The Institute of Animal Science and Technology (ICTA) of the Universitat Politècnica de València is the main research centre devoted to the science and technology of animal production in the Valencia region.
Who we are
Our mission
Our aim is to improve the productivity, sustainability and quality of animal production in the Valencian Community, and by extension, also at national and international level.
Fundamental research of excellence and knowledge transfer to the livestock sector
Collaboration among our colleagues and with external researchers
Excellent education
Public and social commitment
Executive team
Full Professor at the University, his research focuses on animal nutrition, with main research lines including the adaptation of feeding to animal genetics, nutritional evaluation of raw materials and feeds, and precision nutrition. He has been the principal investigator in 23 national research projects and is currently coordinator of a European Pathfinder EIC project. He has published over 100 articles in high-impact scientific journals and contributed to more than 150 conference communications. He has supervised 14 PhD theses. He has been Editor-in-Chief of World Rabbit Science since 2005, indexed in WOS, and Associate Editor in two other journals in his field. He has served as President of both the Spanish Association of Cuniculture (2020–2024) and the World Rabbit Science Association (2021–2024), and was Head of the Department of Animal Science (2017–2021). Since 2024, he has been an EFSA expert for the risk assessment of feed additives. He was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad San Antonio Abad del Cuzco (Peru) in 2015 for his contribution to rural development in Latin America, and is an expert in Animal Nutrition at the Union of Spanish Entities for Animal Science since 2024.
Full Professor at the University, her research focuses on the field of aquaculture, with her main lines of investigation being the study of digestive physiology and intestinal health in aquatic organisms, along with the production of aquatic organisms in sustainable systems. She has participated in 41 research projects funded through public calls and contracts with companies or administrations from 2002 to the present, having been principal investigator in 8 of them and currently in 2. She has published over 85 articles in high-impact scientific journals and has contributed to more than 165 conference communications. Since 2003, she has supervised 116 Master’s theses and Bachelor’s final projects, as well as 13 PhD theses. In 2023, she received the award for Excellence in Teaching. She served as Head of the Department of Animal Science from 2022 to 2025 and is currently Secretary of the Appeals Committee for Evaluation at ETSIAMN, since 2020. She is Editor at PLOS One; was a member of the ANECA C-9 committee, Academia program (2016–2022); and a member of the Science Commission of the Andalusian Knowledge Agency (DEVA) (2016–2022).
Associate Professor at the University, her research focuses on precision nutrition in monogastric animals, combining the use of advanced technologies to monitor feeding behavior and animal health. Previously, she developed her scientific career in the field of environmental technology applied to animal production systems. She has been the principal investigator in 4 projects and participated as a researcher in 16 others. She has published 73 articles in scientific journals and contributed to more than 67 national and international conference communications. She has supervised 4 PhD theses. She has received awards such as the Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award (2011) and the ASABE Superior Paper Award twice (2010 and 2012), granted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. In 2012, she was a prominent member of the review committee of that society. Between 2015 and 2023, she coordinated the ANTS (Animal Nutrition and Technology Service) at UPV, promoting technology transfer with companies in the sector. Since 2023, she has been an EFSA expert for the risk assessment of feed additives. She is currently a member of the European Association of Precision Livestock Farming (EA-PLF) and the European Group on Rabbit Nutrition (EGRAN). Since 2024, she has coordinated the Network for Precision Livestock Farming and Animal Digitalization (REDIGA), RED2024-153874-T, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.