Kick-off of the SheepHeatIT – Harnessing Information Technologies for Heat Resilient Sheep Breeding project

The kick-off for the SheepHeatIT – Harnessing Information Technologies for Heat Resilient Sheep Breeding project (Horizon Europe) took place on 29 June in Athens, Greece, bringing together all the consortium partners and marking the official start of activities.

The project comprises 16 partners from 8 countries, with the aim of increasing the heat resilience of more than 20 sheep breeds from various regions. MED is represented in this project by researchers Ana Geraldo, Alfredo Pereira, Cristina Conceição, Flávio Silva and Emanuel Carreira, alongside Paulo Infante (CIMA – Centre for Mathematics and Applications, Department of Mathematics).

The SheepHeatIT project aims to address the challenges that climate change poses to sheep production, deepening our understanding of sheep’s adaptation to heat stress through the integration of physiological and behavioural responses, genetics, genomics, digital technologies and multi-omic science. The main objective is to develop and make available tools that enable the identification and selection of animals with greater phenotypic plasticity in the face of extreme weather events, thereby contributing to more resilient and sustainable production systems.

Key expected outcomes include the development of a genomic selection index for heat resistance, the creation of a Herd Heat Resistance Score to support decision-making, and the provision of a digital platform for storing, sharing and analysing data, thereby promoting the adoption of innovative solutions by the sector and strengthening the sheep farming sector’s ability to adapt to future climatic conditions.