Formulation of Sustainable Food Products

Dr Alan Javier Hernandez Alvarez

University of Leeds

Dr Alan Javier Hernández Álvarez is biochemical engineer by training, with a PhD in Food Science and Nutrition (2012, National Polytechnic Institute, IPN) - Fat Institute, CSIC, Seville, Spain. He worked as a Lecturer at the Food Biochemistry Faculty, Biochemical Engineering Department at the National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico from 2012-2013. Awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from CONACyT in 2013 to follow his research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. After this, he was awarded a Visiting Fellowships in Canadian Government Laboratories Award, NSERC, Canada, 2014-2017 at the same research centre. During his time at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, he worked with a wide variety of research projects in the areas of value-added food processing, and food quality, acting in an advisory and research capacity providing expertise on protein quality assessment, protein extraction and characterization, pilot-plant scale-up, techno-functional properties assessment and bioactivity of proteins/peptides. He collaborated with different Canadian Industry Companies in a wide variety of industry-based projects such as Nature Zen, InnoVactiV (Experts in Science-based ingredients), SEMICAN, among others, as a research & scientific advisor. Álvarez is currently a Lecturer in Nutrition and Global Health at the School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds since 2019. His research is focused on the health benefits of bioactive compounds in plants, and he has engaged in reducing disease and promoting health and wellness as a global priority.

Dr Linda Pravinata

Quorn foods

Linda Pravinata recently joined Quorn Foods, UK in 2021 as Lead Innovation Scientist with research interests in texture development of meat analogue derived from filamentous fungal biomass. Prior to joining Quorn Foods, she had an international career track spanning from industry to academia as a Scientist at PepsiCo R&D in Texas, USA and teaching roles at universities in Indonesia and UK. Linda also held an international fellowship (2018-2021) from the Royal Academy of Engineering for Newton Fund project in collaboration with rice farmers in Thailand and academics in Mahasarakham University during her teaching tenure at the School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds. She received the Michael Beverley Innovation Fellow award in 2020 for innovation in the development of value-added materials derived from fermented products.

Dr Paul Sheldrake

Healy Group

Dr Paul Sheldrake is the Group Application & Technical Director at the Healy Group, a leading supplier of functional food ingredients to the food market in the UK and Ireland. He has worked for many years in the food industry across a range of food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers covering a diverse range application segments and product ranges. In his current role he works closely with innovative food ingredient suppliers and product manufacturers helping them ‘bridge the gap’ in the application aspects of creating new and innovative products for the consumers. Due to the nature of the Healy Group they cover nearly all the major food product application areas and thus help in many diverse products and projects. The current focus on market relevant food products cover areas such as High Fat Salt and Sugar (reductions), functional plant based proteins, fibre enrichment and products with specialized food health claims / benefits in our diets.