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PIGWEB’s transnational access (TNA) program ensures free access to top-quality European pig research installations. A budget of 1.5 million euros is available to provide external researchers (both academic and private) with easy and transparent access to the partners’ infrastructures. In total, 28 research installations offer TNA to feed mills, barns, different pig breeds and lines, calorimeters, metabolic cages, abattoirs, scanners, recording systems, and laboratories. Three calls for submitting TNA research proposals will be launched during the project (March 2021 - February 2026).
First TNA call
The first call, launched in September 2021, was a great success. All 20 proposals were of high quality and addressed diverse research topics offered through this call, with a strong interest in performance trials. Seven proposals, accounting for 25% of the total TNA budget, finally passed the two-stage selection process. Together, 10 TNA installations will be used to answer the proposed research questions of the selected proposals. Most projects will use only one experimental installation, while two projects will combine the expertise of two or three installations.
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. Two TNA users are from Belgium and two from France. Others come from the UK, Slovenia and Serbia. Three TNA users work in a private company and three at a university. One is employed at a research institute. The gender of the TNA users is nicely balanced, with three men and four women. TNA projects from the first call will run between July 2022 and December 2023. TNA users are expected to valorize their results as soon as feasible (pending intellectual property protection).
Second TNA call
TNA proposals for the second call are welcome from September 1 to December 1, 2022. Detailed information on the application and selection procedures is available in the TNA procedural manual. Join our online TNA helpdesk meeting on October 3 from 14h to 15h to ask all your questions and get suggestions on how to write a successful proposal.
September 29, 2022 - PIGWEB
