Wednesday, 20th July, 2022
The University Institute for Research in Olive Grove and Olive Oil (INUO) of the University of Jaén (UJA) has held its first Council meeting with the attendance of a large number of INUO researchers. This Council represents the collegiat body of governance and management of the Institute.
The event was attended by the Rector of the University of Jaén, Juan Gómez Ortega, who pointed out that the aim of the INUO is to become “an international benchmark for quality knowledge in the sector”. For his part, the Director of the Institute, the Professor Juan Bautista Barroso, accompanied by the SubDirector (Francisco José Torres Ruíz) and the Secretary (Pablo Cano Marchal), explained the mains traits of the INUO: its functions, structure, composition, competences, scientific production, facilities and objectives, among others. “We are drawing up the Institute’s Strategic Plan, which will define the research priorities for the next four years tomake INUO an international benchmark in the olive grove and olive oil sector,” said Juan Bautista Barroso.
The INUO is cnceived as a natural evolution of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Olive Grove and Olive Oils, created in 2012 by the University of Jaén, which achieved approval of the status of University Research Institute in July 2021 by the Andalusian Government.
The functions of INUO are: promoting the collaboration, integration and interdisciplinarity of researchers from different fields of knowledge in shared projects; attracting and retaining talent; increasing external resources; promoting the transfer of knowledge, entrepreneurship and the creation of technology-based companies in its area of knowledge; enhancing the development of specialised training activities in the area through the coordination of doctoral programmes, postgraduate studies and courses; and fostering scientific dissemination to society and social and economic agents related to the olive grove sector. In short, the INUO pursues the consolidation of excellence in olive grove and olive oil research with international projection.
At present, INUO is constituted of 91 researchers from the University of Jaén who form part of 17 different research groups. All of them structure a total of 8 Research Units. The headquarters are located mainly at Las Lagunillas Campus, but also at the Geolit Science and Technology Park in Mengíbar (Jaén).
