{"id":4635,"date":"2024-12-06T15:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/notizia-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T11:27:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:27:38","slug":"phem-the-new-research-center-of-universita-cattolica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/phem-the-new-research-center-of-universita-cattolica\/","title":{"rendered":"Phem, the new research center of Universit\u00e0 Cattolica"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Phem Research Center on Plant Health Modelling<\/strong> of the Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore was launched through a conference reuniting both national and international scholars, held in Sala Piana at the University Campus of Piacenza<\/strong>. Since nowadays mathematical models are a crucial part of Decision Support Systems (DSS)<\/em> in Agriculture 4.0, there is the necessity of providing continuity to scientific research on plant health modelling, providing linkage on methodological, developmental and applicational knowledge between researchers and final users, while also providing educational activities to field professionals. That is why Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore decided to establish an appropriate research center.<\/p>\n\n

Professor Paola Battilani<\/a><\/strong>, director of the Phem research center, associated to the Department of Sustainable Plant Productions (Diproves)<\/a> of the University Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences<\/a>, states that the most interesting aspects are both plant health and modelling. \u00abAs plant pathologists \u2013 she says \u2013 we work on their diseases, but we focus more willingly on their health. Now, there is more attention to the agronomical part, the plant growth in particular, but later on we will also extend our interest in the soil\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

The modelling approach seeks to predict plant behavior, which is one fundamental inquiry in the climate change era. \u00abThe goal is to create mathematical models to understand what will happen to the plant, to its yield and quality\u00bb explains the professor, highlighting how the aim of Phem is to \u00abbuild models that can operate in any environment\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

\u00abIf the model integrates well the plant physiology and the pathogen behavior more than other microorganisms in the environment \u2013 says Battilani<\/strong> \u2013 we can apply it everywhere\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

The aim of the center is to establish a network. \u00abIt must be taken into account that we can already count on a good network \u2013 she goes on \u2013 both in Italy, where we are the only faculty working on modelling, and both at an international level where we are among the few working on it anyway\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

\u00abIn this way \u2013 she states again \u2013 our faculty dedicates itself to mycotoxin, toxic substances produced by fungi, modelling: mechanistic modelling, or modelling that explains better the fungus behavior, is our prerogative. No one else does it globally\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

The main purpose of the Center \u2013 which relies on a Board of Directors and a Scientific Committee \u2013 is to promote and carry out basic and applied activities in this field. Those activities embrace every plant health aspect, from the point of view of causal agents (pathogens and mycotoxigenic fungi, phytophages, weeds, abiotic stress), of plants (growth and development models, damage and response mechanisms to harmful organisms) and of mitigation\/protection means (fungicides models, biocontrol agents).<\/p>\n\n

The state of the art and the research perspectives were addressed during the \u201cModelling and plant health: research and application\u201d conference, sponsored by the scientific societies and Agritech. A confrontation between the model users (experts in technical assistance, companies offering Agriculture 4.0 services and technical means) took place, regarding the modelling needs and perspectives.<\/p>\n\n

Among others, Matteo Lorito<\/strong>, director of Agritech<\/strong> and rector of Universit\u00e0 Federico II of Naples, was one of the meeting guests. \u00abAgritech \u2013 explains Lorito \u2013 is a great challenge and a big dream, a national center thanks to which Italy combines the best it has in across-the-country laboratories to integrate the latest technologies. If today an entrepreneur wants to implement a new technology or innovative product, he may contact Agritech rather than the individual research institute. Thus, it is a sort of super-hub, which counts around 1500 researchers from Southern to Northern Italy\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

The word farmer as we used to say it, states Lorito, sounds obsolete nowadays. Today\u2019s farmers can indeed use tools like sensors and robots, or the elaborate models from centers like Phem from Cattolica, which help to make decisions. \u00abThese last ones \u2013 says again the Agritech<\/a> director \u2013 affect all of us not only in terms of production, of quality and of costs, but also in terms of environmental protection and small to medium-scale company development\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

\u00abToday \u2013 concludes Lorito \u2013 we face two great challenges: digital and ecological transition. The agri-food sector brings them together, and that is why we talk about eco-digital transition. In agriculture, it has already begun. One entrepreneur with quality production in Sicily must know that one researcher in Trento could have the useful data or irrigation management solution to him. This is Agritech\u00bb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phem Research Center on Plant Health Modelling of the Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore was launched through a conference reuniting both national and international scholars, held in Sala Piana at the University Campus of Piacenza. Since nowadays mathematical models are a crucial part of Decision Support Systems (DSS) in Agriculture 4.0, there is the necessity of providing continuity to scientific research on plant health modelling, providing linkage on methodological, developmental and applicational knowledge between researchers and final users, while also providing educational activities to field professionals. That is why Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore decided to establish an appropriate research center. Professor Paola Battilani, director of the Phem research center, associated to the Department of Sustainable Plant Productions (Diproves) of the University Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, states that the most interesting aspects are both plant health and modelling. \u00abAs plant pathologists \u2013 she says \u2013 we work on their diseases, but we focus more willingly on their health. Now, there is more attention to the agronomical part, the plant growth in particular, but later on we will also extend our interest in the soil\u00bb. The modelling approach seeks to predict plant behavior, which is one fundamental inquiry in the climate change era. \u00abThe goal is to create mathematical models to understand what will happen to the plant, to its yield and quality\u00bb explains the professor, highlighting how the aim of Phem is to \u00abbuild models that can operate in any environment\u00bb. \u00abIf the model integrates well the plant physiology and the pathogen behavior more than other microorganisms in the environment \u2013 says Battilani \u2013 we can apply it everywhere\u00bb. The aim of the center is to establish a network. \u00abIt must be taken into account that we can already count on a good network \u2013 she goes on \u2013 both in Italy, where we are the only faculty working on modelling, and both at an international level where we are among the few working on it anyway\u00bb. \u00abIn this way \u2013 she states again \u2013 our faculty dedicates itself to mycotoxin, toxic substances produced by fungi, modelling: mechanistic modelling, or modelling that explains better the fungus behavior, is our prerogative. No one else does it globally\u00bb. The main purpose of the Center \u2013 which relies on a Board of Directors and a Scientific Committee \u2013 is to promote and carry out basic and applied activities in this field. Those activities embrace every plant health aspect, from the point of view of causal agents (pathogens and mycotoxigenic fungi, phytophages, weeds, abiotic stress), of plants (growth and development models, damage and response mechanisms to harmful organisms) and of mitigation\/protection means (fungicides models, biocontrol agents). The state of the art and the research perspectives were addressed during the \u201cModelling and plant health: research and application\u201d conference, sponsored by the scientific societies and Agritech. A confrontation between the model users (experts in technical assistance, companies offering Agriculture 4.0 services and technical means) took place, regarding the modelling needs and perspectives. Among others, Matteo Lorito, director of Agritech and rector of Universit\u00e0 Federico II of Naples, was one of the meeting guests. \u00abAgritech \u2013 explains Lorito \u2013 is a great challenge and a big dream, a national center thanks to which Italy combines the best it has in across-the-country laboratories to integrate the latest technologies. If today an entrepreneur wants to implement a new technology or innovative product, he may contact Agritech rather than the individual research institute. Thus, it is a sort of super-hub, which counts around 1500 researchers from Southern to Northern Italy\u00bb. The word farmer as we used to say it, states Lorito, sounds obsolete nowadays. Today\u2019s farmers can indeed use tools like sensors and robots, or the elaborate models from centers like Phem from Cattolica, which help to make decisions. \u00abThese last ones \u2013 says again the Agritech director \u2013 affect all of us not only in terms of production, of quality and of costs, but also in terms of environmental protection and small to medium-scale company development\u00bb. \u00abToday \u2013 concludes Lorito \u2013 we face two great challenges: digital and ecological transition. The agri-food sector brings them together, and that is why we talk about eco-digital transition. In agriculture, it has already begun. One entrepreneur with quality production in Sicily must know that one researcher in Trento could have the useful data or irrigation management solution to him. This is Agritech\u00bb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[31,32,34],"class_list":["post-4635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-innovazione-en","tag-modelli-previsionali-en","tag-ricerca-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4815,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4635\/revisions\/4815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planthealthmodelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}