Surviving in a Hostile World: The Need for Food Science
We’re delighted to be bringing you news of our annual lecture for 2023, which will be taking place on 10 October. This event is by invitation only, but we will be streaming the lecture live to various regional receptions around the UK.
Our Speakers
Dr Wayne Martindale Ph.D, FIFST
Wayne holds the post of Associate Professor leading the Food Insights and Sustainability Group at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, UK where he directs a team of researchers delivering applied food system research. Following his Ph.D from the University of Sheffield in photosynthetic biochemistry his post-doctoral research was carried out at the Universities of Florida, Purdue and Rothamsted in biochemistry during the 1990’s. Wayne has since worked for the UK fertiliser industry building an applied research portfolio for global food security with an international group of researchers, and his CSIRO McMaster and OECD Cooperative Research Fellowships are recognition of this. This has led to him being a director of start-up companies delivering earth observation technologies that assess material security, a scientist mentor for the Social Mobility Foundation and he is a trustee and Honorary Secretary for the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
Professor Jeremy Hill Ph.D. MNZM
Bestowed by HRH Queen Elizabeth II as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science and industry in the 2020 Queens Birthday Honours, Professor Hill has worked for Fonterra for over 30 years, the last 15 as Fonterra’s Chief Science & Technology Officer. Between 2012-2016 he served as President and Chairman of the Board of the International Dairy Federation (IDF). He is currently Chairman of the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium and sits on the Board of the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. In 2018 he established the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative at the Riddet Institute, Massey University, where he holds an Adjunct Professorship in Sustainable Nutrition. Professor Hill has published over 100 scientific papers and is an inventor or co-inventor of over 20 patent families.
About the Lecture
In 2019, a conference discussion between Wayne and Jeremy at the EFFOST Rotterdam meeting led to a partnership with the shared vision of creating an equitable global food system that is based on scientific evidence and practical to achieve. Through this vision, decisions about changes to the food system would be informed and influenced by innovative high-quality research in food science and creative communications from an international network centred on the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative or SNi (sustainablenutritioninitiative.com).
The vision from that 2019 conversation was not only about finding pathways to a survivable future but doing this through practices that are achievable and fair, and providing sustainable affordable nutrition for everyone. Both Wayne and Jeremy have helped to establish networks of researchers who can determine the material, nutritional and operational limits of our global food system, enabling evidence-based system-wide strategic thinking. Bringing sustainability and nutritional assessments together has demonstrated multidisciplinary research is necessary if we are to understand food system interactions, limits, and opportunities for improvement.
This IFST Annual Lecture will showcase some of the tools that can be used to create this knowledge, without which we cannot have robust debate, decision-making or strategy and as scientists we must not let this happen.