Her background
I studied for both my bachelor’s and master’s in Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Padua (Italy) [Padova is a small and beautiful city near Venice].
During my master’s, I also had the opportunity to take part in the Erasmus program to take some courses and also to develop my master's thesis. I first went to Portugal, to the School of Agriculture of the University of Lisbon, and there I took courses related to environmental engineering and also learned some Portuguese. Afterwards, I developed my master's thesis about microplastic analysis in snow samples at Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research in Helgoland (Germany) [A beautiful small island in the North Sea].
Key facts
I like speaking different languages, but I end up mixing all of them
I miss my bike and the Po Plain (not used to ups and downs!)
Summary of her thesis
My Ph.D. thesis focuses on “Recycled materials for urban gardens” and thus I work with urban rooftop gardens which employ alternative cultivation substrates made of waste recovered locally (such as spent coffee grounds, algae, coffee silverskin, and urban green waste). In addition to applying the concepts of circular economy to urban gardens by repurposing waste, my project mainly aims to evaluate the presence and the fate of pollutants (microplastics and heavy metals) inside the system and, thus, what is the final edible product that arrives to consumers. This is to be considered in the context of a growing worldwide interest in urban rooftop gardens and food self-production in cities.
My thesis will be developed between Spain and France: for the first part of my project, I will be in Madrid at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, where there is an ongoing urban rooftop garden project (“Madreeneroof” madreenroof.csic.es ), while for the second part, I will be in Nantes at Laboratoire Eau et Environment of University Gustave Eiffel, where a new urban garden will be built and studied.
What’s next?
Experiments, planning, experiments, data!?
If you have any questions, curiosity or if you just found the perfect paper to send me, or have any suggestions about places to visit or food to try, please don’t hesitate and contact me at medina.veliu@univ-eiffel.fr!