Paolo La Spada

Research experience

2021-2024 PhD Course, XXXVII Cycle in Agricultural Food and Environmental Science, University of Catania. Research project: “Pre-harvest operations to improve quality of Mediterranean fruit production”.

02/2021 - 10/2021 – Research grant related to the DOPCILIETNA project “Innovazioni varietali e portinnesti idonei per il contesto cerasicolo etneo e adozione di irrigazione controllata su ciliegio”, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A) University of Catania – Supervisor: Prof. Alberto Continella

Research activities:

• Evaluation of new dwarfing rootstocks for the Etnean cherry tree context
• Evaluation of new cultivars adaptable to the Etnean cherry tree context
• Qualitative characterization of the fruits of the Mastrantonio variety
• Evaluation of new materials to increase the shelf-life of the product

05/2020 – 09/2020 –Research grant related to the H2OLIVO project ”Valutazione morfologica di piante di ulivo sottoposte a diversi regimi idrici” Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A) University of Catania  – Supervisor: Prof Alberto Continella

Research activities:

• Morphological evaluation of different olive cultivars subjected to different irrigation volumes, with different irrigation methods (P.R.D., R.D.I., Irrigation with wastewater).
• Eco-physiological field analysis (evaluation of the water status of the plant, stomatal conductance, photosystem analysis PS I and PS II, calculation of the chlorophyll content).

Education

2018 Qualified as professional agronomist

2018 Qualified as a phytosanitary consultant (O.M.P. Acireale)

2017 Training internship at Tomatrio (Salon de Provence, France) where I gained various experiences related to the management of growing operations, production and quality controls in high-tech greenhouses.

2017 Training course on optical microscopy, stereoscopy and inherent image detection of main pathogenic fungi of horticultural crops held by Dr Minuto – CeRSAA Albenga (SV).

2016 Basic course on Led management in protected environment– held by professor Ep Heuvelink and professor Cecilia Stanghellini - University of Wageningen

2013-2015 Master’s degree in Agricultural Science and Technology (LM 69) with an experimental thesis “Comparative analysis between durum wheat and wheat under different crop regime” tutor: Maria Grazia Lombardo University of Catania Final mark: 110/110 cum laude

2008-2013 Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Science and Technology (L25). University of Catania

2012 Training internship at C.R.E.A – Cereal and Industrial Crops:

• Biomorphometric surveys in the field on different varieties of wheat and also on other winter cereals.
• Qualitative analysis of the grain (hectolitre weight, % proteins, humidity, thousand seeds weight, % of seeds with defects such as whitish or shrivelled seeds).

2008 –Linguistic High School Graduation Liceo Linguistico Europeo “Maria Ausiliatrice” - Caltagirone

Work experience

2016-2018 – Agronomist at SIS Spa / Dorilli srl

During the period of work done at SIS Spa/Dorilli, I was in charge of the logistics management on the national territory of ADR goods (Dangerous goods), I also worked as import/export operator between USA / ITALY and between SRI LANKA and ITALY.

I had the role of technical manager assistant dealing with:

• monitoring and reporting of pests and diseases detected on the crop
• receipt of orders from customers and elaboration of processing plan
• processing of commercial files on a weekly basis
• quality control based on customer specifications
• management of perishable goods logistics (England, Holland, Austria)