Call for university student teams
The improvement of practical knowledge and abilities in solving real processing- and food industry-related problems is essential for students in Food Science and Technology and Food related studies in order to meet the current requirements of the professional skills by the job market.
The Erasmus+ European Food-STA project opens a call for an international Students competition game with teams from different universities of European and no-European countries will compete on finding the best solutions on one specific process – and/or food-industry- related problem.
We are looking for teams of students in Food Science and Technology and Food related study programmes that will work on a project focused on the identification, design and development of solutions and ideas relevant for food industry with specific action on improvement and innovation of food processing as well as quality and safety of foods.
WHY:
- each team of students will work on a real food industry-based problem and thereby they will improve specific knowledge and competences
- students will also improve and enhance the cooperation between them and the awareness of the importance and benefits of team working in a competitive environment.
- The evaluation of the project will be carried out by food industry and/or food associations that in collaboration with academics will evaluate the projects based on the best professional abilities in problem-solving and team working
- Virtual environment for sharing knowledge and improvement of skills between students and teachers at European and international level.
WHO: the project is addressed to teams made of Master and PhD students in food science and technology and any other food-related study programme. An academic teacher/lecturer could/would be involved as tutor. See more details in the Instructions box.
AWARD:
- Each team and student will receive a letter/certificate of participation to the FoodFactory-4-Us competition game.
- The winner team will receive the corresponding certificate as winners. In addition the students of the winner team will receive:
- An award of 200 Euro/team and 1-year registration membership of IFA (for each member member)
- One book of the Springer - ISEKI-Food book Series (for each member member)
- Free entrance at the 5th international ISEKI-Food conference in Stuttgart/Germany, 3-5 July 2018 (for each member member)
DEADLINES:
- 15th October till 15th November: registration of the teams (to Paola Pittia, ppittia@unite.it)
- 20th November: acceptance of the teams and approval of the projects topics
- 28th February 2017: submission of the project presentation and report
- March 2017 (date to be decided): Final presentation of all the projects at the FoodFactory-4-Us- Virtual workshop the results of the teams in presence of industry and multiplayer representatives and nomination of the best 1st FoodFactory-4-Us team
Scientific organizing team: Florence Dubois-Brissonnet, Cristina L.M. Silva, Gerhard Schleining, Paola Pittia
For more info about the competition, contact: Paola Pittia (ppittia@unite.it)
Teams
Teams of students apply on voluntary basis; registration is free of charge. They could be made of 3-to-5 (min-to-max) students, preferentially Master students in Food Studies but for each team max 1 PhD student could be involved. Teams could belong also to universities of associate partners. One tutor (teacher, researcher, post-doc) could be involved (extra member) with the role to support and advise the team; but he/she cannot lead the team work.
Project topic
The teams are invited to present a project aimed to identify solutions, design and develop ideas, tools and actions aimed to solve a real industry-based issue and or an aspect/topic whose results may be of interest for the food industry and/or the food chain. Themes/topics that could be included are among others, are the following: safety and quality (improvement); product/process (included packaging) optimization and innovation; stability/shelf-life; logistics and distribution, sustainability.
All the registered teams will work independently on the development of the target issue.
The topic will not compulsory involve practical work in lab and should be focused on finding the best solution that could meet the food companies expectations in terms of health and safety risks, improvement of economic value, quality enhancement of the products, sustainability.
A mid-term virtual meeting will be organised with tutors and teams coordinators as check-point and discussion on specific issues.
The teams will submit by the fixed dead line a report of max 4 pages and a ppt presentation of max 20 slides. A form for the report will be provided to the registered teams. The ppt presentation will be also presented at the final Virtual workshop “FoodFactory-4Us”, an open event and internationally disseminated.
Reports and presentations have to be submitted to Paola Pittia, ppittia@unite.it
Overall, all assessors are instructed to treat the information provided through the applications with the required confidentiality. Please indicate in your registration/application whether or not your project includes specific IP which your team would like to see treated with special care. In particular, you could select:
NO, if our project does not include special IP which needs additional measures for ensuring confidentiality.
YES, if our project includes special IP which needs additional measures for ensuring confidentiality.
By selecting "NO", you confirm that no information on specific IP requiring protection is provided with your application.
By selecting "YES", the organisers of this competition will develop a specific plan to protect you and your project.
The assessors of the projects evaluation board will be asked to sign a specific NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) document (see template here below in attach "NDA template") to give additional proof of the kept confidentiality. If for any reason the provided template is not extensive enough for your case, please provide a suitable NDA with your application/registration for review and signature by the assessors. Please bear in mind that any NDA still has to allow for proper assessment of your project in the frame of this competition.
For any additional problem related to IP, please contact ppittia@unite.it
To share information and to discuss about any issue related to the projects and the overall competition the following virtual meetings (supported by the GoToMeeting webconferencing tool) have been planned
- 19 December 2016, 3:00 pm (CET)
- 6th February 2017, 3:00 pm (CET)
presentations can be found at the bottom
recordings: a link will be sent to registered persons
Virtual workshop "FoodFactory-4Us"
The final presentation of the projects by all the teams and appointment of the winners will be carried out in a virtual workshop “FoodFactory-4Us" 29 March 2017 from 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM CET.
Date under definition (March 2017).
- Programme of the Virtual Workshop
- Record of the Virtual Workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JltoaK2U3y4
- Presentations:
| Agro Team (FR) | How to deal with 20% salt reduction in cooked ham while keeping the same shelf-life? |
| Avo Cadeau (NL) | Development of Yoghurt Product Containing Antioxidant from Avocado Seeds |
| BerryIQ (MX) | Pretreatment and drying methods for the production of crunchy blueberries |
| FooDreamers (PT) | Glair Biscuits |
| Grin Snackers (Wageningen University, NL) | Process and product innovation in reducing fat content in deep-frying chips |
| MamaFood (IT) | Raviolado: a product designed for pregnant women and for diets with folic acid supplement. product for the nutritional requirements of pregnant women |
| One team, one spirit (MA) | The treatment and valorization of olive wastewaters |
| WUR (NL) | Incorporation of Friendly Bacteria BsIA produced by Bacillus subtilis for the Development of a Temperature-Stable Ice cream |
BERRY IQ (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico)
Members: Andrea Maribel Castillo Treviño, Diana Cecilia Martinez Garza, Maria Marcela Martinez Eguiarte, Priscila Treviño Alanís, Andrea Nieto Gutierrez
Project: “Pretreatment and drying methods for the production of crunchy blueberries”
Screenshot and picture of the awarding session and the BERRY IQ winner team
Screenshot of the Virtual Workshop during projects presentations (with Gerhard Schleining and Paola Pittia)
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS:
