Plenary Session speakers
Alejandro Fuentes Espinoza
Head of Unit “Economy and Law” at International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV)
Agricultural engineer and with a PhD in economics, Mr. Fuentes Espinoza has worked for more than 20 years in the private sector and research in the agri-food sector, with a specialization in the vine and wine sector. His work at the international level has focused on the development, implementation and coordination of projects, mainly on the issues of environment, climate change, sustainability and resilience, food security and consumer behavior.
In 2018, he joined the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) as Head of the Viticulture Unit and today he holds the position of Head of the Economics and Law Unit. Within the OIV he is in charge of aspects of sustainability, regulations and economic issues of the sector. Since 2020, he has also been appointed as a member of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the international initiative "4 per 1000" on sustainable soil management.
Presentation title :
The OIV and the vitivinicultural sector: New challenges in production and trade in the face of new global issues.
And
Panagiotis Kalaitzis
Head of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology Laboratory at Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania
Panagiotis Kalaitzis holds a PhD from University of Maryland - College Park, USA and the interdisciplinary programme on Molecular & Cell Biology and is currently Studies & Research Coordinator of the Horticultural Genetics & Biotechnology Department at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICH) in Crete, Greece and director of the Laboratory of Molecular biology & biotechnology. MAICH is one of the constituent Institutes of the International Organization CIHEAM (International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies), an Intergovernmental Organization. The research interests focus on the characterization of the physiological significance of genes involved in the biosynthesis of cell wall glycoproteins such prolyl 4 hydroxylases and Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) and particularly on developmental programmes such as fruit ripening, abscission and abiotic stresses such as salinity and waterlogging in olive. He authored and co-authored more than 65 publications and coordinated or participated in more than 35 European and National research and development programs. Moreover, his group has extensive experience on olive oil authentication using DNA-based approaches and plant phenomics using image analysis algorithms in olive, tomato and recently on grape seeds. His laboratory trained more than 140 Master of Science students the last 24 years while more than 50 of them continued for PhD studies and currently work in plant sciences and other fields in various European countries and America. Greek wines and wine tasting might be considered an additional activity.
Panos Kalaitzis will present the greek wines challenges from different point of view (economic, agricultural, cultural, historical,etc.)