Swathi Nallan – Newsletter management
Swathi Nallan is a Post-Doc at University of Tuscia, Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest systems (DIBAF). She received her doctoral degree in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science and Technology from the University of Bologna in 2019 working on edible packaging (functional and active coatings and films) as a potential solution for minimizing losses and maintaining quality of bakery products during storage. She started her Post-Doc in 2019 working on developing innovative dried and formulated organic products based on value-added products obtained from under-utilized and local crops for SUSORGPLUS project. Presently, she is working on developing smart solutions using Artificial Intelligence for food fraud and quality analysis in high-value products like coffee and chestnuts.

Cinzia Mannozzi – Social media management
Cinzia Mannozzi is a Post-Doc at Università Politecnica delle Marche, Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences. She received a PhD degree in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science and Technology from the University of Bologna in 2019. Her PhD research project dealt with the identification and development of innovative technologies for transformation/processing (eg. pulsed electric field, ohmic heating, vacuum impregnation, high pressure of homogenization) and packaging (edible coatings) of different types of plant-based products in order to maintain and/or increase their quality and stability. In 2019, she started her Post-Doc position working on the VEGGIE-MED-CHEESES project researching and studying the technological characteristics of vegetable coagulants for the production of new high-value Mediterranean cheeses. Besides that, she is investigating the application of non-thermal treatments like cold plasma with the objective to ensure the quality and the safety of fish products (sardine fillets, mussels) and dried fruits.

Sophie Kendler – Membership Management & Communication
Sophie is a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Biotechnology and Food Science in Trondheim. She received her master’s degree in food technology and nutrition from the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in 2017. Her PhD project deals with little utilised marine resources, focusing on European plaice and other flatfish. The work includes the chemical and nutritional characterisation as well as technological solutions for the utilisation of the whole raw material, including by-products. Next to her PhD, Sophie is a lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten.  She has a general motivation to find sustainable solutions for better resource utilisation to guarantee a balance between the environment, society and economy..

Lukas Luggin - Event & Seminar Manager 
Lukas Luggin is a food technologist, currently working in the innovation and energy department of the Südtiroler Bauernbund, the farmers association in South Tyrol (Italy). There, Lukas is mainly contributing his expertise to the EIP-Agri Operational Group “INNOProdukte”. The project aims to support farmers by promoting product and processing innovation of regional raw materials such as vegetables, fruit, herbs, and dairy, in order to sustain and increase the economic viability of mountain farming. Lukas has completed his Masters in Food Innovation and Product Design (FIPDes) in 2020. The FIPDes program is an Erasmus Mundus joint Master’s degree, which involves a consortium of 4 different universities: AgroParisTech (France), Technological University of Dublin (Ireland), University of Naples Federico II (Italy), and Lund University (Sweden). The program aims to address the challenges in the sector of food innovation along with product design and packaging.

Greta Canelli – Young EFFoST Day Coordinator 
Greta Canelli is currently working as Associate specialist in Nestlé Research, Switzerland. She completed her BSc in Food Science at University of Parma, Italy, and her MSc in Food Technology at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. In 2021, Greta obtained her doctoral degree from ETH Zurich with her thesis entitled “Delivering bioaccessible and stable ω3-polyunsaturated fatty acids by using whole microalgae cells”.

Hanna Lesme received a PhD in Food Sciences in 2019 and is now a Post-Doc at EPFL, Lausanne. Her research project aims to explore the interactions between plant proteins and salivary proteins to reduce the astringent perception of plant-based beverages with high protein content.

Organisation Young EFFoST Day 2022

Dr Ajay Menon is a postdoctoral research fellow at UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science and UCD Institute for Food & Health. His expertise lies in optimising anaerobic digestion as a solution for valorising waste streams. At UCD, his research focuses on developing processing strategies for improving the bioavailability of underutilised organic wastes and bringing them back into the circular economy by converting them into commercially important materials and bioenergy. He was recently awarded a Science Foundation Ireland grant for a project entitled ‘Disruptive technologies to valorise food WAste into VAlue added commodities’ (WAVA) and was the UCD Discovery Rising Star for December 2021.
 

Kim Millar received her PhD in Food Science and Technology from Technological University Dublin in 2020 and is now a post-doc at TU Dublin. She is working on two Horizon 2020 projects which are exploring the sustainable valorisation of food waste streams. Kim's research is focused on the legal compliance and standardisation of novel food ingredients and their applications in the nutraceutical and cosmetics industries. 

Steven Mulrooney is a Research Scientist at the Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin. Steven was awarded his PhD degree in December 2021, with his thesis titled “Food emulsions: their role in enhancing the stability and bioavailability of vitamin D”. Steven’s research interests lie in the fields of emulsion chemistry, vitamin bioavailability, and food processing. In his current research, he is focussing on the use of classification systems for food processing and their advantages and disadvantages from a health perspective. Steven also has experience in both the food and pet food industries.