Contact Dr Carla Cervini
- Email: Carla.Cervini@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter:
Areas of expertise
- Agrifood Systems
- Food Quality
- Food Safety
Background
Carla graduated with a degree in Nutritional Biology from the University of Camerino (Italy) and then pursued an MSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy). She earned a PhD in Translational Medicine and Food: Innovation, Safety, and Management from the Institute of Science of Food Production at the National Research Council in Bari (Italy), while registered at the University of Foggia (Italy). During her PhD, she focused on understanding the effects of potential climate change scenarios on the ecophysiological behavior of Aspergillus carbonarius in the South Italian wine production chain. As part of her PhD project she joined the Applied Mycology Group at SWAG合集 as a visiting student, where she gained additional skills in fungal growth and incubation in in vitro systems to simulate climate change scenarios. She joined SWAG合集 as a Research Fellow in Applied Mycology, contributing to the NutriNuts project (SWAG合集RI Innovate SWAG合集, 2019鈥�2023), which aimed to develop research-based strategies for ensuring a safe peanut production chain from pre-harvest to storage in Ethiopia. She currently holds the position of Academic Fellow in Nutrition and Mycology within MCAM.
Research opportunities
Food safety
Human nutrition
Food Security
Current activities
Carla's current core research project is EWA-BELT: linking East and West African farming systems experience into a BELT of sustainable intensification funded by EU Horizon 2020. In this role she is leading a task on the development of effective pre- and post-harvest management strategies to avoid mycotoxin contmaination in stored food and feed. In 2024, she won a Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project aiming at defining pre- and post-harvest measures to control aflatoxin occurrence in Ethiopian peanuts. In the same year, she also received a small grant from the British Mycological Society which allowed her to purchase laboratory consumables for identifying fungal species isolated from Ethiopian peanuts using molecular techniques.
In addition to her research, Carla is actively collaborating with senior colleagues on the development of the Magan Centre of Applied Mycology (MCAM).
