After many years of research career in Tunisia and overseas (Italy, Spain, Belgium and Canada), Nejib obtained his PhD in 2014 from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (Tunisia). Then he got a permanent position as Assistant-Professor (since September 2015) at the Higher Institute of Applied of Biology of Medenine, in the southern part of Tunisia. He is responsible of 2 courses for graduate students: “Safety and quality of foods” and “Legislation of organic agriculture” and 1 course for undergraduate students: “Molecular biology”.

Originally, he is plant molecular geneticist, but, since 2011, he shifted to valorization of fruit resources and their by-products with particular focus on functional food (extraction of bioactives, formulation of enriched food, sensory analysis).

During his career, he participated to many projects dealing with molecular diversity of pomegranate and grapevine as well as with valorization of pomegranate peel. In parallel, he performed many intra- and extra-mural tasks, mainly as expert at national level.

At UCD, within the team of Dr. Zhongli Pan, his work plan is to carry out research on two topics: the first is to study the “crop infestation during storage” and the second is on “fruit drying techniques”.

His stay and research activity at UCD is crucial for his promotion. But, through this stay as Fulbright scholar at UCD, a worldwide recognized and highly ranked university, he aims to have an international career as expert in valorization of agro-resources as well as in safety and quality in food sector.

Moreover, his wish is to build a long-term relationship with Dr. Pan team as well as any of interested staff at the UCD. Also, he looks forward to learning about management and quality policy at UCD, so that I can transfer some ideas to his home institution.