Piccirillo, Alessandra

Alessandra Piccirillo

University of Padua
Italy
Working Groups: WG1, WG2, WG3, WG4
Scientific Expertise: No
Contribution: Based on my involvement in the NETPOULSAFE and ENOVAT projects, I would like to apply for all the 4 working groups of the COST Action CA20103 and as member of the Management Committee. By participating in this position, my primary goal is to explore new strategies and to expand further my scientific knowledge, as well as to offer my skills and expertise for the progression of the aims of this COST Action. Through my experience, I managed to develop a consolidated scientific thought and strong communication skills and I hope that I will contribute to COST Actionís work in a fruitful and successful way. I would argue that my scientific background make me eligible for this position. I strongly believe that my participation at this COST Action will mutually benefit my career and the COST Actionís objectives.
Motivation: I am associate professor at the Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, Italy. My research and teaching interests are focused on food safety and public health (mainly Campylobacter spp. and antimicrobial resistance), related to poultry and other animal species and contexts, e.g. the environment. Thanks to the EU-funded project NETPOULSAFE, I have started working on biosecurity measures implemented in the poultry industry, as well as on the selection and validation of supporting measures to improve biosecurity compliance. Furthermore, since 2019 I am strongly involved in the ìENOVAT - European Network for Optimization of Veterinary Antimicrobial Treatment funded by the European Unionî project (COST Action CA18217) as member of the Management Committee, member of the WG4 Core Group, and chair of the Drafting Group ìVeterinary guidelines on antimicrobial use in poultry colibacillosisî, as well as mentor of two ECIs.
Scientific Background: Since 2020, I am Local Project Coordinator and Network Facilitator of the ìNETPOULSAFE - Networking European poultry actors for enhancing the compliance of biosecurity measures for a sustainable productionî funded by the European Union (H2020-RUR-15-2018-2019-2020) aiming to create a thematic network to stimulate knowledge exchange on supporting measures to improve biosecurity compliance in poultry farming. I am working on creating a self-sustainable network of National poultry AKIS; analyzing the effective implementation of biosecurity practices in the different European production systems at local scale to identify relevant, tailored and viable knowledge and best practices; analyzing and selecting the most effective supporting measures for ensuring biosecurity compliance, adapted to each National poultry AKIS; validating a set of key supporting measures on pilot farms to provide evidence of their impact; widely and efficiently disseminating tailored best practices to all stakeholders (including policy makers) for ensuring biosecurity practices acceptance, ownership and compliance.