26 July 2017
Dr Suman Singh was awarded an AJ Banks Travel Bursary in 2017 for her attendance at the Institute of Food Technologies Annual Meeting, which was held in Las Vegas from 25 to 29 June 2017. Here, she tells us how participating in the conference gave her useful experience in presenting her work and facilitated interactions which may lead to future job opportunities.
‘I am currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Packaging, Yonsei University, South Korea in food packaging. I was awarded an AJ Banks Travel Bursary which enabled me to attend the Institute of Food Technologies Annual Meeting, which was held in Las Vegas from 25 to 29 June 2017.
‘The conference included around 20,000 participants and invited numbers of speakers from different countries and from all the continents to present their recent works in the area of food science. IFT’s educational and scientific sessions and poster presentations are developed by scientific experts for scientific experts. The IFT program provides participants with educational breadth and depth with more than 100 sessions and 700+ technical research presentations all divided into major areas of focus to make it easy to customize your ideal learning experience. IFT17 is where I improved my expertise by learning about the latest research and recharge creativity with inspirational featured session presentations, real-world case studies, peer exchanges and enlightening scientific and ePoster/Poster session presentations.
‘By attending the meeting I was able to speak to all the key scientists in one room to answer questions and obtain feedback on some of my results. I was also able to present my work to experts in other fields and gain a better understanding of the relationship between food packaging, shelf life and food safety. It also provided me with a valuable learning experience. For instance, it was an excellent opportunity to gather together, interact and exchange findings and views during conference sessions, coffee breaks and the conference dinner. Consequently, I met a number of academics and professionals from different countries who have similar research interests. In addition, it allowed me to talk to principle investigators about future grant applications for potential opportunities for my career. I also met a few industrial members and learned more about job opportunities available outside of academia.
‘The AJ Banks Travel Bursary made it possible for me to attend this valuable conference. Therefore, I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to SCI, the travel award selection committee and the SCI staff from the membership, awards, and communication departments for their time.
‘Many thanks to my advisor, Dr Youn Suk Lee for his consistent support, encouragement, and guidance’.
Suman Singh
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Yonsei University
Visit Blog