Unipd and BF Educational: agreement signed for teaching, research and training of PhD students

Launch of specific projects also at the international level

Padua, November 27, 2024 – A press conference was held today in the Dining Room of Palazzo del Bo – Padua, to present the agreement signed between the University of Padua and BF Educational for scientific collaboration, support for teaching, and the training of PhD candidates.

The event was attended by Gianni Barcaccia, Director of the Department of Agronomy, Animals, Food, Natural Resources and Environment of the University of Padua; Vincenzo D’Agostino, Director of the Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry Systems (TESAF) of the University of Padua; and Francesco Pugliese, CEO of BF Educational.

The agreement between BF Educational and the Departments DAFNAE (Agronomy, Animals, Food, Natural Resources and Environment) and TESAF (Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry Systems) aims to enhance scientific collaboration on specific projects, including at the international level, and more generally to foster training both for BF personnel and for PhD candidates from the University who will have the opportunity to conduct large-scale research and training activities in residence at the Jolanda di Savoia (FE) campus. On this front, the University of Padua and BF Educational will collaborate in particular within the PhD Schools in CROP SCIENCE and LAND ENVIRONMENT RESOURCES AND HEALTH (LERH), pertaining to the DAFNAE and TESAF departments.

«Thanks to this framework agreement between the University of Padua and BF Educational, we will be able to start a path that will not only be relevant for postgraduate training within the PhD programs of our departments, but will also have significant impacts on educational activities through innovative initiatives in the agri-food sector, also leveraging the expertise BF Educational has along the entire supply chain – explains Prof. Gianni Barcaccia, Director of the DAFNAE Department. In addition to doctoral training, there is also an aspect of personal growth: our professors and researchers will have much to learn from this collaboration, which will allow both institutions to operate at both national and international levels.»

«The agreement with an institution of excellence like the University of Padua represents a decisive step to promote synergy between academic training and applied innovation in the agro-industrial sector. Thanks to this collaboration, we will be able to offer students and PhD candidates unique opportunities to develop advanced skills and to actively contribute to the growth of sustainable and technologically advanced agriculture. The Jolanda di Savoia campus will become a benchmark for research and high-level training, enhancing the wealth of know-how that BF Educational is committed to building day by day, also through agreements with top-level educational institutions,» said Francesco Pugliese, CEO of BF Educational.

«The signing of this agreement represents, on the one hand, the culmination of a collaboration that has lasted for years, and on the other, a challenge that calls us to act in a more concrete and executive manner – explains Prof. Vincenzo D’Agostino, Director of the TESAF Department. Today, companies and universities are no longer such distant worlds; we are, in fact, a research and teaching enterprise that increasingly positions itself in a cross-disciplinary way, both across academic fields and territorial realities. Many ideas are born within our departments, but sometimes struggle to be implemented, perhaps due to a lack of sufficient resources; in this case, the collaboration with BF will allow us to have actual land available, which will serve as true “experimental fields” for innovative ideas and for the training of our PhD candidates.»