FIRST FEDERICIAN EURO-MEDITERRANEAN DAYS

FOOD AND HEALTH_WORKSHOP

17 October, 2025

Piazzale Tecchio, Massimilla Hall, Department of Engineering, Naples

On October 17, as part of the First Frederician Euro-Mediterranean Days, a workshop will explore the connections between environmental quality, nutrition, and human health.

On October 17, 2025, as part of the First Frederician Euro-Mediterranean Days, the Aula Massimilla at Federico II University will host the workshop "From Soil and Water to Health: Interdisciplinary Insights into Food Quality, Environment, and Human Wellbeing," an event dedicated to the connections between environment, nutrition, and health.

The initiative, strongly supported by Gilberto Sammartino, General Coordinator of MUNA and promoter of the dialogue between research and scientific diplomacy, is part of the international cooperation program of the Federico II University, aimed at enhancing synergies between universities, institutions, and research centers in the Mediterranean.

The workshop, chaired by Giulia Guerriero, Coordinator of the MUNA Coordinators' Board and Director of the Interdepartmental Research Center for the Environment (C.I.R.AM.), and coordinated by Domenico Pirozzi (C.I.R.AM., UniNa) and Fagr Kh. Abdel-Gawad (National Research Center, NRC, Egypt), will feature the participation of Italian and international experts working on the issues of sustainability, food security, and human well-being.

After institutional greetings from professors and representatives of international organizations—including Antonio Marzocchella (Director of the Department of Chemical, Materials, and Industrial Production Engineering), Gionata De Vico (Director of the Department of Biology), Nasser Mandour (Rector of Suez Canal University, Egypt), Mohammed Banni (Rector's Delegate of El Manar University and Sousse University, Tunisia), Noureddine Guezgouz (MUNA Coordinator, Algeria), Marwan Ghanem (MUNA Coordinator, Palestine), Gilberto Sammartino, Abdelraouf A. Moustafa (IUCN), and Maria Vittoria Cubellis (UniNa)—the workshop will offer an overview of the relationship between environmental matrices and human health, ranging from the impact of contaminants and pharmaceuticals on soil and water to the most advanced technologies for monitoring and reducing their effects.

Anna De Marco and Armando Zarrelli (UniNa) will open the workshop by discussing the fate of pharmaceuticals in environmental matrices, followed by Ahmed Abbas A. Mahmoud (UniNa), who will illustrate the role of geophysics in modern agricultural practices. Maria Rao and Eduardo Pasolli (UniNa) will explore the connection between soil quality, the microbiome, and human health, while Fadila Khaldi (Univ. Mohamed Cherif Messaadia, Algeria) and Fagr Kh. Abdel-Gawad (NRC, Egypt) will present research on animal nutrition, food security, and climate impacts. Giovanna Trinchese and Paola Vitaglione (UniNa) will conclude with presentations on the Mediterranean diet, metabolic flexibility, and functional foods as a key to well-being.

This workshop thus becomes a crossroads of science, culture, and international collaboration, where Federico II University continues to champion a Mediterranean vision founded on research, innovation, and sustainability for the well-being of communities and the environment.