Highlights of the VIII PhD Students Meeting in Environment and Agriculture

Dec 15, 2023Highlights, MED News

Earlier this week, on 11 and 12 December, the 8th edition of the Meeting of PhD Students in Environment and Agriculture (EEDAA) took place at the Mitra Campus of the University of Évora.

For the first time, this meeting was international, and it is intended to remain so, according to the EEDAA organisers.

The proceedings started on the morning of 11 December, after an opening session attended by the Director of the MED, Professor Fátima Baptista, and the Director of the Institute for Research and Advanced Training of the University of Évora, Professor Rui Salgado.

There were 26 oral presentations and 46 scientific posters on display over the two days of the event. The event was attended by more than 100 participants, 71 per cent of whom were PhD students from Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Tunisian universities.

In addition to the oral and poster presentations, the VIII EEDAA also featured two renowned researchers in the fields of Environment and Agriculture, who were invited to present plenary lectures:  Paulo Borges (Universidade dos Açores, cE3c) e Hatem Belhouchette (CIHEAM – Montpelier).

The second day of the VIII PhD Students Meeting in Environment and Agriculture was concluded with a closing session where the best poster prizes and two MED Awards were presented.

This year four prizes were awarded for the best poster:

  • 1st Place, Ana Paulino (CEBAL) – “RNA-Seq analysis at two different developmental stages of Cynara cardunculus“
  • 2nd Place, Mariana Patanita (UÉvora) – “Transcriptomic profiling of grapevine cultivars reveals candidate genes associated with trunk diseases symptomatology”
  • 3rd Place ex-aequo Inês Silva (UÉvora) – “Unveiling Microbiota within the Rocaille-Adorned Garden Grotto at Condes de Basto Palace, Évora, Portugal”
  • 3rd Place ex-aequo Mónica Marques (UÉvora) – “Establishment of a callogenesis protocol of Ceratonia siliqua to further explore its applicability for metabolites production”

This year, the Solange Oliveira Award for the best doctoral thesis was presented for the second time and the Mário Carvalho Award was given for the first time. This award aims to honour and recognise the outstanding careers of researchers who have played an important role in the MED’s strategic areas. The laureates of the MED Awards were:

  • Solange Oliveira Award – Rui Machado, who defended his PhD thesis, in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Évora, this year with the title: “Construction and application of a landscape dynamics assessment tool”.
  • Mário Carvalho Award – Teresa Pinto Correia, Geographer and Full Professor at the University of Évora.

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