He also is professor at the faculty of science and technology at UVIC. He completed his PhD in environmental sciences and technology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Albert Palou, Beta Technological Center

Albert is head of communication and institutional relations at Beta Technological Center of University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVIC) in Vic, Spain. He completed his PhD in science and technology at UVIC. He also holds a master’s degree in primatology and biodiversity management from Universitat de Barcelona.

Laia Llenas Argelaguet, Beta Technological Center

Laia is deputy director at Beta Technological Center of University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia in Vic, Spain. She completed her PhD in chemical engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He also holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering.

Claus Sørensen, Aarhus University

Claus is a professor at the Operations Management Unit at Aarhus University, Denmark. He holds a master’s degree in agronomy from the Agricultural University of Denmark and a PhD on production and operations management from the Technical University of Denmark.

Céline Wyffels, Biogas-E

Céline is a project employee at Biogas-E, a non-profit organisation specialised on biogas in Kortrijk, Belgium. Celine holds a master’s degree in biology from KU Leuven.

Daniel Hölle, ESCI

Daniel is a science communicator at the European Science Communication Institute (ESCI) in Germany. He completed his PhD in neuropsychology at the University of Oldenburg. He also holds a master’s degree in neuropsychology.

Maria Pascual Sánchez, WE & B

Maria is a sustainability consultant at Water, Environment and Business for Development (WE & B) in Barcelona, Spain. She holds a master’s degree in environmental studies and sustainability science from Lund University (Sweden).

Beatriz Medina, WE & B

Beatriz is a socio-environmental innovation expert at Water, Environment and Business for Development (WE & B) in Barcelona, Spain. She holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the Universidad de Alcalá and a master’s in science communication from Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Clara Fullana, FCAC

Clara is a project manager at Federació de Cooperatives Agràries de Catalunya (FCAC), an agricultural organisation in Barcelona, Spain. She holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Erik Meers, Ghent University

Erik is a professor at the Department of Green Chemistry and Technology at Ghent University, Belgium. He completed his PhD on bioscience engineering at Ghent University.

Hongzhen Luo, Ghent University

Hongzhen is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, Belgium. She completed her PhD in agricultural and environmental science at Ghent University. She also holds a master’s degree in agricultural engineering from China Agricultural University.

Giuseppe Moscatelli, CRPA

Giuseppe is a researcher at Environment Department at Research Centre on Animal Production (CRPA), a research and consulting organisation focused on the improvement of the livestock sector and the related agro-industry, based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. He holds a master’s degree in environmental science from Università degli Studi di Parma.

Sergio Piccinini, CRPA

Sergio is a senior researcher and Head of Environment Department at Research Centre on Animal Production (CRPA), a research and consulting organisation focused on the improvement of the livestock sector and the related agro-industry, based in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Paula Jimeno, DACC

Paula is a technical manager at the Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda (DACC) in Barcelona. She holds a master’s degree in food safety from Universitat de Barcelona.

Marta Davi, DACC

Marta is a technical manager at the Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda (DACC) in Barcelona. She holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from University of Girona.

Patrick Forrestal, Teagasc

Patrick is senior research officer at Teagasc, an agriculture and food organisation based in Carlow, Ireland. He completed his PhD in plant science at the University of Maryland (USA). He also holds a master’s degree in plant pathology and agronomy from University College Dublin.

Stephen Meredith, Irish Organic Association

Stephen is a senior policy officer at Irish Organic Association, a non-profit organisation specialised in certifying in organic produce. He holds a master’s degree in organic farming from Scotland's Rural College.

Organisations

Biogas-E vzw, Belgium

Biogas-E was founded in 2004 at the HOWEST Kortrijk (Flanders). Over the years, it has evolved into an independent knowledge platform and the central point of contact for anaerobic digestion in Flanders. It is our mission to stimulate the sustainable development of the Flemish biogas sector and to increase its added value to society. To this end, we focus on knowledge dissemination and sector development (e.g. through projects), we provide policy support and we maintain a network and platform function.
Biogas-E is actively involved in the communication and dissemination actions of the NUTRI-KNOW project and in collecting relevant data for the meta-database (based on their role in the OG Pocketboer 2). Furthermore, Biogas-E helps to formulate policy recommendations and create a Community of Practice (CoP) on nutrient management. In general, the organization forms a (objective) bridge between policy, research, and stakeholders in the biogas sector, which can be a useful feature for this project.

CRPA

The Research Centre on Animal Production (CRPA) is a research and consulting organization focused on the improvement of the livestock sector and the related agro-industry by means of research, studies, dissemination and knowledge and technology transfer actions. Since 1974, CRPA has the objective of developing technical, economic and social progress in the supply chains of livestock products and promoting the spread of the most advanced forms of environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture. Shareholders of CRPA are the local public authorities, the National Farmers’ Unions, producer organizations and single food and technology industries involved in the processing of meat and milk. CRPA represents Italy in some international working groups and associations, i.e. European Dairy Farmers; European Pig Producers; International Farm Comparison Network, Interpig and Agribenchmark Beef & Sheep. CRPA is member of the CIB – Italian Biogas Consortium and represented in its technical committee. It is also member of ITABIA – Italian Biomass Association and of the IWA International Water Association. CRPA is partner in several European research and dissemination networks and it is coordinating or partner of several Operational Groups for Innovation founded by the Italian Rural Developments Plans 2014-2020 and 2021-2027.
CRPA’s role in NUTRI-KNOW is to collect, analyse and homogenise the knowledge obtained on the experience and outcomes of 3 EIP-AGRI OGs on nutrient management, STRUVITE, SOS-AQUAE, GAS LOOP and the creation of a common “practice abstract.

DACC

The Department of Climate Action, Food, and Rural Agenda (DACC) is a constituent of the Catalan Public Administration, bestowed with competencies and authority in the domains of development, training, technology transfer, innovation, and advisory services for agriculture, fisheries, livestock, forestry, and agribusiness.
DACC’s role in NUTRI-KNOW is focused in promoting, adopting, and replicating successful strategies for public administrations responsible for managing EIP-AGRI OGs and EIP-AGRI officials seeking to build upon the accomplishments of EIP-AGRI OGs or other projects relevant to their interests.

WE&B

WE&B is a specialised environmental consulting company. By way of a cross-disciplinary focus, WE&B integrates social and business systems to solve complex environmental problems. WE&Bs unique contribution lies in its ability to engage all relevant stakeholders from communities (bottom-up approach) to policy makers in jointly addressing the complexity of environmental issues and offering specific and professional solutions. WE&B has brought environmental vision and insights to social and business innovation through research projects in different sectors such as agriculture, housing and construction, industry, and in different geographical settings, covering cities, rural areas, and coastal environments.
In NUTRI-KNOW, WE&B will lead the Co-creation process to align EIP-AGRI OGs outcomes with stakeholders’ challenges and needs. WE&B aims to explore how the engaged OGs are aligned with current EU policies (top-down approach) and the challenges and needs of the farmers and the sector (bottom-up approach). WE&B will analyse the connections among actors involved in the OGs and relevant stakeholders/networks in the field of nutrient management, as well as the work already done in this field to avoid duplications.

BETA TC (UVic-UCC)

BETA TC (UVic-UCC) is a Technological Center that was born in November 2014, to give a definitive boost to the R+D+I activity in the field of the environmental technologies at the UVic-UCC, Spain. We aim to improve the competitiveness and the quality of life, with a special focus on rural regions, through the promotion and implementation of R+D+I projects in cooperation with companies, public administrations and social entities. Being a useful actor to support the transition to circular bioeconomy of societies, with a special focus on agro-food systems. BETA Technological Center naturally became a Development Agency.
BETA TC (UVic-UCC) is the NUTRI-KNOW’s project Coordinator and Lead partners in the Result Amplification Methodology to efficiently broaden EIP-AGRI Operational Groups outcomes and Coordination and management.

Federació de Cooperatives Agràries de Catalunya (FCAC)

FCAC is an association of agri-food cooperatives located in Catalonia. Was founded in 1983, and nowadays there are almost 200 federated cooperatives who bring together and put on market all kind of farm products from its associated producers: fruits, vegetables, cereals, wine, nuts, olive oil, milk, pork, beef and others. The main objective of FCAC is to defend the interests of cooperatives and the cooperative model, and give advice and services to the affiliated cooperatives. Our main activities are technical advice, services, lobby, RDI projects to decrease environment impacts, to solve technic productive problems, to rise the revenues, etc.
FCAC has been part of many EIP-AGRI Operational Groups, which three of them are analysed and studied in NUTRI-KNOW. FCAC will share its experience and provide information of these Operational Groups, being the contact between NUTRI-KNOW partners and the participating cooperatives. On the other hand, FCAC will give support to the cooperatives and transfer them the information and main results of NUTRI-KNOW, which can help them with their nutrition needs and challenges, looking for a good reception and adoption of these results.

Irish Organic Association

The Irish Organic Association is a member-owned not-for-profit company involved in the certification and the sustainable development of the organic sector, covering the entire organic supply across the island of Ireland from farming to processing, to retail.
Within NUTRI-KNOW, the Irish Organic Association is involved in providing farmers’ and other practitioners’ perspectives on nutrient management from an Irish organic farming context. IOA’s role includes providing learnings from the Maximising Organic Production Systems (MOPS) EIP-AGRI project, stakeholder engagement, contributing to the development of relevant information and knowledge materials, and dissemination.

Ghent University

Ghent University is a public research university, with 11 faculties and more than 80 departments offering state-of-the-art study programmes grounded in research in a wide range of academic fields. The research team, Lab for Bioresource Recovery (RE-SOURCE), consists of 30 enthusiastic researchers led by Prof. Erik Meers, holding expertise in agronomy, nutrient management, stakeholder engagement, technology transfer & commercialization. The RE-SOURCE group is actively involved in 15 running European and national projects, several of which as the lead partner. Ghent University (the RE-SOURCE group) is also the promoter of the Biorefine Cluster Europe (BCE), which is an open-access, free-of-charge collaborative platform between EU projects dealing with bio-based circular economy. Currently, the BCE counts more than 40 EU running projects, half of which with a focus on nutrient recycling and recovery. The BCE is also the main organizer of high-level conferences, such as the European Sustainable Nutrient Initiative (ESNI) and the Biorefine Conference, which interconnect key actors in the field of nutrient recycling to keep high the topic in the EU Circular Economy Agenda.
The UGent team is leading WP1 in NUTRI-KNOW to gather and compile the outcomes from 12 engaged operational groups in Spain, Italy, Belgium and Ireland. UGent also actively participates in other WPs to identify the challenges in legislation and market, and to facilitate the knowledge and experience transformation to stakeholders.

ESCI

This non-profit communication agency empowers scientists and engineers, helping them to communicate with a non-expert audience to bridge the gap between science, technology and society. It supports national and international research and innovation initiatives in communicating effectively and leveraging their dissemination potential. In addition, it provides up-to-date media training and a compelling set of dissemination tools specifically with different stakeholders and target audiences in mind.
ESCI leads the communication and dissemination of the project results. During the project, it will identify the communication needs for specific audiences, and find and use the right communication channels to reach them.

Teagasc

Teagasc, Ireland’s national agriculture and food development authority, provides integrated research, advisory and training services to the agriculture and food industry and rural communities.
Within NUTRI-KNOW, Teagasc leads the communication and dissemination activities through engagement with stakeholders. The aim is to boost learning from the engaged OGs nationally, throughout the partner countries and more widely across Europe. Sharing knowledge across borders is achieved through numerous activities including webinars, Train-the-Trainer courses and a policy working group to target a wide range of stakeholders and practitioners in the area of nutrient management. This work supports the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies regarding nutrients, increasing the impact of the engaged OGs across borders.

AU (Aarhus University)

AU covers the entire research spectrum and a range of international master and doctoral programs. The engineering disciplines and specifically the Operations Management Unit carry out research and teaching in the fields of Biosystems Engineering as well as innovative technologies to be applied in industrial production and bio-production system. AU participates drawing on its extensive experience on researching and developing production and operations management associated with innovative technologies and emergent management systems in the Bio-Economy and Smart Farming. This includes in-depth analyses of technology innovations and management systems, and to identify key constraints and enablers, extensive experience from dissmination/exploiting knowledge on innovation to the public and practioners, social-technical transitions of innovations/building transition scenarios/system design for innovative technologies in the agri-food system.
AU will work with the homogenization and translation of knowledge and results from the Operational Groups projects directing the knowledge toward applicable end-user material, including “practice-abstracts” and the development of training for the optimised exploitation.