Project description
Increased access to research infrastructures helps develop sustainable pig production
Research infrastructures (RI) can play a key role in meeting Green Deal goals and the 'Farm to Fork' strategy through a sustainable 'From Pig to Pork' approach. The EU-funded PIGWEB project will strengthen the pig research community by increasing access to RIs and promoting cooperation between scientists, the pig industry and stakeholders. The initiative will also harmonise protocols and best practices, promote standards, collect and manage project data, disseminate results and provide graduate and post-graduate training. In addition, researchers will develop non-invasive techniques for studying pig digestion and blood sampling, plus indicators of welfare, behaviour, and body composition. Lastly, a research toolbox will be developed to identify traits relevant to sustainable pig production.
Objective
Research infrastructures (RI) play a key role in identifying levers that can be used to attain the goals of the Green Deal and the “Farm to Fork” strategy, to which PIGWEB can contribute by a “From Pig to Pork” approach.
The aims of PIGWEB are to strengthen the pig research community by providing and facilitating access to RI, reinforce a culture of cooperation between the research community and industrial and societal stakeholders, and improve and integrate the services provided by the RI. This will contribute to develop innovative and ethical solutions for sustainable pig production systems.
To attain these aims, the project will:
- Ensure easy and transparent access to experimental pig RI and associated laboratories.
- Create a community of pig RI by mapping installations beyond partners of the project and identifying future research needs in pig production sector.
- Harmonise protocols, best practices, and promote the use of standards to ensure high level of expertise and ethics.
- Organise the collection, management, and accessibility of data generated by the project.
- Ensure dissemination, exploitation, and technology transfer of results generated by the project.
- Provide graduate and post-graduate training opportunities to young researchers to ensure the succession of a new generation of highly-trained experts in the fields of pig production.
- Develop non- or minimally invasive methods for digestion studies and blood sampling to replace current procedures requiring surgery and invasive sampling, isolation, fixation and/or spatial restrictions of pigs.
- Develop novel methods, tools and technologies that provide indicators of welfare, behaviour, and body composition.
- Develop a research toolbox (based data obtained through non- or minimally invasive measurements and model algorithms) to phenotype pigs for traits relevant for sustainable pig production.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
75007 Paris
France