A great opportunity to join the “food family” and hear about research on food structure

The fifth Northern Lights on Food conference represents a great opportunity to join a community of food researchers, gain insights on food structure, form new networks, and submit research to a high impact food science journal.

– This event is really for everyone interested in food and food structures. By getting people with slightly different research directions together, like fundamental scientists, applied scientists and material researchers, we will cover a range of topics from different perspectives, says Tommy Nylander, Northern Lights on Food theme leader, and Professor in Physical Chemistry at Lund University.

Tommy Nylander is Northern Lights on Food theme leader, and Professor in Physical Chemistry at Lund University.

– Personally, I’m excited about the first day, where we have a public lecture with Armando Perez Cueto from Umeå University in Sweden, who will talk about what consumers want from plant-based foods. This address is important as it incapsulates much of what drives our food research forward.

Focus on early career researchers

A change for this year’s conference is that the programme has more sessions for early career researchers, and fewer invited speakers. Young researchers will have the opportunity to meet leading expert in the field and are also encouraged to submit an oral presentation or a poster for the poster session on the first day.

– Part of our theme mission is to train new users of MAX IV and ESS and to support their career. By focusing on early career scientists in the programme, we ensure that their work reach a broader public, which could be the start of fruitful collaborations, says Tommy Nylander.

Proceedings will be published in a high impact food journal

Another change is that, for the first time, proceedings from the conference will be published in one of the most prestigious food science journals, Food Hydrocolloids. All conference participants are invited to submit their recent findings to the high impact journal.

With each year, the conference has attracted more and more people. Many of them are coming annually.

– The interest shows that people see this event as important, not only for getting new knowledge, and updates on science, but also to reconnect with people, and form completely new networks.

Tommy Nylander is hopeful that this event will be as successful as the others.

– My hope is that the conference further solidifies the community. We want to generate new ideas in food research and attract researchers to use large scale research infrastructures to explore food in different ways.

– As humans, we are all curious about food! What is healthy food; what does food consist of? And how can we create new healthy ingredients? These things we can find out with X-ray and neutron techniques, and so far, we are only at the cusp of so many research questions.

Maintaining the informal feel

Finally, Tommy Nylander would like the event to maintain its informal feel, an aspect that has been much appreciated by previous participants.

– This really is a family gathering, a gathering of friends. In the scientific community, one shouldn’t underestimate the importance of establishing contacts in person. The fact that we can attract people to come year after year shows that this event fills an important gap. Our aim is that one should leave with new knowledge, new friends, and an invigorated research interest!

The conference is organised by the Northern Lights on Food theme.