Soja de Portugal Group was proudly present at the VII Annual Workshop of the Doctoral Program in Animal Sciences in ICBAS, University of Porto, that was held on September 18. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually and reached people from four continents.
As part of the SANFEED Doctoral Program, Sustainable Animal Nutrition and Feeding, Soja de Portugal Group works with the brightest new researchers to improve its feed solutions for poultry, livestock, pets and fish. This year, four students, supported by Soja de Portugal Group in different research fields, presented their work in a poster communication:
- Bruno Reis (ICBAS-UP, CIIMAR, SORGAL, SPAROS), Systemic immune responses of gilthead seabream Sparus aurata juveniles fed microalgae-derived beta-glucans.
- Vitor Silva (ICBAS-UP, CIIMAR, SORGAL), Microbiome in poultry: influence of nutritional factors.
- Susana Pinho (ICBAS-UP, LAQV/REQUIMTE, SORGAL), Protective role of skim milk on intestinal oxidative stress and inflammation.
- Joana Fernandes (ICBAS-UP, LAQV/REQUIMTE, SORGAL), Novel functional ingredients in pet food – a multifactorial study of alternative diets for dogs.
Sara Magalhães, sales & technical manager of Aquasoja, was invited to participate at a round table to discuss the topic “University – Industry Technology Transfer,” together with other industry and university partners. Here, it was highlighted the need to improve the communication between both parts, for the academia to communicate adequately the solutions they can provide and for the industry to better express their needs. The importance of stimulating investment in the scale-up range to close the gap between lower technology readiness level research and the market was also discussed. Increasing the number of doctorate employees in the companies, fomenting management skills during university education, or measuring PhD success on particular benefits to the society rather than only on published scientific papers were seen as some important measures in this regard.
“Sponsoring and supporting doctoral programs like SANFEED is undoubtedly a valuable strategy to close this knowledge-transfer gap. This is one of the ways Soja de Portugal Group, including Aquasoja, has to evolve and innovate while investing in knowledge and on people’s education,” the company said.
