Building a European infrastructure for pig research

Pig research in Europe is currently fragmented. Although research infrastructures can play a vital role in meeting the European Green Deal goals and supporting its Farm to Fork strategy, they are not always accessible to researchers. Also, little is being done to organise the collective efforts of these infrastructures.

Enter the EU-funded PIGWEB project that has launched a coordinated effort to build a European infrastructure for pig research. Through its transnational access (TNA) programme, PIGWEB is ensuring academic and private external researchers free access to Europe’s top-notch pig research facilities and helping to strengthen the pig research community.

Researchers are given access to different pig breeds and lines, as well as to feed mills, barns, calorimeters, metabolic cages, abattoirs, scanners, recording systems and laboratories across 28 experimental research installations. The aim is to tackle industry issues concerning animal welfare, environmental impact, resource utilisation, and production and product quality.

The project has planned three calls for TNA research proposals, the first of which was launched in September 2021. Of the 20 proposals submitted in the first call, seven passed the two-stage selection process. A total of 10 TNA installations will be used for these projects, most of which will use one installation, with two projects combining the expertise of two or three installations.

The TNA users from the first call – three men and four women – are from Belgium, France, Serbia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Three of the seven work in a private company, another three at a university and one at a research institute.

“In general, selected TNA projects focus on pig emotion and welfare, milk production and piglet survival, medium chain fatty acids, amino acid requirements for piglets, crude protein levels in sow diets, former food products and castration,” reports the press release posted on ‘pig333.com’. The projects will run from July 2022 to December 2023. According to the press release, TNA users are expected to valorise their results as soon as possible, pending intellectual property protection.The second call for TNA was launched on 1 September 2022. Interested parties will have to go through a two-stage application process. The deadline for first-stage applications is 1 December 2022. Following the announcement of the first-stage selection outcome on 22 December, successful applicants will have until 31 March 2023 to submit their second-stage application. The outcome will be announced 2 months later, on 26 May. A procedural manual and an online submission and selection tool are provided to assist TNA applicants.

The third call for TNA proposals will be launched in September 2023. PIGWEB (An infrastructure for experimental research for sustainable pig production) ends in February 2026.

For more information, please see:

PIGWEB project website