SupervisoryTeam

Supervisor Photo

Jordi Recasens

Supervisor Details

Email: Jordi.recasens@udl.cat

Organization Type: University

Organization Name: University of Lleida

Short Biography: Doctor (1985) in Biology by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Since 1982, professor at the Agronomic School of Universitat de Lleida teaching agricultural botany and weed science in the degree of Agronomy and in the Master of Integrated Crop Protection. His scientific specialisation allowed him to create, 25 years ago, the research group of Weed Science and Plant Ecology, recognised since 2005 with the mention of Quality Research. He has been the PI in 13 national and 5 international research projects, the supervisor of 12 PhD and published 73 scientific articles, four books, five international book chapters and more than 60 articles in others scientific journals. He has stablished more than 40 agreements with companies and created in 2021, with other scientist, the SpinOff IPM Advice. He has been the secretary (1995-2001), president (2007-2010) of the Sociedad Española de Malherbología; vice- president of the Asociación Española de Sanidad Vegetal (20012-2017) and member of the board of the European Weed Research Society (2012-2014). He has been recognised four periods of research, one of extension and eight periods of teaching.

Co-Supervisor Photo

Pau Moragas Bouyat

Co-Supervisor Details

Email: pau@olivera.org

Organization Type: Non-academic institution

Organization Name: La Oilvera Cooperativa (https://olivera.org/en/)

Short Biography: Agronomic engineer by the University of Lleida in 2005 and enologist by the Êcole National Superieure Agronomique de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro, France) in 2006. He also has a Master’s Degree in Viticulture and Oenology from SupAgro. He is the vice-president and manager director of la Olivera. Since 2006, he is also responsible for the field work and of the mill. Pau leads a large group of people including technical staff and field workers, some with difficulties, both in field as well as wine and olive processing tasks. He also supervises students from SupAgro and other academic institutions mainly from Europe and Latin-America, who come to la Olivera to get their practical experience. He has hosted many field days, participated in research projects and has been a close collaborator of the group for the last 2 years, participating in the supervision of three bachelor and master students’ final thesis.

Added Value: - Enlarging network with cooperatives, the Costers del Segre certificate of origin (DO) association (of which L’Olivera is part of), members of ATRIA, ADEV, crop protection consultants and other wine- related institutions such as the Catalan Institute of Wine (INCAVI) and the Catalan Cluster of Wine - Companies (INNOVI). - Exposure to real world challenges in sustainable production and help develop meaningful research for the sector. - Hands-on training on managing food products from production and processing to commercialization that will increase their employability.

Other Co-Supervisor Photo

Camilla Moonen

Other Co-Supervisor

Email: camilla.moonen@santannapisa.it

Organization Type: University or other type of organization

Organization Name: Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA), Research University based in Pisa (Italy)

Short Biography: Prof. Camilla Moonen is an international known expert in agroecology who has worked in biodiversity management for ecosystem service provisioning and in cover crops, among other areas. She’s located in Pisa, Italy, another Mediterranean country with climatic conditions similar to Spain so her research accounts for water use efficiency when designing more sustainable cropping systems. She has published 51 documents regarding ecosystem services and weeds, cover crops and field margins to sustain biological pest control among others and has an h index of 28 (Scopus). She has participated in many national and international projects related to weed management, including the latest IWMPraise. She has supervised 11 PhD students, 3 of which are on-going. She is member of the Board of two PhD programmes at Scuola Sant’Anna: Agrobiodiversity and Agrobiosciences. She has been in the steering committee of 2 French PhD students (Committée de Pillotage).

Added Value: - Networking with researchers from European institutions and universities. Access to top level research on sustainable agroecosystems in Mediterranean areas. - International mobility. - Training skills in agroecological crop management and cropping system design. - Skill training in multispecies cover crops and ecosystem services provided by cover crops

ResearchGroup

Description: The group consists of two professors, one lecturer, two RyC fellowship, two postdocs, five PhD and one technician. The group created in 2021 the SpinOff IPMAdvice and established with different international institutions (Aarhus Univ Denmark, Julius Kuehn Germany) a joint ERA-Net project on weed science. The group is leading (2023) a National Research Net (PalmerNet) with 6 other Spanish Institutions. It stablished also international collaborations with the North CSCR Laboratory (USDA Minnesota – USA), the Univ. of Pennsylvania (USA), the Univ. of North Carolina (USA) and UNS (Bahía Blanca – Argentina) with whom it has published a total of 30 papers in the last 5 years. Furthermore, the group keeps different agreements with chemical companies (Bayer, Syngenta, Corteva, BASF, FMC, Ascenza, SIPCAM), with agricultural companies (ALRASA, CUPASA. Camelina Company), winery companies (Codorniu, Torres, L’Olivera), and with the administration (SSV, INCAVI). Web page: http://www.grem.udl.cat

ResearchLine

Description: Creating highly diverse, low-competitive cover crop communities in permanent crops Interest in cover crop use in permanent crops is increasing in the Ebro Valley due to environmental and policy requirements. However, current species used as cover crops are highly competitive. Even if they ensure high soil cover, they can also cause yield losses because they compete for water and farmers are reluctant to implement them. Creating a high-diversity plant community incorporating rare arable species to the resident weed community could provide similar or even greater advantages while maintaining yields. Specifically, these communities could provide pollination services and may improve biological control of insect pests while reducing erosion and increasing carbon sequestration. However, knowledge on the provision of these services by ruderal arable species used as cover crops is scarce. The PhD project will address these gaps to help increase cover crop adoption.

Others

Description: * Members of the group participle in consultancies from EU according with current policies on sustainable use of herbicides (i.e. glyphosate). * Members of the group are members of the Scientific Committee of the European Weed Research Society *In 2008, the research group was recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture to carry out official recognized assessments (Ensayos EOR) for chemical companies. * The group collaborates with other Campus Iberus research groups such as the “Fruticultura y viticultura avanzadas” and the “Plant Physiology and Agrobiology” group, both at UPNA. *The group keeps a close relationship with chemical companies (Corteva, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF, FMC, SIPCAM, Ascenza) and stablished different agreements (more than 700.000€ in the last 10 years). *In December 2021, the UdL-Spin-Off IPM Advice was approved, based on a technological platform and a decision support system to provide advice on efficient use of herbicides. * The research activity has been awarded in 6 congresses of the Sociedad Española de Malherbología and as Best Scientific Article on Agriculture (2018) by Fira de Lleida. The group develops an intense knowledge transference activity on a) weed identification and control with chemical companies, agricultural services companies and stakeholders (40 courses in UdL and more than 50 courses in different places of Spain and Portugal) and b) on agroecological weed management using cover crops. * The group was chosen by the European Weed Research Society to organize in Lleida the European * Weed Research Symposium in July 2025.

CareerDevelopment

Objectives

  • Future postdoc employment at the University
  • Increased employability in the non-academic sector
  • International mobility
  • Building collaborative networks
  • Application of postdoctoral grants (MSCA, Juan de la Cierva, etc.)
  • Involvement in teaching, supervision, or mentoring

Expected Outputs

  • PhD defense
  • Application of grants (MSCA, Juan de la Cierva, etc.)
  • Publication of articles
  • Attendance to international conferences

Training Skills

  • Project Management
  • Time Management
  • Grant Writing
  • Communication to the civil society and public engagement
  • Ethics and Research Integrity
  • Teaching
  • Supervision
  • Policy making, such as Green Deal and sustainable practices
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Leadership
  • Training for job interviews, CV writing
  • Advanced Digital Skills
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