Project description
Women and plant virology in Portugal
The history of virus research has largely overlooked scientific work in peripheral contexts and applied fields such as agriculture. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the INTERLEAVING project aims to reverse this trend. It re-centres plant virology in mid-20th-century Portugal under the Estado Novo regime, focusing on three pioneering women scientists: Mathilde Bensaúde, Maria Lourdes Oliveira, and Maria Lourdes Borges. They advanced crop protection, pathogen identification, and laboratory research while facing institutional and gender barriers. The project examines how techniques were adapted to local agricultural needs and how scientific authority was built in a constrained political context. Overall, the project expands the history of virology and highlights women’s scientific contributions.
Objective
The history of virus research is often told from the perspective of elite biomedical laboratories in Northwestern Europe and North America. This project shifts attention instead to Portugal – a scientific periphery governed during the mid-twentieth century by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime (1933–1974) – and to agricultural science, a field frequently neglected by historians. It also foregrounds the crucial contributions of women to plant virus study and control, thereby addressing several key gaps in the historiography of the life sciences.
The study focuses on three Portuguese women agricultural scientists – Mathilde Bensaúde (1890–1969), Maria Lourdes Oliveira (1904–1980), and Maria Lourdes Borges (1916–2014) – whose careers spanned much of the century. Trained in leading laboratories abroad, they brought international expertise to Portugal, advancing pathogen identification, laboratory experimentation, crop protection, and plant health certification systems. As awareness of viruses as critical crop pathogens grew, these scientists secured equipment, sought professional recognition, and built local expertise in plant health at a time when women in senior posts were rare, and research was inseparable from the regime’s political priorities.
Drawing on archival research, material culture, and the study of scientific spaces, the project reconstructs how they adapted international techniques to local agricultural needs while navigating institutional barriers to women. This approach illuminates knowledge production outside traditional scientific centres, showing how context, agricultural priorities, and social norms shaped experimental work and authority in virus research. By tracing their careers and contributions, the project shows how these women’s innovations in plant virus research and crop protection continue to influence agricultural practices and policy, underscoring the relevance of historical analysis for current and future challenges in plant health.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1749 016 Lisbon
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.