[trx_title type=”2″ style=”none” align=”left” bottom=”10″]Joana Santos[/trx_title]

Associate Professor – Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC)

Joana Santos is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC), Portugal, and Quality Management Coordinator of the Microbiology Applied Unit (UMA) at the School of Technology and Management (ESTG-IPVC). She has been lecturing Food Engineering undergraduates as well as graduate students in the field of food microbiology and food authenticity for over twenty years.

Authenticity of food products has been one of Joana’s main areas of interest since she started preparing for her PhD. Her doctoral thesis, which was submitted to the University of Nottingham in the UK in 2006, is entitled “Molecular Methods for authentication of Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) cheeses”. She has carried out several research and consulting activities, such as planning, coordination and development of research and consulting activities for local authorities, consortium and businesses.

More recently, she has been involved in the Qualification & Valorisation of “Minho Gastronomy” Project, which aims to value the potential of developing a base of activities associated with the agri-food sector and gastronomy, namely, through qualification, innovation and training in key areas of the main territorial resources. She is responsible for the “Conception of the Gastronomic Charter of Minho” and for the “Training and dissemination program for the valorisation and qualification of Minho gastronomy and local products with local producers, operators (retail, agri-food, restaurants and hotels).”