Leichte Sprache
Confirmed Speakers
Prof. Paula Bourke
Professor Bourke is a Professor and Head of School of the UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, a UCD Conway Institute Research Fellow and a member of the UCD Institute of Food and Health and the UCD Centre for Food Safety.
Her research is in the areas of sustainable and non-thermal processing innovations, plasma agriculture and novel antimicrobial technologies. Her current research is focused on cold plasma systems and applications development, the non thermal processing of cereal grains and seeds, and supporting non thermal interventions to enhance safety assurance in the fresh poultry chain. Her research is supported through National and International schemes. She is designated as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Web of Science based on her rankings within the top 1% highly cited researchers. She is a member of the EU COST network in Plasma Applications for smart and sustainable agriculture, and the COST networks PlasTher.
Prof. Roman Buckow
Roman Buckow has been appointed as the Professor of Food Science and Director of the Centre for Food Science at La Trobe University. Prior to this, he served as a Professor of Practice in Food Engineering at the University of Sydney. His extensive career also includes roles as a principal scientist and research manager at CSIRO, and as the Chief Technology Officer of All G Foods, an innovative biotech startup developing next-generation dairy and meat products. Professor Buckow's expertise lies in sustainable food and beverage manufacturing, the design of novel food structures and textures, alternative proteins, and the development of safe and healthy foods through advanced processing technologies. He holds an MSc and a PhD in Food and Bioprocess Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.
Dr Rick Falkenberg
Dr. Falkenberg has been a contributing member of the Nonthermal Processing Division of the Institute of Food Technologists and the European Federation of Food Science and Technology. His BSL2 laboratory conducts efficacy testing of a verity of new and existing Nonthermal Processing Technologies, e.g., high-pressure processing, pulsed electric field, electronic beam, High intensity electric field, radio frequency, microwave and cold plasma. Concentrating on the evaluation atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) Dr. Falkenberg has spent the last 10 years evaluating the efficacy of this technology. He developed an objective way to measure the reduction in bioburden by employing volumetric air sampling and using Spatial mapping as an impartial way to show pretreatment and post treatment results.
Dr Falkenberg has tested the effectiveness of over 25 different ACP devices not only in the laboratory but also in surgical suites, intermediate size hospitals, dental offices, veterinary clinics as well as child and elderly care facilities, yoga studios and gyms.
An advocate for examining the impact of “air” in above mentioned environments, Dr. Falkenberg has examined these devices ability to decrease the bioburden, the number of organisms, fungi/molds, yeast, bacteria, in the air as well as on a surface which has not been cleaned/sterilized. His team has examined the impact of ACP treatment on gram positive/gram negative bacteria, pathogens (Food and HAI’s), viruses as well as protozoa. Dr. Falkenberg has authored several scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as contributes expert services to manufacturers through ConnectFood.com, an online site for writing Risk Assessments and Food Safety plans. Dr. Falkenberg received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of California, San Diego further identifying the correlation between hexose-monophosphate shunt, glycolytic system and fermentation-type in specific lactobacilli strains.
When Dr. Falkenberg is not traveling, he lives in California with his wife, two dogs and a cat.
Prof. Carmen Moraru
Dr. Carmen I. Moraru, Professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University, has obtained her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Food Engineering from the University of Galati, Romania. Her research program focuses on using engineering principles and novel processing methods, particularly nonthermal processes, to improve food quality, safety, and sustainability. Examples of research areas include High Pressure Processing to modify protein functionality and structure, membrane filtration for nonthermal concentration and microbial removal, microbial inactivation using light based and hurdle treatments. She has held leadership roles both at Cornell, where she served as Department Chair between 2019-2024, and in professional organizations, including the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA), and the Society of Food Engineering (SoFE). She has served as Secretary and Chair of the Nonthermal Processing Division of IFT. She authored or co-authored numerous papers published in prestigious journals, as well as several books and book chapters. She is often invited to speak at meetings and conferences and has given > 100 invited talks in the US and around the world.
Her contributions have been recognized through several awards, including the International Dairy Foods Association Dairy Foods Research Award (2013) and Teaching Award (2015), the SUNY Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2020), the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award (2021), and the Marcel Loncin award from IFT (2024). She is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists (2020) and Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, Romania (2019).
Dr Robert Sevenich
Robert Sevenich has a background in food technology and got his PhD from the Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) in 2016. Currently, he is working as a guest scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy and as a full-time research fellow at the Department of Food Biotechnology and Food Process Engineering of the Technische Universität Berlin, where he is also the Group leader of the Food biotechnology group. His research focus is on high pressure and its influence on microorganism, spores, and food processing contaminants in model and real-food systems. Other fields of interest are PEF, gas hydrates, plasma, electrolyzed water, plasma treated water and ultrasound treatments of food as well as the application of the mentioned technologies to innovatively treat perishables along the process chain and to extract by-products from the emerging side streams.
Prof. Avi Shpigelman
Assoc. Prof. Avi Shpigelman leads the Laboratory for Novel Food and Bioprocessing at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering in Technion, Haifa, Israel. He is also the vice chair of the Technion Sustainable Protein Research Center, and starting from 09/2024 the chair of the IFT NPD division. The research in his group delves into the intricate relationship between food processing, the composition of food components, their behavior during product shelf life, and their bioactivity in our bodies.
Prof. Brijesh K Tiwari
Professor Brijesh K Tiwari is a Principal Research Officer at TEAGASC and adjunct Professor at UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering. Professor Tiwari has an internationally recognised reputation for food engineering research as evidenced by his Highly Cited Researcher designation continuously since 2018 by Clarivates (Web of Science). He has published over 300 high impact peer reviewed journal papers. He leads a team of over 25 researchers including postdoctoral researchers and PhD students in the area of sustainable food processing and preservation technologies. His editorial responsibilities include Editor LWT – Food Science and Technology and Food Chemistry. He is also a fellow of IFST (UK), RSC (UK), AFSTI (India) and IUFoST.
Prof. Stefan Toepfl
Stefan Toepfl is food technologist and received his PhD in food process engineering at Berlin University of Technology in 2006. As process specialist at the German Institute of Food Technologies, DIL, he has been active in process design and realization of processing equipment with a focus on pulsed electric fields, static and dynamic pressure applications, supercritical fluids as well as plant protein extrusion. Since 2009 he is professor at the University of Applied Sciences, Osnabrück, Germany. Since 2017 he is managing director of Elea GmbH, a spin off entity for marketing innovative processing technologies for the food industry. His research interest is focused on efficient and sustainably food production techniques, plant based protein processing and process automation.