Taming the Perfect Storm - The Power of Food Science and Technology
Themes and Priorities
This year's conference will focus on three key themes, which we believe are some of the main challenges facing all professionals working in the food sector:
- Food Security (supply chain robustness, food affordability)
- Health and Nutrition (obesity, allergens, nutritional density)
- The Environment (sustainability, biodiversity, net zero)
These themes are a significant part of the system of challenges we are all facing as food system actors. We are hugely excited to bring together the IFST ecosystem to discuss, brainstorm, and debate around these subjects for one of the most important events in our calendar this year!
Our Spring Conferences are always an opportunity to engage with the latest research and knowledge, and network with colleagues from around the country. We look forward to welcoming a mix of familiar and new faces to Cardiff for this year’s edition!
Pre-Conference Dinner and Networking Event: 26 April 2023
We warmly invite you to attend our event launch, in-person on the evening of 26 April 2023 in the Azzurro Ballroom at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cardiff, for the chance to meet and connect with fellow members and colleagues, and to hear from our guest speaker Mike Woods. Mike will be speaking about the journey of his innovative company, Just Love Food Company, which grew out of a need to better-accomodate allergy sufferers in food.
What SC23 will do for you
We are delighted to confirm that after two years of online conferences, we are hosting this year’s event in person at Cardiff Metropolitan University!
Our conference schedule is both educational and practical; we will explore the day-to-day challenges around food safety, affordability and authenticity, while looking to solutions and the future. We will showcase innovative science and technologies from an exciting range of disciplines.
Each of our three sessions will demonstrate how food science is applied in real-world settings; covering topics including the impact of the climate crisis on crop yields, innovations in food waste, sustainable foods, and much more!
Our speakers come from across the food industry and include leaders from policy, technology, academia, and international organisations.
All attendees will recieve a CPD certificate.
To view our 2023 speakers and panellists click here
Spring Conferences always present a unique opportunity to meet and connect with experienced food sector professionals and grow your network, and we are proud of how inclusive our ecosystem continues to be. This is the perfect opportunity to engage with practical presentations on relevant topics, and we are excited to see how attendees learn from and apply these topics in their own work.
IFST would like to thank our sponsors and supporters for making this event possible. This year's Headline Sponsor is Foods Connected, and our Session Sponsor is IFE Manufacturing.
Click here to view a map of the conference venue.
Programme
| 9:00 - 9:45 |
Registration and Welcome Refreshments Optional tour of ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Introduction and Welcome Sterling Crew, President, IFST Barbara Bray, Spring Conference Chair, IFST |
| 10:15 – 10:50 | Presentation - Keynote Speaker Julie Hesketh-Laird, Deputy Chief Executive, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) |
| Theme 1: Food security and the environment | |
| 10:50 – 11:20 | Transforming food system outcomes: who needs to do what? Dr John Ingram, Food System Transformation Programme Leader at ECI, University of Oxford; IFSTAL |
| 11:20 – 11:40 | Break |
| 11:40 – 12:05 | A Vision of the Food System, 2045 CE: Smart People, Smart Processes, Smart Factories Dr Wayne Martindale, Associate Professor, National Centre for Food Manufacturing (NCFM) |
| 12:05 – 12:30 | Labels and impact on consumer behaviour Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, Deputy Director of Food Policy, BRC |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| Theme 2: Environment and nutrition | |
| 13:30 – 13:50 |
An Industry with Treasure in their Trash Bin |
| 13:50 – 14:20 | Microbial Protein: the Future of Green Pharming James Blair, VP Global Quality, Calysta |
| 14:20 – 14:50 |
Shifting the environment: making healthy and sustainable diets the norm in retail settings |
| 14:50 – 15:10 | Break |
| Theme 3: Nutrition and food security | |
| 15:10 – 15:40 |
Innovation Sweet Spot: Steering food technology towards improving health and food environments. Parita Doshi, Deputy Director, 'A Healthy Life' mission team, Nesta |
| 15:40 – 16:10 | Regenerative Food Innovation, how we can tame food processing to relieve the pressures on food security and sustainability Charles Brennan, Dean of the School of Science, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| 16:10 – 17:05 |
Panel Session: Getting the Balance Right |
| 17:05 - 17:15 | Closing remarks |
| 17:15 - 18:00 | Optional tour of ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre |
Thanks to IFST Corporate Supporters:
Special thanks to our Headline Sponsor:
Thanks to Session Sponsors:
Sponsorship opportunities are still available! For more information, click here and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions via info@ifst.org.