Early Career Scientists Event 2024

Lyngby, Denmark
26/11/2024
Denmark Technical University

ECS-2024-banner

About the event

In collaboration with DTU Skylab from Denmark Technical University, ILSI Europe is organising an event for Early Career Scientists (ECS) focussed on sustainable food systems. The event offers a great opportunity for young scientists to present their work, network and expand their knowledge about important topics related to food sustainability. It is also offers a chance for industry and academic experts to discover a new pool of talent and gain a fresh point of view on the research this area.

If you are an Early Career Scientist (student, PhD candidate, or practising scientist who received their highest certificate (e.g. BSc, MSc or PhD) within the past ten years) and work within this nexus, we would like to hear from you! We welcome abstracts for oral and poster presentations from researchers working on food waste and by-products valorisation, soil health, or the sustainable design of products and processes.

Additionally, our career development session promises an interactive exploration of opportunities to propel young scientists' careers forward. Delve into funding possibilities, entrepreneurial ventures, and other pathways to professional growth. Gain valuable insights, resources, and guidance to navigate your career journey with confidence and clarity.

Stay tuned for more details on this exciting event designed to empower and support early career scientists on their path to success.

The ECS event is joined with the ILSI Europe Annual Symposium, which will be held the next day.
R
egistration gives you access to both days.

Registration

Registration for this event is also valid for the ILSI Europe Annual Symposium.

Various prize categories are on offer.
Super Early bird rates are valid until 1 June 2024.
Early bird rates are valid until 30 September 2024.

If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact Hugo Costa (hcosta@ilsieurope.be).

Programme

Below, you will find the detailed programme for the Early Career Scientists event.
To find the detailed programme for ILSI Europe Annual Symposium, click here.
To download the full prgramme, click here.

8:30 - 9:00
Registration
9:00 - 10:30
Session 1 - Green by Design: Innovating with Sustainability in Mind

Nearly all human activities can result in resource depletion, ecological damage, and environmental pollution. To minimize these potentially damaging effects, change is necessary towards a more responsible way of designing human activities. This includes food production and processing. To implement such change, we should apply sustainable design principles: consider and minimize environmental impact when developing ingredients, products, and food production processes. This can be done by finding ways to reduce waste, reuse resources, and recycle products and materials. This is known as the “3R principles”, which can be further extended to the 10R principles: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew, Recharge (or Refill), Repair (or Remedy), Re-manufacture (or Recover), Replace (or Replant), Re-clear (or Refine) and Remove.

Chair: Bas Blaauboer, Emeritus professor of toxicology at Utrecht University (NL)

Welcome Note: Mikkel Sørensen, Director at DTU Skylab

Speakers:
  • Prof. Francesco Rosati, Associate Professor in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Centre for Technology Entrepreneurship, Technical University of Denmark (DK).
    Presentation: Beyond Sustainability: Business Model Innovation for Regenerative Sustainable Systems
  • Sabina Dahal, MSc, PhD student at DTU Food
    Presentation: Can probiotics supplementation at industrial scale yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor Ln.) farming be a beneficial option?
  • Bina Bhattarai, post doctoral researcher at Technical University of Denmark (DK)
    Presentation: Circular food packaging design for circular economy: a food safety assessment
  • Adam Fogarasi, MSc, preparing to start his PhD at University of Copenhagen (DK)
    Presentation: The HEAT Project: Multidimensional Optimization of Sustainable European Diets
10:30 - 11:00
Networking break & Poster session
11:00 - 12:30
Session 2 - Up-cycling the up-cyclable: new perspectives in green, bio-based, and circular valorisation of food waste and food by-products

The agri-food chain is affected by resource scarcity, food loss, and waste and by-products production. A specific life cycle assessment of agri-food chains can highlight the critical points, elucidating the targets that research and policy management must work with in the near future. The EU waste policy aims to contribute to the circular economy by extracting high-quality resources from waste as much as possible. The European Green Deal aims to promote growth by transitioning to a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy. As part of this transition, green and bio-based approaches will drive new perspectives in food waste and by-products up-cycling, including recalcitrant biomasses. Fermentation, precision fermentation, and bio-catalysis coupled with other green approaches will permit the release of new processes, new products, and new capacities. This session will explore the crucial connections between the process technologies, the regulatory aspects (e.g. for novel ingredients) and the sustainable perspectives in the agri-food area, exploring the resilient capacity to drive the future human nutrition.

Chair: Marco Arlorio, Director of Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Università del Piemonte Oriental (IT)

Speakers:
  • Giancarlo Cravotto, Full Professor of Chemistry at Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco, University of Turin (IT)
    Presentation: Semi-industrial cascade protocols under non-conventional technologies for the valorization of agri-food by-products
  • Simone Krings, Post Doctoral researcher in the Department of Proteomics and Microbiology at the University of Mons (BE)
    Presentation: Valorising organic waste for the production of high-value molecules by purple non-sulfur bacteria
  • Vincenzo Disca, a PhD student at the Food Chemistry, Biotechnology and Nutrition Unit (DSF) at University of Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro (IT)
    Presentation: Up-cycled cocoa bean shells: a potential fiber-rich functional ingredient?
  • Maame Ekua Manful, a Ph.D. Student on the Up4health Project, a BBI JU-funded project at the Technological University Dublin
    Presentation: Safety and regulatory aspects of upcycled novel foods in the European Union: Insights and future perspectives
12:30 - 14:00
Lunch Break
14:00 -15:00
Career Development Session - How to boost my career in Food & Nutrition Science?

Our career development session promises an interactive exploration of opportunities to propel young scientists' careers forward. Delve into funding possibilities, entrepreneurial ventures, and other pathways to professional growth. Gain valuable insights, resources, and guidance to navigate your career journey with confidence and clarity.

Exhibitors:
  • COST Association
  • ENLP (European Nutrition Leadership Platform)
  • DTU Skylab
  • ILSI Europe
15:00 - 15:50
Session 4 - From the Ground Up: Exploring the Vital Links between Soil Health and Sustainable Food Systems

Soil is the foundation of our food system. Healthy soils are essential to provide healthy food, reverse biodiversity loss, and safeguard human health, but also for achieving climate neutrality, a clean and circular economy and halting desertification and land degradation. Yet it is estimated that 60 to 70% of European soils are unhealthy, degraded or depleted. We urgently need to protect and restore these invaluable resources, as outlined by the EU Soil Strategy for 2030. Soil regeneration offers a pathway forward, combining practices to improve soil health and productivity. This session will explore the crucial connections between soil, human and planetary health. Their understanding is key to design solutions for resilient agricultural systems and sustainable food production.

Chair: Emilie Weynants, EU-Projects & Communication Manager at ILSI Europe

Speaker:
  • Soil microbial diversity as an integral component of soil health across scales
    Dr. Ferran Romero, Agroscope (CH)
Poster pitches:
  • Perennial plates: Can food systems use soil-building, nutritional perennial grains?
    Dr. Virginia Anne Nichols, Assistant Professor at Aarhus University (DK)
  • Soil Biodiversity in Mediterranean Agroecosystems: Integrative Methods for Sustainable Management
    Luisa Fraga, Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra (PT)
  • Bioestimulants to mitigate consequences of global change in vineyards: A case of research applied to the field
    Rosalba O. Fors, Atens - Natural Agrotechnologies (ES)
  • Stakeholders’ perception of soil health in a forest area close to Oslo
    Alena Hensel, IMSOGLO (International Master of Soil Science and Global Change) Graduate (DE)
15:50 - 16:35
Session 4 - Food 2030: The EU's Research and Innovation policy framework supporting the transition towards sustainable, healthy and inclusive food systems, that respect planetary boundaries

Keynote speaker: Rosalinda Scalia, Deputy Head of Unit at EC-DG RTD, Unit Bioeconomy & Food Systems, Healthy Planet Directorate.

16:35 - 16:45
17:00 - 17:30
From 19:15
Awards & Closing
Visit of DTU Skylab*
Dinner in Copenhagen at Scandic Spectrum Hotel

*Limited spots. A registration form will be available at the registration desk.

Call for abstracts

[Abstracts submission closed]

We accept abstracts from early career scientists for the following sessions:

  • Session 1 - Green by Design: Innovating with Sustainability in Mind
  • Session 2 - Up-cycling the up-cyclable: new perspectives in green, bio-based, and circular valorisation of food waste and food by-products
  • Session 4 - From the Ground Up: Exploring the Vital Links between Soil Health and Sustainable Food Systems

Descriptions can be found in the programme below.

Abstracts will be selected on the basis of scientific excellence and relevance to the sessions.
Submissions will be accepted 15 June 2024 1st of July 2024. Authors will be notified in August.
Travel and accommodation for the selected speakers will be covered by ILSI Europe (oral presentations only).

Important note: We will only accept abstracts from early career scientists for these three sessions.
An early career scientist is defined as a postgraduate student or scientist from academia or industry who has obtained their highest degree (BSc, MSc or PhD) within the last ten years.

[Abstracts submission closed]