Diana Marques and Hélder Tavares, students at Técnico, founded ‘The University of Lisbon Alt Protein Project’, an initiative organised by The Good Food Institute. The project aims to raise awareness about alternative proteins like fish and farmed meat. It involves 70 universities in 20 countries, including Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford.

“We aim to promote training, knowledge, and opportunities in the field of alternative proteins to the Universidade de Lisboa community,” explains Diana Marques. She is also part of the Técnico team that has been producing the world’s first lab-grown sea bass fillets. According to the PhD student in Bioengineering, both founders of this project have the personal goal of “ensuring a more sustainable food future,” which “reflected the academic choices” of both students.

The Alt Protein Project’s goal is to engage all students, researchers, and professors at Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa). To achieve this, monthly seminars called “Taste the Future” will be held, featuring professionals in the field. Additionally, there will be an annual competition in collaboration with the Portuguese Association for the Development of Cell Agriculture, CellAgri Portugal (chaired by Joaquim Sampaio Cabral, emeritus professor at Técnico). Workshops, lab and company visits, and an annual symposium on alternative proteins are also planned for the near future.

According to Diana, the initiative is intended for anyone ‘interested in learning more about alternative proteins, including cultured meat, food produced through fermentation processes, and the latest advances in plant-based proteins’.

The Alt Protein Project has secured funding for 60 projects and $355,000 in research grants worldwide. Apart from organising symposia, conferences, and university programmes, it also focuses on partnering with companies to establish internships and job opportunities for higher education students.