Margherita Caccamo

EDUCATION

- December 2012. She obtained a PhD in Animal Science from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, with a thesis titled "Management parameters from the random regressions testday model to advic farmers on cow nutrition".

- July 2002. She obtained a degree in Computer Science with a score of 110/110 from the Faculty of Science, Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Catania, with a thesis on "Cow Body Condition Score and Fuzzy Logic".

CURRENT POSITION

- 2012 to present. Head of the Research and Development Area of the Consortium for Research in the Dairy and Agri-food Chain (CoRFiLaC).

- 2005 to present.  Researcher Level I at CoRFiLaC specializing in Herd Management and Statistical Models.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Research Network: Over the years at CoRFiLaC, as a Researcher and Scientific Director, she has established and consolidated scientific collaborations with various national and international research groups:
  • NATIONAL: University of Catania; University of Padua; Agris Sardegna; University of Milan; IULM.
  • INTERNATIONAL: Wageningen University (Netherlands), Pennsylvania University (Pennsylvania, USA), Cornell University (New York, USA), University of Wisconsin Madison (USA), Center of Dairy Research (Wisconsin, USA), INRAE (France), INAT (Tunisia), INATAA (Algeria), Aarhus University (Denmark), Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus), University College Cork (Ireland); Utah State University (USA).
• Research Projects:
  • COMPETITIVE FUNDED PROJECTS:
    • 2023 - today. Principal Investigator of the project "Tradition and Neuroscience: Application of Neuromarketing Techniques for the knowledge of consumer behavior and Communication and Marketing strategies for Traditional Sicilian Dairy Productions (PCTS)" funded by PSR 2014-2022 Mis. 16.1 Regione Sicilia. 
    • 2021 - 2022. Project manager for CoRFilaC of the project “Mediterranean Traditional Dairy and Meat products. Transnational Training Paths for the development of dairy and meat supply chains in traditional livestock sectors. (TDMp_TransMed)”, funded by the POR FSE Sicilia 2014-2020 programme – Axis III “Education and Training”, priority 10i), specific objective 10.2 “Improvement of key skills of students, Action 10.2.3 “Actions for the internationalization of educational systems and mobility”
    • 2019 – 2023. Responsible for CoRFiLaC partner of the project “Technological innovations in dairy cattle breeding: development of the prototype of an automatic system for monitoring the behavior of cows to improve welfare and productive and reproductive performance” (CowTech), funded by POR FESR 2014/2020 – Action 1.1.5
    • 2019 – 2023. Responsible for CoRFiLaC partner of the JESMED project (Programme Italy-Tunisia  2014-2020).
• Scientific Evaluation:
  • SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS:
    • 2024 – today. Review Editor, of the journal "Frontiers in Animal Science" – section "Product Quality"
    • 2014 – today. She regularly serves as referee for the following international scientific journals: International Journal of Animal Science, International Dairy Journal, Animal, Journal of Dairy Science, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Small Ruminants Research, Livestock Science, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Frontiers in Nutrition, Food Bioscience, Foods.
• TEACHING ACTIVITY:
  • a.a. 2024/2025. Contract lecturer of the course "Computer Science for the digitalization of agricultural production processes" at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Catania (course in Management of Mediterranean agricultural production systems).
• PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESSES:
  • 2024. Keynote speaker at the "CISA" congress held in Constantine (Algeria) with a speech entitled "Neuroscience techniques to support traditional dairy productions enhancement"
  • 2022. Invited speaker at the FAO-CIHEAM seminar held in Catania with a speech entitled “Scientific and technological transfer as the bridge from research to stakeholders”.
  • 2005 - today. She presents oral communications at the ADSA, SISS and EAAP conferences.
• LANGUAGE SKILLS:
  • English: Excellent oral communication and writing skills
  • French: Good oral communication and writing skills