The Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED) is based at the University of Évora, with research poles in Beja and Faro. MED has around 323 researchers in total, which includes 179 PhD researchers, 48 PhD students, and several collaborators and technicians. Currently, it’s the largest national Research & Development unit focused on the sustainability of ecosystems and food systems in the Mediterranean context.
Our MED researchers want to take part of problem-solving approaches to the main societal challenges the Mediterranean regions face, through:
- Improving resource use efficiency and competitive agriculture;
- Improving sustainability of food system while preserving the mediterranean diet;
- Assuring biodiversity conservation and landscape multi-functionality;
- Promoting organizational capability and governance mechanisms;
- Identifying pathways towards resilience and adaptation under known climate change scenarios.
MED carries out research driven by problem-based questions that arise from practice and also, those related to the new reality in the face of climate change.
MED´s Way of Becoming a Donor Founding Member
MED attentively follow the first meeting for the creation of ITD Alliance back in the International Transdisciplinarity Conference 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The integration of MED in ITD Alliance reflects the institute committeemen to increase excellence in research and contribute with solutions to the sustainability of agroecosystems, the environment and the supporting territories of Mediterranean. ITD Alliance allows the necessary exchange between scholars so that inter and transdisciplinary is increasingly assumed with responsibility and excellency. Becoming a Donor Member is simply the best we can to do for the future of ITD Alliance.
MED’s Motivation to Collaborate with ITD Alliance
MED is built on a forward-looking concept of a research unit, where integration of knowledge and systems approach are key. A systemic approach is adopted to the formulation and analysis of the problems. Co-learning and co-construction of knowledge, with a diverse set of stakeholders, is central to the positioning of MED. Our location, embedded in an agricultural region with high nature values and strong dynamics of change, triggers our involvement with practice. Research spans a wide range of scales from the cell to the plot, to landscape and to global networks. MED acknowledges the ITD Alliance’s ability to foster global connections and forge mutually beneficial collaborations with individuals and organizations. As a dedicated organization that facilitates collaborative research across diverse fields, MED eagerly embraces the opportunity to expand its capabilities through the ITD Alliance.
By joining forces in this collaboration, MED aims to:
– enhance the global network of inter and transdisciplinary researchers and foster stronger connections among them;
– promote the generation and sharing of knowledge among researchers, promoting a vibrant exchange;
– emphasize the importance of transdisciplinary research and actively create paths for its growth and advancement.