Ricardo Santos and Sílvia Monteiro, researchers at LAIST were recently re-elected to the board of the International Society for Food and Environmental Virology (ISFEV), to the positions of president and secretary of ISFEV, respectively.

According to Sílvia Monteiro, this re-election is the recognition of the work carried out in the previous mandate. Besides being members of the board, the two researchers were involved in the creation of ISFEV. “I was member of a COST [European Cooperation in Science & Technology] action on food and environmental virology. At the end of this action we proposed the creation of a Society within this scope to give continuity to the actions and to fill the virology gap”. Our suggestion was accepted and in 2011 we created ISFEV in Lisbon.

The two researchers work on everything relating to ISFEV strategic decisions. The main goal for this mandate is to increase the visibility of ISFEV and the promotion of food and environmental virology in the scientific community and in society.

“The biennial congress will take place in Santiago de Compostela, in September 2020, and we intend to organise workshops and information sessions,” says Ricardo Santos. “We also intend to organise a training school for young researchers because it is very important for the development of the scientific community”, he adds.