Climate change impact mitigation for european viticulture: knowledge transfer for an integrated approach
Although among the top 10 Portuguese universities with higher number of top quality scientific papers published, and despite the growing attractiveness that it has been gaining in terms of research and teaching, UTAD is still far from the European high performing R&D institutions. Thus, the Clim4Vitis project aims at enhancing UTAD’s S&T capacity, as well as raising its staff’s research profile, specially focusing one of the fields of research in which the University has become a national reference: viticulture. Within this broad area, particular attention should be given to two main lines of research: 1) grapevine modelling and 2) tools for assessing climate change impacts on European viticulture, in general, and on grapevine productivity, quality attributes and risk of diseases and pests in particular. In order to boost competences in these topics, the project gathers 5 international partners (1 university from a Widening country, 3 internationally-leading research institutions, and an international consultancy & training company). The 3 internationally-leading research institutions are from the same field of study, but with complementary skills. The implementation of several twinning activities (thematic workshops, staff exchange, short courses, thematic seminars, webinars, conferences, among others) will enable the access to systematized knowledge and cutting edge-technology, as well as the knowledge and technology transfer between the high performing partners and the UTAD. Clim4Vitis is based on an integrated approach, which envisages the effective internationalization of the University, through extensive networking, dissemination and the establishment of long-term transnational cooperation relationships with world-leading R&D institutions. Furthermore, the project actively contributes to the sustainability of UTAD, once it also foresees the increase of contracts with business partners and stakeholders.