Maria Devant
Maria Devant has a solid background in R&D in Swine and Ruminant Production. Over the last 15 years, she has focused her scientific career in beef production improving feed efficiency and enhancing economic returns while minimising environmental impact, improving animal welfare, and offering high-quality products to the consumers through research and innovation. To achieve this goal the creation and leadership of the Beef Innovation Table has been crucial, in this annual meeting 12 representatives of the whole production chain propose and set priorities of the research topics, and in this forum we also connect them the new societal demands that are coming and that they need to be prepared (like antibiotic user reduction). Her expertise is nutrition and management, and in case a topic needs the expertise in another area we find collaboration within IRTA or outside IRTA to solve it. In the last 5 years she have focused my research in 2 topics: strategies to improve calf vitality and modulation of behavior and stress through nutrition (gut-brain axis). As a result of this work, I have published more than 49 peer-reviewed articles in major international journals (Quartile 1). These publications have a total of 1119 citations yielding an H-index of 21. Besides, in the last 10 years I have presented a total of 80 communications and posters in scientific congresses. Along with this research activity she is head of the Ruminant Production Program (since 2016) and Animal Nutrition Program (since 2021) and member of the Strategic and Scientific Committee at IRTA (since 2019), in these positions where team science needs to be successful, two skills like i) openness to different perspectives and being able to conceptualize the big picture, ii) and being able to uniting people around a common mission are needed.
Lourdes Llonch
Lourdes Llonch Fernández holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine (2015) and a PhD in Animal Production (2021) from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Since 2021, she has been working at IRTA as a postdoctoral researcher in the Ruminant Production Program. His line of research focuses on beef cattle, specifically in the application of nutritional and management strategies in order to improve the productive efficiency of animals, their health and welfare, as well as the sustainability of the sector, to through different projects such as demonstration activities (within the 01.02.01 operation of technology transfer of the rural development program of Catalonia 2014-2020) and operational groups.
Belén Fernández
Belén Fernández has a degree in Chemical Sciences (1998) and a PhD in Chemical Engineering (2004) from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Researcher in the field of recovery of waste and organic wastewater through biotechnological processes such as biogas production; currently, it also works on nutrient recovery processes (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). He has extensive experience in contract research with the private sector, participates in activities of dissemination and transfer of knowledge, and participates in the direction of doctoral theses and master's theses.
Marta Ruiz Colmenero
Researcher at IRTA's Sustainability in Biosystems Research Program since 2020. Martais an expert in the application of LCA to food products and agrosystems.
She is interested in quantifying and improving the environmental impact of agricultural and livestock management practices.
After finishing a degree in Environmental Sciences, Dr Ruiz obtained a Ph.D by the Department of Geography and Geology of University of Alcalá (“Influence of using cover crops in hillslope vineyards to control soil erosion”). Since then, she has gained extensive experience working both in university and consultancy, conducting research mostly related to agricultural and livestock sustainability. Currently, as a researcher at the Sustainability in Biosystems Group (IRTA), she is specializing in the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, conducting LCA of different agricultural systems including different crops and animal products as well as LCA of different agricultural land management practices. She is interested in the environmental impact of agricultural practices, and the assessment of different management strategies for a more sustainable land use.
Lourdes Migura-García
Lourdes Migura graduated from the University of the Basque Country with a degree in Science in 1996. She began her research career at the Agency of Veterinary Laboratories (VLA, UK) in 1999, working as a junior researcher in the Department of Food within the Environmental Safety Program on behalf of DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), where he was a member of the antimicrobial resistance team. He earned a doctorate in medical microbiology from the University of Liverpool. Lourdes moved to Denmark in 2007 to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Denmark, at the European Union Reference Laboratory on Antimicrobial Resistance (EURL-AR) and a collaborating center of the Organization. World Health Organization (WHO). For the first two years, he worked on a European project focused on the study of the evolution and transfer of mobile genetic elements between Gram-positive bacteria. The next two years, Dra. Migura-García participated in the activities of the EURL-AR, the harmonization of protocols, the organization of scientific workshops and the execution of research projects.
In December 2010 he moved to IRTA-CReSA (Barcelona) and established his line of research in Antimicrobial Stewardship. During these years at IRTA-CReSA, Lourdes has actively collaborated with national and international colleagues participating in research projects on zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance, molecular epidemiology of foodborne pathogens, including complete genome sequencing studies. and analysis of risk factors associated with the emergence of resistance. In collaboration with the sector, it also participates in microbiota studies and the use of alternatives to antimicrobials in livestock production. Lourdes is part of the PRAN expert group "National Action Plan to reduce the risk of selection and dissemination of antibiotic resistance" coordinated by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS). He collaborates in different working groups and has participated in the analysis and drafting of the new report entitled JIACRA-ES, an approach to Unique Health to associate the consumption of antimicrobials and the emergence of resistance in human medicine. and veterinary. She has co-authored more than 45 manuscripts in the area of microbiology and antimicrobial resistance, supervised doctoral and master’s theses, and presented data in the form of oral presentations and posters at national and international conferences. She also participates as a professor in different master's degree programs.
Sonia Martí
Dr. Sonia Marti is a Research Scientist in the Department of Ruminant Production at Institut de Recerca i Tenologia Agroalimentaries de Catalunya, Spain. After completing the BAgrE, MSc and PhD in animal production (2012), Sonia completed an NSERC Postdoctoral fellowship at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge (2013-2016) and the University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (2016-2018) conducting studies on painful procedures, the evaluation of chronic stress, as well as beef cattle lameness and transportation. Dr. Marti’s current research focuses on evaluating management practices of unweaned dairy calves reared for meat with a focus on health, productivity, welfare, and pre-slaughter factors to improve welfare and meat quality
