TechCare Partner Team: ELLINIKOS GEORGIKOS ORGANISMOS – DIMITRA (Leader WP1)

ELLINIKOS GEORGIKOS ORGANISMOS – DIMITRA (ELGO-DIMITRA) is a legal entity of the public sector, functioning under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food, focusing on agricultural research, vocational training for farmers and agricultural products quality certification. Three research units of ELGO-DIMITRA are participating in TechCare project as following:

1. The VETERINARY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (VRI), established in 1997, aims to improvement of livestock production (health and welfare, productivity, farm management), sustainable development, identification and conservation of local animal genetic resources, protection of public health, disease prevention in farm animals. It also has significant expertise on knowledge transfer and has a close working relationship with the farming industry. VRI is one of the consortium partners of the European Reference Center for the Welfare of Ruminants and Equine.

   

   Dr Evangelia N. Sossidou is a veterinarian, research director at VRI. She is the scientific coordinator of TechCare for ELGO-DIMITRA and WP1 Leader. Dr Sossidou is Independent Expert of the European Platform for Animal Welfare, Management Team member of the European Reference Center for the Welfare of Ruminants and Equine, Specialist of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine, member of the National Committee for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, Vice-Chair of of EAAP ‘Animal Health and Welfare Committee’ and Permanent Member of the Expert Group for technical advice on organic production (EGTOP). She coordinated and/or was partner in several projects funded by EU (Cost Actions, Leonardo da Vinci, FP6, FP7, INTERREG, ERANET, ERASMUS+, DG SANTE, etc.) and/or other international/national resources. Dr Christina Ligda (Animal Scientist), Dr Foteini Samartzi (Veterinarian), Dr Anna Dedousi (Veterinarian), and Dr Konstantinos Rekkas (Veterinarian) are Research Scientists, also based at VRI, with significant expertise on animal breeding and genetics, domestic animal reproduction, conservation and management of small populations and valorization of farm animal genetic resources.

1. The Agriculture Economics Research Institute (AGRERI) is the major Greek research institute that focuses on economic, managerial, and social issues in the agri-food sector. Dr Irene Tzouramani and Dr Alexandra Sintori are Agro-economists and Research Scientists at AGRERI with contributions in tasks related to market business models development (WG6).
2. The Research Institute of Animal Science (RIAS) is cited in a farm in Paralimni-Giannitsa and supports research in the area of livestock production science. Dr Maria Karatzia and Dr Dimitris Tsiokos are Animal Scientists and Young Researchers based at the RIAS with contributions in the definition of animal welfare priorities (WP2), in large-scale studies in Greece (WP5) and in dissemination activities (WP7). Dimitris also acts as substitute National Facilitator for TechCare Workshops.