- Date: 11th May 2022, Wednesday
- Time: 2 p.m.
- Venue: Informatics III building, ground floor, FA3 amphiteatre.
• Speaker: Ricardo Teixeira (invited assistant professor, IST/DEM; MARETEC)
• Title: “Climate, cows and (A)I: How data science and engineering can help animal production”.
• Abstract:
There is vast consensus that global ruminant farming (cows, sheep and goats) puts pressure on ecosystems and drives environmental degradation. Ruminant products, in particular meat, must then be minimized in diets to make food systems sustainable and resilient. Cows, for example, are well known as one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. But we also know that in some pasture-based systems ruminants can be stewards of ecosystems, optimize nutrient flows, increase circularity and carbon sequestration. So, do we know which production systems should be disincentivized and where? Identifying the best and worst systems and improving them to ensure maximum environmental returns is a difficult task. It requires monitoring and operationally controlling vast areas of grazing land.
This seminar will show how data science and engineering has been advancing our ability to assess the environmental effects of animal production and how it can help transform the sector. Based on MARETEC’s own research (Research Centre of Técnico for Marine, Environment and Technology), it will include applications of global modelling, remote sensing and machine learning for impact assessment of animal production, pasture identification and monitoring, and pasture improvement.
• Short bio:
Ricardo is an assistant researcher and invited assistant professor at IST. He has an MSc degree in Economics and a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Lisbon (ULisboa). His main domain of specialization is data science applied to sustainability, namely to perform impact assessment modelling of land use. He is experienced with process-based modelling, remote sensing, machine learning and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). He has focused mostly on sustainable food products and agriculture, particularly pasture-based livestock production. He has academic and consulting experience in the agri-food business. He is currently principal investigator of projects “LEANMeat – Lifecycle-based Environmental Assessment and impact reduction of Meat production with a novel multi-level tool” (PTDC/EAM-AMB/30809/2017) and “GrassData – Development of algorithms for identification, monitoring, compliance checks and quantification of carbon sequestration in pastures” (DSAIPA/DS/0074/2019) financed by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia). He was a member in UNEP/SETAC working groups on impact assessment in LCA, a EU focus group on “grazing for carbon”, and is Técnico’s representative in the ULisboa’s F3 (Food, Farming and Forestry) college steering committee.
The “Seminars @ DEM” is a seminar series promoted by the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM).
