Agroindustrial Technologies

Education objectives

The regulatory framework of Structural Funds and European Investment, properly aligned with the Europe 2020 strategy, aims to strengthen research, technological development and innovation, with the perspective of increasing quality indexes and sustainable competitiveness in the agro-industrial system. In this context, this Doctoral Program considers the followed itineraries by associated products, as well as by the agents acting on them (private companies and public operators), together with the set of unit operations involved in their production and technological transformation. Alongside, this Doctoral Program considers the operation of national and supranational regulatory bodies involved in the different stages of the food chain in open markets and also the involved associations in the production and processing of food raw materials.

The Doctoral Program in "Agroindustrial Technologies" is designed for the development of agro-food plus value chains, adapting technological and scientific activities to the production, processing and marketing systems, according to market requirements. Thus, this Doctoral Program, which may be carried out in association with companies belonging to the food sector, aims not only the competences acquisition at scale gains, but also the gains concerning the range, which must pass through qualitative and differentiating transformations of  production and processing and by their respective commercial value to the consumer in terms of health benefits.

The main objective of this PhD is the training of researchers with high qualifications and competences thus capacitating them to develop autonomous research projects in areas of economic and social activity and / or university environment.

The acquired skills by doctoral students are the following ones:

1. Mastering the state of the art of technologies with sustainable application in agro business, including the aspects of the knowledge frontier in order to develop the appropriate professional activity to the production of food raw materials;
2. Analysis of the complexity of agro business systems, demonstrating critical, entrepreneurial and creative ability in the reformulation of food products;
3. Understand the different features of an agro industrial processing system suitable for the design of new food products, as well as the social context in which the system is inserted;
4. Communicate and interact as a team, with intervention in the productive processes of agro food industries looking to optimize processes and being aware of the responsibilities and ethical and professional obligations.