en
Slovenščina
ItalianoAbout the Research programme
ARIS code: P5-0453
Period: 1. 1. 2024–31. 12. 2027
Head of research programme: dr. Jerneja Penca
The Mediterranean is a hotspot of social and environmental wealth, but also of changes that threaten the well-being and healthy development of societies, as well as their survival. The research program group studies environmental changes, from their causes to their expression, and aims to understand the interaction of these on the global-local axis. In part, it focuses on Mediterranean agriculture and its nutritional and socio-economic value, linked to sustainable production and processing, especially olive farming and the production and processing of quality olive oil. In part, it focuses on current challenges for communities in this area (climate change, management of water, loss of traditional practices and landscapes, etc.).
The research program studies selected topics and challenges of the Mediterranean (e.g. food production and processing technologies, preservation of characteristic habitats), placing them in the preservation of the diversity and potential of this space, and in reducing its vulnerability. The output models are based on connections with non-Mediterranean environments and societies. The program strengthens the infrastructure and human research potential of the ZRS Koper and contributes to global knowledge production. We expect a multiplicative research and development effect that will have an impact on scientific profiling and social adaptation. Through research, we help to create solutions of national and local importance, for example by implementing the services of a national reference laboratory and making recommendations to policymakers, and we contribute to the global flow of knowledge for the sustainable development of societies.
The scientific work of the research programme »Sredozemske kmetijske prakse in družbe v prilagajanju okojskim spremembam« (P5-0453) is financed by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS).
Research programme Team:
The program group is highly interdisciplinary and includes disciplines of biotechnology and natural sciences (agriculture including plant protection, food technology including sensory analysis, chemistry including metrology, (bio)informatics) and social sciences (geography, political science, law, education, environmental studies).
Research programme leader:
Research Programme Team:
Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Studies:
Institute for Oliveculture:
Research activities:
Research is explicitly focused on finding solutions to the socio-environmental crisis and identifying interventions that can contribute to the transformation of systems, especially in the development of sustainable solutions, management structures, the provision of products, stakeholder engagement, the introduction of smart technologies, social innovations, and education for sustainability. Research work is based on a combination of approaches; both those within established disciplines as well as an effective interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. In social sciences, we use in particular qualitative methods of interpretation and analysis of documents and texts, ethnographic fieldwork, and participatory methods. Natural sciences and biotechnology are based on field and laboratory measurements using advanced sensors, measuring stations, programs and models for data processing; analytical work is based on established and in-house developed methods for determining new intentional and unintentional substances in food. Transdisciplinarity is enabled and developed by a problem-based approach of relevant stakeholders according to the case studied