Contact Dr Carla Cervini
- Email: Carla.Cervini@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter:
Areas of expertise
- Agrifood Systems
- 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). In March 2020, she earned her 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. In 2018, she joined the Applied Mycology Group at as a visiting PhD student, where she gained additional skills in fungal growth and incubation in in vitro systems to simulate climate change scenarios. In 2020, she became a Research Fellow in the Applied Mycology Group, and in 2024, she was appointed Academic Fellow in Food Mycology.
Research opportunities
Food safety
Nutrition
Current activities
Carla's current core 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 task 3.4 "Developing 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 (£13K) 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 (£400) from the British Mycological Society which allowed her to purchase laboratory consumables.
Carla is contributing to the development of the short-courses as part of the Mycotoxin Training Hub and collaborating with senior colleagues on the creation of the Magan Centre of Applied Mycology (MCAM).