LECTURERS

Paola Mattarelli is an Associate Professor in Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. Her research activity focus on beneficial bacteria for application in human and animal health and in agriculture. She is a taxonomist and she is secretary of the Subcommittee on taxonomy of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and related organisms. She is member of Editorial board of International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Member of COST action: "Exploiting Plant-Microbiomes Networks and Synthetic Communities to improve Crops Fitness”. MC of COST action CA22109 - Medicinal plants for animal health care: Translating tradition into modern veterinary medicine
ORCID 0000-0001-9112-4786

Maria Luisa Dindo is full professor of General and Applied Entomology since 2021 at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. Her scientific interests mainly deal with the biology and rearing (both in vivo and in vitro) of parasitoids, especially Diptera Tachinidae and the rearing of potential hosts or preys of entomophagous insects. She is also interested in studying the sustainable control strategies of insect pests, in particular the new associations between indigenous parasitoids and exotic insects introduced in Italy. From 2017 to 2023, she was a co-convenor of the “Mass Rearing and Quality Assurance” Working Group (MRQA WG) of the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC Global), which she joined in 2003. In this role, she organized the XV-MRQA workshop held in Bologna (5-9 September, 2022).She is an Executive Editor of the journal “Bulletin of Insectology” and a component of the Editorial Board of the journals “BioControl” and "Entomologia Experimentalis et applicata".
ORCID

Lorenzo Barbanti is Associate Professor in Agronomy and Crop Science at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. Besides having spent a relevant share of his work life in the R&D department of a large agro-food and agro-industrial group. His research activity focuses on food (cereals, pulses, and herbs) and non-food crops (biomass crops, others), their suitability for the ambient conditions in warm-temperate areas in a framework of changing climate, and ways to overcome plant growth constraints such as drought and salinity. He has served various roles in local, national and international research projects, including projects focusing on the nutritional and bio-energy needs of rural communities in developing countries, and refugee camps of populations permanently displaced from their countries. He is (co)author of 85 works in Scopus (h-index, 28).
ORCID 0000-0003-0440-9156

Francesco Spinelli is full professor at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. He has expertise in plant pathology and crop management. His research aims at reducing the use of xenobiotic pesticides, without reducing crop production and quality. To achieve this goal, the research focused on deciphering the plant-microbe interactions with a specific attention to bacterial pathogens of fruit crops. He has long-term international collaborations on the development and validation of BCAs for Pseudomonas syringae and Erwinia amylovora. He coordinated the ERASMUS MUNDUS International Master in Horticultural Sciences. He has supervised/co-supervised 9 PhD students and 23 Postdocs. (Scopus ID: 56358433700 H:32, 111 papers)
ORCID 0000-0003-3870-1227

Paolo Trevisi is a full professor in Animal Nutrition and Feeding since 2024 at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. His primary focus is to improve the sustainability and the circularity of the livestock food chains by developing innovative feeding and management strategies with special emphasis on monogastric. The key objective of his group is to reduce the dependency of pig production on the use of antibiotics and the excess of minerals which are recognized as primary spread origins of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and environmental risk factors. The associate research topics are: new dietary strategies to reduce psychophysical stress occurring during the weaning (functional feed); v) study of nutraceuticals to improve the gut health and prevent dysbiosis in young animals; understand the risk factors to prevent the aggressive behaviours to design tailored solutions and reduce the animal sufferance and production losses. He is vice-chair of the Pig study Commission of the European Federation for Animal Production (EAAP). He is partner in several EU and Reginal projects and is co-authors more than 120 publications on peer review journals with h-index=28.
ORCID 0000-0001-7019-6828

Matthias Noll is a Professor in Bioanalysis and Environmental Microbiology at Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Coburg, Germany. His research activity focuses on fungal and bacterial diversities in crop plants and forests and associated soils, differentiating metabolically active and total community members. Additionally, he is an expert in the risk assessment of bio-based and biodegradable plastics in agricultural practices under ambient and future climate regimes. Using multivariate statistics, he correlates abiotic and biotic parameters to fungal, bacterial, and archaeal community compositions to disentangle the main factors influencing ecosystem functioning. He is MC member of the cost action CA22158 “Exploiting Plant-Microbiomes Networks and Synthetic Communities to improve Crops Fitness (CropBiomes).
ORCID 0000-0002-9981-5968

Stefan Simm is a Professor for bioinformatics and data science at Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Coburg, Germany.. His research activity focuses on developing explainable AI (XAI) related to the analysis of Multi-Omics as well as statistical analysis. His experience in Omics spans different organisms, organs and conditions in  research topics of  climate change, SMART farming and medical applications. Beside the biological interpretation the analysis includes data processing, , visualization and training of XAI. Such AI models allow to extract the most important features and pattern to uncover interactions within regulatory mechanisms from an holistic perspective. He is MC member of the cost action CA22157 “RECROP: Reproductive Enhancement of CROP resilience to extreme climate”.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9371-2709

Caterina Spiezio, PhD in psychobiology. She works at Openature Foundation, Bussolengo
Through her PhD research project in Madagascar she had the opportunity to understand the necessity and the importance of in situ conservation. She had a research fellowship at Goldsmith College, UK, and three-year of research fellowship at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy. From 2006 she has been employed at Parco Natura Viva as researcher and in 2008 she became the head of Research and Conservation Department focusing on animal behaviour, welfare and cognition, adding in situ Conservation projects. She is author of peer-reviewed articles, commentaries and proceedings. She was the organizer of the Erasmus + InterZoo Summer School. She is member of the EAZA Animal Welfare Working Group and also member of the EAZA Conservation Translocation Working Group. She is the senior researcher of the Seychelles conservation project with scientific publication on Aldabra giant tortoises 0000-0003-1326-1835ORCID 0000-0003-1326-1835

Camillo Sandri, DVM, has a PhD in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science and Technology. He works at Openature, Torino, Italy. He is the tutor for veterinary student internships from different Italian Universities and supervisor of animal health and welfare research projects. He is member of Scientific Committee of the Annual National Research and Conservation Conference hosted by Parco Natura Viva every year. He is EEP (European Endangered Species Programme) Committee member of the Northern Bald Ibis, and vet advisor for the European Bison Reintroduction Project in Romania. He is also member of Italian association of veterinarians for wild and exotic animals (SIVAE). He has been published peer reviewed articles and has been invited from Universities to talk about zoo animal health, care and welfare. He is the project manager and senior researcher of the Seychelles conservation project with publications on Aldabra giant tortoises.
ORCID 0000-0001-7379-7725

Daniel Etongo is an Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences at the University of Seychelles (UniSey) and the Dean for the Faculty of Research and Innovation. He completed his PhD in Agriculture and Forestry from Helsinki University, Finland and has published over 50 articles in international peer-reviewed journals. His area of expertise includes land suitability analysis,, socio-ecological systems modeling, biodiversity assessment, vulnerability assessment, and climate adaptation, climate-smart agriculture, and nature-based solutions. At UniSey, Prof. Etongo teaches in the BSc Environmental Sciences and MSc Marine Science and Sustainability programs. He contributes to curriculum design, course development, and mentorship of new lecturers and teaching assistants. He also plays a key role in strengthening UniSey’s research profile through leadership, collaboration, and consultancy work. Prof. Etongo previously served as the Dean for the Faculty of Business and Sustainable Development at UniSey.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8237-0843

Uvicka Bristol is undertaking doctoral studies at University of Seychelles in collaboration with University of Canterbury. Her research interests focus on climate change resilience, coastal management, agroforestry, the blue economy, and ocean governance, with a particular interest in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability in Small Island Developing States.
0009-0000-4168-8479ORCID 0009-0000-4168-8479

Eugenie Khani. Completed her MSc in Marine Science and Sustainability at the University of Seychelles . Her Research background includes Aquaculture and Climate change Resilience  amongst others. She also assist with scientific research in both marine and terrestrial aspects; Develop, manage and implements small to medium size research projects, develop and support conservation monitoring programs, Collaborate with and advise visiting scientists and students with their research and projects, Participate in conservation partnership and projects etc.

Barry Nourice Dr. Nourice holds a PhD and MSc in Soil Science from the University of Aberdeen and a BSc in Agriculture Science (Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, India), specialising in Soil Science and Organic Farming. With over 20 years of experience in agricultural research, soil diagnostics, laboratory management, and farmer-support services, Dr. Nourice has made significant contributions at both national and international levels. Notably, he served as an IAEA project counterpart, receiving global recognition in 2018, and has played a key role in soil management, climate reporting, and sustainable land use initiatives in Seychelles.
Dr. Nourice also previously served as a founding member and Chairman of the Agricultural Producers Association of Seychelles (APAS) and has a long-standing record of collaboration with farmers, environmental agencies, and regional and international partners. He is the Director of the Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture.

Keratepse Kopelo. Currently holding a BSc in Animal Sciences from the University of Botswana, and pursuing an Advanced Diploma in Education. He is a lecturer at the Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture. His area of expertise is livestock production, covering animal health, nutrition(pasture establishment, fodder preservation, and feed formulation), breeding (with special interest in Artificial insemination and other reproductive technologies), animal identification and traceability system, innovative Agro-Food processing, and green technology. Interested in pursuing a post-graduate (MSc) in Animal Sciences, with focus in Animal Nutrition, Animal Health or Animal Reproduction & Breeding

Joanna Philoe, a lecturer at the Seychelles Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture (S.I.A.H) for 6 years in the crop production field. She holds a Diploma in Secondary Education for Technology and Enterprise. Interested in environmental education programs related to agricultural areas, so as to help in sustaining the Agricultural sector and enhancing sustainable farming methods, by teaching to guide and encourage good practices. As a Seychellois innovator who once won recognition for creating an organic candy from noni fruit, she is focusing on pursuing training in Agro-processing of fruits, vegetables, and milk to encourage and ensure a healthy life and achieve food security.

Giuseppe Merialdi is a Veterinarian with a PhD in Animal health. He has extensive and well-established experience in the fields of animal health and food safety, developed entirely within the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia-Romagna  (IZSLER, Bologna, Italy), where he holds a director-level position. His work focuses primarily on the diagnosis of animal diseases and food safety, with a strong integration within the veterinary public health system