20 May 2016
SCI's Food Group has close links and regularly collaborates with the IFST (The Institute of Food Science and Technology). For many years the Group has supported the IFST's Young Scientist Competitions and contributes towards the winners' cash prizes. The top three winners also receive one year's free membership to SCI and IFST and are invited to join SCI's Food Committee as a Young Ambassador.
Andy Kerridge, Vice Chair of SCI’s Food Group reports from the event:
‘On the evening of 26 April, around 35 people gathered at the Plant Science Building at the University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington campus, to hear the presentations of five undergraduate and six postgraduate students from various universities in the Midlands and South. They were finalists in the first competition held by the IFST Midlands Branch sponsored jointly by the IFST, SCI's Food Group, 2 Sisters Food Group, and with the catering sponsored by Greencore.
‘A panel of judges from industry assessed the presentations for originality and innovation, presentation style, results and conclusions, and how well the students had demonstrated the applicability of their work. As usual, the presentations were of a high standard, and the judges had a difficult job.
‘The winning postgraduate student was Saskia Hofmann of Nottingham University and her subject was Understanding the Mouthfeel of Tea ~ The Impact of Tea, Fat & Sugar.
‘The prize for best undergraduate presentation was awarded to Robin Leaper also of Nottingham University who presented on Reducing Breakage in Fragile Food Using Oat Fibre.
‘The audience was asked to vote for their choice of presenter and once again, Saskia Hofmann won and was presented with a bottle of bubbly.
‘All students were given cash prizes, and the winners were also given free membership of both the IFST and SCI for a year. The winners have also been invited to visit one of the Greencore manufacturing sites for a day.
The presentations were followed by a buffet and an opportunity for further questions and networking. As always, it was a fantastic evening, listening to a wide variety of presentations, on a diverse range of subjects from insect protein to salt reduction in bread.’
Andy Kerridge,
Vice Chair, Food Group
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