What Is New about the Exposome? Exploring Scientific Change in Contemporary Epidemiology

In this commentary, I discuss the scientific changes brought by the exposome, asking what is new about this approach and line of research. I place the exposome in a historical perspective, by analyzing the conditions under which the exposome has been conceived, developed and established in the context of contemporary epidemiological research. I argue that the exposome has been developed by transferring approaches, methods and conceptualizations from other lines of research in the life and health sciences. I thus discuss the conceptual and methodological innovations of the exposome as a result of the merging and adaptation of these elements for new uses and purposes. On this basis, I argue that the novelty of the exposome should be seen in incremental rather than revolutionary terms and, in this sense, the exposome shares significant elements with other projects and repertoires in postgenomics. I conclude by discussing the consequences of this analysis for the potential limitations and future development of exposome research

Midterm press release

project press release issued after the first year of researc

Analysis of facilities in OFF research in participating countries of CORE Organic

Report lists the following research facilities: research farms, experimental fields, on-farm studies, networks, animal research facilities, leaching fields and long-term experiments. Other facilities like facilities for laboratory analyses, food processing, greenhouses, climate chambers and growth cabinets are left out from this analysis, because they are seldom exclusively used for OFF research and because their use for OFF research does not require particular characteristics. On the other hand, when required, these facilities can easily be converted to OFF research

Analysis of OFF research topics in CORE Organic participating countries

This analysis of OFF research in the participating countries of CORE Organic is based on titles of projects running during the time period 2000-2007, with some variation from country to country. Lists of project titles were taken from country reports

Big Data, epistemology and causality: Knowledge in and knowledge out in EXPOsOMICS

Recently, it has been argued that the use of Big Data transforms the sciences, making data-driven research possible and studying causality redundant. In this paper, I focus on the claim on causal knowledge by examining the Big Data project EXPOsOMICS, whose research is funded by the European Commission and considered capable of improving our understanding of the relation between exposure and disease. While EXPOsOMICS may seem the perfect exemplification of the data-driven view, I show how causal knowledge is necessary for the project, both as a source for handling complexity and as an output for meeting the project’s goals. Consequently, I argue that data-driven claims about causality are fundamentally flawed and causal knowledge should be considered a necessary aspect of Big Data science. In addition, I present the consequences of this result on other data-driven claims, concerning the role of theoretical considerations. I argue that the importance of causal knowledge and other kinds of theoretical engagement in EXPOsOMICS undermine theory-free accounts and suggest alternative ways of framing science based on Big Data

INTERVEG - Enhancing multifunctional benefits of cover crops - vegetables intercropping (Final report, Project Deliverable 1.1b)

The final report of the INTERVEG project provide a detailed description of project activities and a summary of the results achieved by the project between 2011 and 2015. For further detail on scientific results the deliverables of the project and the scientific publications developed within the project framework are available on this database

SOILVEG - Introduzione e gestione di Colture di Servizio Agro-ecologico per migliorare la conservazione del suolo e l’utilizzo delle risorse in sistemi orticoli biologici

Il poster è un prodotto del progetto: Improving soil conservation and resource use in organic cropping systems for vegetable production through introduction and management of Agro-ecological Service Crop

Il ruolo della fertirrigazione in agricoltura biologica.

La fertirrigazione può essere utilizzata nei sistemi agricoli biologici dove,in sinergia con altre strategie di gestione della fertilità del terreno, può contribuire al raggiungimento di soddisfacenti risultati tecnici ed economici. Tuttavia, per garantire i vantaggi agronomici ed ambientali propri delle produzioni organiche, la fertirrigazione non dovrebbe essere utilizzata come unica tecnica di fertilizzazione, semplicemente sostituendo ai concimi di sintesi i fertilizzanti organici consentiti in agricoltura biologica

Ecological Services providing crops (ESCs) in organic vegetable production systems

The presentation introduce the InterVeg project in a more broad activity of the CRA on the ESCs contribution to reduce negative externalities of agriculture