STFC Food Network+ Sandpits 2019

We had a fantastically productive two days at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory on the 25th and 26th March running our two sandpits ‘Innovation in food manufacturing and supply chains’ and ‘Adapting to climate change: climate-smart agriculture’

After two days of networking, learning about STFC capabilities, inspirational talks and tours from our STFC colleagues, and a lot of hard work our attendees came up with 13 pitches spanning an incredibly wide range of topics.

Thanks to a democratic voting process we awarded funding to two projects on the day:

  • Winner of the Food Manufacturing and Supply Chain sandpit: Virtual Food Labels:  Promoting healthy and sustainable food choices – Led by Jo Harrold and Jason Halford from the University of Liverpool and Panayiota Alevizou from the University of Sheffield
  • Winner of the Climate Change sandpit: A meta-analysis of SFN Projects and Potential – Led by Elta Smith and Courtney Hood from RAND Europe

All 13 projects showed plenty of promise and we’re very much hoping that those we weren’t able to award on the day will be submitting full applications to our call deadline on the 2nd April.  You can see all of the pitches and the other presentations made on the day here and you can find out more about all of our attendees here:


Innovation in food manufacturing and supply chains - Attendees

  • ​Julie Alevizou - University of Sheffield

    Dr Panayiota J Alevizou is a lecturer in marketing at the University of Sheffield Management School and an experienced marketing practitioner. She studied Business at the University of Piraeus, Greece. She obtained an MBA from Sheffield University Management School. Following this, she started her funded doctorate, also at Sheffield, looking at Sustainability Labelling Systems. She also did some consultancy work for Unilever related to product certification regulation. Her current research interests include sustainability marketing, social and environmental management standards and ethical treatment of animals policy

  • Fatima Arrutia Rodriguez - University of Nottingham

    I am a biologist with a PhD in Chemical, Environmental and Bio-Food Engineering. My research interests are framed within the area of high-value functional food ingredients production from food “waste” streams, with special emphasis in protein-derived bioactives.
    In my current position as research fellow (University of Nottingham), I am working in extracting functional polysaccharides from food waste using microwave treatments. My previous research experience includes a postdoc (Quadram Institute) on the valorisation of oilseed cakes through protein enrichment, and a PhD (University of Oviedo) on the production, fractionation and evaluation of bioactive peptides from cheese whey and cattle blood proteins.

  • Mark Auty - ​Mondelēz International

    An internationally recognized leader in food microstructure research, Mark was recently appointed Food Microstructure Leader for Mondelez International, responsible for driving global microstructure-related projects that impact business growth. Whilst a senior researcher at Teagasc (Ireland), Mark established a new programme of food microstructure research, now fully integrated across the organization. Awarded €5.5m competitive research funding as PI since 2007 and established new business through external income streams. Published over 100 scientific articles and book chapters and given >100 presentations, lectures and posters. Mark is a strongly multidisciplinary and collaborative scientist, working at the interface of chemistry, biology and material science.

  • Rossanna Caccamo - ​Mondelēz International

    Chemical Engineer with experience in food processing and manufacturing, instrumentation and Advanced Process Control, in the fields of: chocolate, dairy, beverages and desserts (Mondelēz International). Working experience in developed and emerging markets (Latin America and Europe), focused on formulation and discovery of new process technologies oriented to deliver high quality products to meet consumers-inspired quality standards and maximize the efficiency of manufacturing processes.

  • Tao Chen - University of Surrey

    Dr Tao Chen is a senior lecturer in Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Surrey. He specialises in computational modelling and data analytics, and specific to this sandpit with applications in food manufacturing, shelf life prediction, and aquaculture (fish farming). These have been funded by the industry (e.g. Unilever) and a recent BBSRC/Newton Fund award in the area of digitalisation of aquaculture systems.

  • Sonal Choudhary - University of Sheffield

    Sonal ​is a Lecturer in Sustainable Management at Sheffield University Management School (SUMS). She is also a member of Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LSCM) Research Centre and Centre for Environment Energy and Sustainability (CEES). Prior to joining SUMS, Sonal worked as a Marie Curie Research Fellow in the field of environmental sustainability (Project Sunshine and N-SINK) at the University of Sheffield. She has also worked on a number of other projects funded by DEFRA, European Commission (FP-7), Ministry of Environment and Forest, India, and IPCC.

  • Julie Crenn - University of Greenwich

    Julie Crenn holds a MSc (with distinction) in Food Safety and Quality Management from the University of Greenwich. Julie has worked in food manufacturing as a New Product Development Manager for 10 years mainly working in SMEs. Julie has been employed as Food Safety Specialist by NRI/University of Greenwich since January 2016 where she is a module leader of Food Product and Process Development and Food Preservation modules and lectures on the MSc Applied Food Safety and Quality Management and MSc Food Innovation. Julie is currently studying for a part-time PhD on biofortified cassava.

  • Stephen Euston - Heriot-Watt University

    I am food chemist in the Institute of Mechanical, Process and Energy Engineering, Heriot-Watt University. I have research interests in sustainable food protein and biosurfactant production, and the application of molecular simulation to food chemistry. I work closely with industry to translate fundamental research finding into practical solutions. Current projects include recovery of functional proteins from mycoprotein production (Quorn) waste, and using waste collagen as a fat replacer in meat products. I coordinate the H2020 project Marisurf to identify, isolate and purify microbial biosurfactants as sustainable ingredients for consumer (including food) products.

  • Natalia Falagán - Cranfield University

    Dr Falagán graduated from the University of Valencia (Spain), gaining experience in food production systems for increasing productivity while protecting the environment. She completed her MSc and PhD in Food Engineering at the University of Cartagena (Spain). Her personal scholarship has been driven by a need to help reduce food waste and improve food security while maintaining quality and safety of fresh produce across the supply chain, through collaboration with international private companies and government funded projects. Currently, Natalia works as a Research Fellow in Food Technology at Cranfield University, studying the underlying ripening and senescence mechanisms of fresh produce.

  • Lori Fisher - ​Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich

    My career in applied plant science began in the wine retail sector, developing further when supporting the Industry Regulation Policy Team at the Environment Agency. I went on to complete a BBSRC CASE industry-based PhD at Aberystwyth University in molecular plant biology. In 2016, I joined the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) University of Greenwich, as an Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate, working directly within the leafy crop industry. In my current dual role at NRI, I continue to engage with stakeholders across the UK Agritech supply chain as an enterprise development fellow and to research postharvest plant physiology.

  • Marcin Glowacz - ​Natural Resources Institute/University of Greenwich

    Dr Glowacz is employed as Postharvest Technologist by the University of Greenwich. His scientific expertise lies in plant physiology and biochemistry, and he has good understanding of supply chains - majority of his work being conducted in collaboration with industrial partners. The focus of his research is on finding ways to: i) improve/maintain fresh produce quality, ii) reduce waste within the food supply chain and iii) develop innovative technologies for the food sector.

  • Simona Grasso - University of Reading

    ​Simona has a BSc and MSc in Food Science and Technology from Università degli Studi di Catania, Sicily, Italy. After her MSc she gained valuable experience working as a Food Technologist, Food Auditor and New Product Developer for food businesses in UK and Ireland serving the foodservice, ingredients and retail sectors. In 2017 she completed a four-year PhD on delivering functional processed meat products with health benefits at University College Dublin, Ireland. Now at the University of Reading, her research interests are broad and cover functional foods, food reformulation, sensory and consumer science and valorisation of food industry side streams.

  • Jason Halford - University of Liverpool

    Jason Halford is Head of the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, President Elect of the European Association of Obesity (EASO), and former Chair of the UK Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO). He is a Chartered Health Psychologist. Over the past 10 years his research has focused on drug-induced weight gain, the effects of nutrients and fibre on appetite and hormone release, the effects of stress on eating behaviour, the effect of marketing on children, and on lean-obese differences in the expression of appetite. In 1999, Jason co-founded the Human Ingestive Behaviour Laboratory at Liverpool and in 2004 he also co-founded the Liverpool Obesity Research Network (LORN). Jason is co-ordinator of the SWITCH study, a new trial to examine the impact of artificial sweeteners on appetite in the context of active weight management and is one of the co-ordinating leads for the 9m Euro H2020 SWEET project designed to examine the risks and benefits of using sweeteners to replace sugar in the diet in the contexts of health, obesity, safety and sustainability. Jason is also local lead for iKnowFood.

  • Joanne Harrold - University of Liverpool

    ​Dr Joanne Harrold is a Reader in Appetite and Obesity in the Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool. She has an interest in the pharmacological, dietary and psychological manipulations of human eating behaviour. Joanne is Director of the Human Ingestive Behaviour Laboratory which handles proof-of-concept studies and interventions for the food and beverage sectors. Joanne participated in the EU FP7 SATiety INnovation project to develop foods for appetite control using novel processing technologies to alter food structure and is currently a lead on the SWITCH trial examining the impact of artificial sweeteners on appetite in the context of active weight management and the EU H2020 SWEET trial examining the impact of sweeteners and sweetness enhancers on health, obesity, safety and sustainability

  • Courtney Hood - Rand Europe

    Courtney Hood is an analyst in RAND Europe’s innovation, health and science team. She joins RAND Europe from the International Fund for Agricultural Development where she managed the organization’s relationship with some its largest donors. She previously worked in various policy positions with the Government of Canada, including Advisor at Canada’s Mission to the Food and Agriculture Agencies of the UN, Senior Advisor to the Vice President of policy, and policy analyst with the Canadian International Development Agency. Courtney holds an MA in International Relations and Geography from the University of Toronto, Canada.

  • Henry Leveson Gower - Defra

    Henry Leveson-Gower is head of Food Innovation at Defra. Prior to that he lead reform of water abstraction regulation. He is a pluralist ecological economist who has worked to inform environmental policy over 25 years. He was also a research fellow at the Centre for Evaluating Complexity Across the Nexus and is a fellow of the RSA as well an a chartered accountant.

  • Naresh Magan - Cranfield University

    Prof. Magan has been working on food safety/security, especially related to spoilage moulds and mycotoxins for 30+years. He has research interests related to intervention strategies in staple food chains to minimise waste and potential for utilisation of such waste for high value products. In the last 5 years we have focused on the impacts of climate change scenarios on contaminants, especially mycotoxins, in staple food chains by integrating molecular ecology, ecology and predictive modelling. We have demonstrated that toxigenic moulds have better resilience under interacting abiotic climate change factors resulting in a stimulation of toxin contamination of staple commodities. We thus have interests in using such data for more effective modelling of the impact of climate change scenarios on food safety and quality. Other related areas include physical approaches to minimising spoilage moulds/mycotoxin contamination, biopesticides against pests/fungal diseases and early diagnostics of spoilage impacts

  • Charlotte Mills - University of Reading

    I am a lecturer in Nutritional Sciences at University of Reading, interested in maximising health benefits of food by various means, e.g. food processing, growing conditions and synergy. I am specifically interested in phytochemicals such as polyphenols and inorganic nitrate and I have extensive experience researching in these areas. I have a multidisciplinary background with vast experience in conducting clinical trials as well as a strong analytical background, namely using liquid and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry to analyse both food and biological samples.

  • Rakesh Nayak - ​LeanSig Ltd and University of Hull, UK

    ​I am a lecturer in operations and supply chain management at the University of Hull, UK. I have expertise in operations and supply chain management, people management, process management and change management. I am a qualified Lean Six Sigma Black belt and have conducted projects for improving operational efficiency in food industry and how to overcome any new change brought either through a management decision or technological advancement in organisations.

  • M.Jose Oruna-Concha - University of Reading

    Lecturer in Food Chemistry at the University of Reading with a BSc in Pharmacy and PhD in Food and Nutrition. Her research work relates to factors influencing flavour formation in healthy and sustainable food production, characterization of bioactive compounds in food and food products as well as the production of value-added products from waste streams.

  • Luca Panzone - Newcastle University

    Luca is an applied economist currently holding a position as Lecturer in Consumer Behaviour at Newcastle University. His research interests focus on the economics of sustainable consumption, primarily focusing on how marketing and policy can drive sustainable consumer behaviour, and on consumers' understanding of sustainability. He is specialised in the statistical modelling of demand, and has previously worked on supermarket data and dataset of all sizes.

  • Gordon Paul - Devro

    Worked for over 25 years researching fundamental aspects of collagen biochemistry, first within academia and latterly (15 years) within the food industry processing collagen on an industrial scale for use in food and biomedical applications.

  • Usha Ramanathan - Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University

    Usha Ramanathan is a Professor of Sustainability and Supply Chains in Nottingham Business School. Her current research focuses on food waste reduction and converting the food waste into useful raw-materials. She has conducted case studies in India with many fresh food companies and a diary manufacturer. Usha is also working on supply chain collaboration, sustainability and data analysis. She is exploring different ways of sustainability approaches prevailing in various industries such as food, textile and packaging. Usha’s sustainability models help relating actual industry issues with potential solutions.

  • Elena Simone - University of Leeds

    Elena Simone was appointed lecturer of Food Crystal Engineering in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds in September 2016. She holds a BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineering (environmental curriculum) from the University of Pisa (Italy) and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Loughborough University (2015). Her research interests include:
    - Design and characterization of complex multiphase structures (e.g., foams, emulsions) stabilized by crystals.
    - Use of Process Analytical Technologies (e.g., Raman spectroscopy, laser backscattering, ultrasound technologies) for understanding, monitoring and control industrial crystallization processes.
    - Prediction of crystal properties using molecular modelling techniques

  • Diogo Souza-Monteiro - Newcastle University

    I am applied economist and Senior Lecturer in Agribusiness Management at Newcastle University, where I lead the Food Business Management and Marketing Program. I teach in agro-food marketing and economics. My research focuses on the economics on information in food markets. Specifically I study the use of information in consumer’s food choice and the role of information in supply chain coordination of food quality attributes.

  • Kerry Whiteside - Samworth Brothers

    A graduate in Food Marketing Management with over 20 years experience in developing products for the chilled food industry. The last few years has been spent finding and developing innovative concepts to shape the way we manufacture our food in the future.

  • Wantao Yu - University of Roehampton

    I am Professor of Supply Chain Management at University of Roehampton. Previously I worked at University of Kent, University of East Anglia, and Buckinghamshire New University. My current research interests include agricultural value chains, big data analytics for operations and supply chain management, sustainability in operations and supply chains, green supply chain management, and retail operations and logistics. I have successfully completed a number of research projects in the areas of big data-driven supply chain management, agri-food supply chains, and environmental sustainability. My research work has been published in peer-reviewed journals in the field of operations and supply chain management.

Adapting to climate change: climate-smart agriculture - Attendees

  • Jake Bishop - University of Reading

    I am a Lecturer in Crop Science at University of Reading. I test interventions in food production to improve productivity and resilience in a changing climate. My research portfolio is inter-disciplinary, reflecting the complexity of food. I currently have projects with food and nutrition scientists, economists and mathematical crop modellers. My specific expertise is in crop physiology, agricultural-ecology, and faba bean, a major source of sustainable UK protein. I use controlled environment experiments in combination with modelling and data analysis to understand and mitigate impacts of climate change on yield, quality and stability of crop production.

  • Gemma Bray - Applied Group

    We are a progressive Precision Livestock Farming company proactively involved in improving bird welfare and productivity. The Research & Innovations department was specifically set up, looking for solutions to challenges within the poultry industry. Current interests include: early disease detection; sensors; robotics; AI; novel nutrition; water hygiene & animal behaviour as a wellbeing indicator. Its growing project portfolio includes collaborations with academic institutions and a number of high-profile projects in the EU, China and the UK. We have a contract farming sector, providing the arena for conducting large scale commercial field trials, maximising ‘Big Data’ capture

  • Helen Cockerton - NIAB EMR

    A quantitative geneticist working in plant research with experience implementing genomic selection to advance crop cultivar generation. Current research has focused around advanced phenotyping techniques including the use of automated unmanned vehicles equipped with multispectral imaging technology to assess the normalised vegetative difference index of a wilting disease in field grown crops. Further work has combined phenotypic data generated through 3D imaging of strawberry fruit with genomic data to identify genetic components (quantitative trait loci) responsible for fruit quality.

  • Dawn Geatches - STFC

    A quantitative geneticist working in plant research with experience implementing genomic selection to advance crop cultivar generation. Current research has focused around advanced phenotyping techniques including the use of automated unmanned vehicles equipped with multispectral imaging technology to assess the normalised vegetative difference index of a wilting disease in field grown crops. Further work has combined phenotypic data generated through 3D imaging of strawberry fruit with genomic data to identify genetic components (quantitative trait loci) responsible for fruit quality.

  • Martin Hardcastle - University of Hertfordshire

    Martin Hardcastle is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Hertfordshire and works mostly on high-energy astrophysics, including the use of large datasets and Bayesian modelling/inference.

  • Manoj Menon - University of Sheffield

    Environmental soil scientist. Interested in soil-plant interactions, contaminants in the environment and in the food chain.

  • Daniel Morton - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

    Daniel completed an Bsc in Zoology, then completed an MSc in Biological Computation and DPhil in Theoretical Ecology. Over the last 25 years he has worked in commercial and research posts, mainly developing computational techniques to solve geographical and biological problems. Daniel was responsible for designing and producing the software for the production of CEH’s UK Land Cover Maps and was the PI for the UK LandCover:Plus Crops project, which resulted in the world’s first national-scale SAR-derived crop map. He currently works as an ecological remote sensing specialist at CEH Lancaster and is interested in combining satellite observations and computational methods for solving key challenges of the 21st Century. For example, natural resource management, food security and disaster mitigation.

  • Christopher Nankervis - Weather Logistics LTD

    ​Expert in meteorological data and forecasting, with previous experience as a senior research associate working on the EU SECLI-FIRM project. A good understanding of client needs in the horticultural sector for adapting to changing weather patterns and solving data challenges.

  • Electra Panagoulia - Satellite Applications Catapult

    ​I work as a data scientist within the Geospatial Intelligence team at the Satellite Applications Catapult. I work with Earth Observation data, mostly from satellites, on a daily basis, both from optical and SAR sensors. I have worked extensively on projects in the agriculture/agrifood sector, both in the UK and abroad, and have a good understanding of how EO data and analytics can help resolve some of the biggest challenges currently facing the agriculture/agrifood sector.

  • Julio Pastor-Guzman - University of Southampton

    Our key interest would be to use Earth observation data to identify where climate smart practices are happening and quantify their benefits.

  • Ed Pope - Met Office

    ​Edward is an Expert Scientist at the Met Office, with a current focus on understanding climate change impacts across a range of sectors, including food, energy, water and transport. Recent work activities include analysing the climate risk to agriculture, and assessing the risk of multi-breadbasket failures, tipping points in the global food system, developing risk assessment techniques and quantifying the economic value of seasonal forecasts. Prior to joining the Met Office in 2011, Edward held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Victoria and the University of Leeds, where he developed mathematical models of galaxy evolution.

  • Tony Pridmore - University of Nottingham

    Tony Pridmore is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, where he is Director of Research and leads the Computer Vision Laboratory. His research interests centre on image analysis and computer vision, particularly 3D reconstruction, visual tracking and their application to bioimage analysis and image-based phenotyping

  • Lizzie Sagoo - ADAS

    Lizzie is a Principal Soil Scientist at ADAS with specialist knowledge of soil and nutrient management and diffuse pollution of air and water from agricultural systems. Lizzie joined ADAS in 2003 following a PhD at the University of Leeds. Lizzie’s research has focused on sustainable intensification of agricultural systems through improved soil and nutrient management. Lizzie has detailed knowledge of precision farming and EO technologies and their use in farming systems and has developed good working relationships with farmers, advisers and the precision farming industry.

  • Devendra Saroj - University of Surrey

    Dr Devendra Saroj is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Surrey, UK. Prior to joining Surrey, he worked at UNESCO-IHE (Delft, Netherlands) as a Lecturer in Urban Water. His recent work includes water/wastewater management, nutrients in agriculture and environment, nutrient recovery from organic (food/agri) waste, decision support in water reuse, resource recovery and environmental protection. He is interested in novel approaches to nutrient recovery and application for sustainable agriculture and protection of the aquatic environment.

  • Chloe Smale - Defra

    Chloe Smale is an Evidence Specialist working within Defra’s Farming Science Evidence and Analysis team, managing the ‘Sustainable Intensification’ and ‘Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation’ portfolios of work. She also acts as the ‘Agricultural Innovations’ contact for the team. Chloe has previous experience in natural and social science research as well as working in academic journal publishing.

  • Elta Smith - RAND Europe

    Dr Elta Smith is Director of the Innovation, Health and Science research group at RAND Europe. Elta has conducted research on the human and animal dimensions of antimicrobial resistance, the use of novel and controversial technologies in the food supply chain including genetically modified foods and animal cloning, and the role of open science practices in research. Her research interests include better regulation, food safety, food security, open science, the governance of science and technology and the use of foresight methods for policymaking. 

  • Marcelo Valadares Galdos - ​Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences / University of Leeds

    I am a Met Office University Academic Fellow in Modelling Food Security and Climate Impacts, focusing on climate-smart agriculture and sustainable intensification. My background is in agronomy and soil science, assessing crop yields, nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics under different agricultural systems. My research involves using agricultural experiments, life cycle assessment, biogeochemical modelling and spatial analysis to evaluate the sustainability of food, fuel, fibre and feed production under different land use and climate scenarios. My work in the UK and globally is aimed at supporting farmers and other stakeholders in the implementation of strategies for adaptation, mitigation and increased productivity.

  • Althea Wilkinson - University of Manchester

    Semi-retired radio astronomer, currently working part time for the University of Manchester Square Kilometre Array (SKA) group on the frequency and time transfer system for the SKA.
    Career has involved radio, optical and computational astronomy, in particular modelling n-body galaxy systems and interactions. Experience in many different types of data processing. More recently has been project manager of the UK section of the Planck Low-frequency Instrument, and of the SKA Synchronisation and Data Transfer consortium.
    General interest in mitigating effects of climate change, particularly on the food supply. Working with Sarah Bridle on her forthcoming book on food and climate change. ​

  • Lisa Emberson - ​SEI York, University of York

    Lisa Emberson is the Centre Director of Stockholm Environment Institute’s (SEI) York office and a Professor of Environmental Science in the Environment & Geography Dept. at the University of York. She has over 20 years’ experience in modelling soil-plant systems for assessment of the impacts of air pollution and climate change on agriculture (arable and grassland productivity), forest productivity and productive grasslands. More recently, she has been developing plant modelling methods capable of integrating Earth Observation data to improve impact assessments for global vegetation. She works in Europe, Asia and Africa with an interest in physical, social and economic systems.

Attendees to Both Sandpits

  • Peter Allan - STFC

    Peter is an Honorary Scientist with STFC, following 25 years working at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the fields of astronomy, space science and Earth observation. He has led many software development, and data processing and analysis projects. He has worked with many international space agencies (representing the UK Space Agency) to develop standards for space data and information transfer systems, and the operation of space systems. Peter is familiar with the facilities that STFC can offer to all scientific disciplines and he wishes to bring his knowledge of data analysis techniques from astronomy and Earth observation to bear on issues relating to agri-food.

  • Ben Gardner - University of Exeter

    Dr Gardner is biophysicist who is currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter, biophysics department. Currently his time is split between the local hospital and physics department developing and applying non-invasive spectroscopic techniques to improve breast cancer detection and diagnosis. To date his work has crossed wide discipline ranges, with a particular interest in the application of non-invasive physical property monitoring i.e. pH and temperature using novel variants of Raman spectroscopy in new areas. 

  • Daniel Gerber - STFC
  • Jens Jensen - STFC

    Dr Jens Jensen is a mad scientist in STFC's Scientific Computing Department. His interests include managing hundreds of petabytes of data globally, architecting data security for research, and defining best practices for trustworthy identity management and scalable authorisation to enable researchers to collaboratively share and analyse this data. He manages and/or contributes to projects that range in scale from IoT to international research infrastructures. With a background in mathematics, he also likes to promote scientific software engineering and deployment, and mathematical methods for data analysis, statistics, and machine learning.

  • Tom Kirkham - STFC Hartree Centre

    I am a computer scientist working in business development at the Hartree Center. I have a broad knowledge of data science and HPC and specialization in data privacy and distributed ledger technologies.

  • Wayne Martindale - University of Lincoln

    Wayne directs the Food Insights and Sustainability (FIS) Research Cluster at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing (NCFM, University of Lincoln). He has delivered sustainability research since 1998 with some of our best known food brands. His doctorate was awarded in 1993 in biochemistry at the University of Sheffield and after a post doc at the University of Florida, he started a commercial career in external affairs with Levington Agriculture and the Agricultural Industries Confederation. Since then, he has developed research focussed businesses covering sustainable food production and manufacture working with CSIRO Australia, OECD Paris and other high profile partners.

  • Taff Morgan - Open University
    • Taff is highly active in analytical chemistry and the space technology translation agenda at The Open University. The first half of his career was spent developing instruments for the Rosetta and Beagle2 space missions. He has since led teams to develop a wide range of bespoke, high impact, sector disruptive solutions to terrestrial challenges, including:
    • An award winning submarine air monitoring system for use on all future UK submarines
    • Sector disruptive sampling and analysis devices for the world’s largest flavours and fragrance company, Givaudan;
    • Co-inventor on an OU patent for a miniature fluid valve, that could revolutionise satellite propulsion and planetary science instrumentation;
    • Sports anti-doping testing assays for the US Partnership for Clean Competition (PCC).
    • STFC FN+ funded projects to develop “sniffing machines” to determine the shelf life of fresh vegetables and avocados.
      He is also director of three start-up companies. 
  • Hugh Mortimer - STFC Rutherton Appleton Laboratory

    Dr Mortimer is a senior research scientist at the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, RAL Space, and Principle Investigator on the Newton Agritech Programme with China. The Newton Agritech programme is a joint £27M programme where Dr Mortimer coordinates the funding and activities between the UK and China in the area of space enabled data and technology for improved agriculture in China. In addition to being Principle Investigator on the STFC Newton Agritech Programme and Dr mortimer coordinates various research activities in the area of remote sensing of biotic and abiotic for plant health studies. Dr Mortimer has lead work in this area under projects funded by the UK research councils, Natural Environmental Research Councils (NERC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and for the European Union under a Framework 7 grant.. Prior to this Hugh worked at the National Physical Laboratory, helping to develop a Spectral Calibration Facility based on interferometric techniques, before completing his DPhil at Oxford University in 2008. During his time at Oxford, Hugh developed a Static imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (SHIFTS), which has led to the development of the microFTS instrument which was funded under a technology award that Hugh won in 2009. This research is motivated by the need to provide high accuracy spectroscopic instrumentation that are highly miniaturised and stable in extreme environments.

  • Seb Oliver - University of Sussex

    Seb Oliver is Director of the Data Intensive Science Centre in the South East Physics Network (DISCnet) expected to train ~60 PhD students across 5 Universities. He also Directs the Data Intensive Science Centre at University of Sussex (DISCUS) built to address real social and economic challenges. He is a Professor of Astrophysics and currently leads a €2.5M, EC funded, programme “The Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project, HELP” and exploits a variety statistical analysis techniques to analyse large surveys of galaxies. He has applied data analysis techniques from astronomy to a number of areas, including dementia diagnosis, and has funding for an earth observation project to study pastoral land usage in Kenya to enhance disaster forcasting

  • Robin Pinning - STFC
  • Donna Pittaway - STFC

    Dr Donna Pittaway is a Business Development Manager at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire. She works with commercial organisations, enabling them to access the unique range of electron beam and x-ray facilities at Daresbury Laboratory and the network of world-renowned experts at STFC’s Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC). Access to this unique range of particle accelerator facilities and the team of scientists and engineers that designs and builds them can help businesses to overcome technical challenges and design new ways of addressing established processes to result in faster and more cost-effective outcomes for their R&D programmes

  • Helen Rogerson - STFC

    STFC is ESA's Innovation Partner in the UK; we identify space technologies with potential to solve challenges in other sectors and then facilitate the transfer process through access to funding, introductions to new collaborators, mediation services, and promotional opportunities. Space has unique capabilities in robotics, sensors, remote handling, and data modelling and processing - capabilities that are highly beneficial for solving challenges in food production, supply chain optimisation, and climate-smart agriculture

  • John Vandore - STFC

    John has an Engineering Degree and MBA, initially in the automotive industry, in central [product] planning then front line sales of engineered products from transmissions for buses, boats, trains & battle tanks, then fire engines. Summarily fired, he went on to run companies in flow control [eg making ball valves in Birmingham - including Cryogenic Valves] progressing into corporate management, acquiring & running companies in England and North America. Back in England, he is particularly associated with Cryogenics - at RAL, STFC and beyond - with an interest in the Cold Chain and a Low Carbon Sustainable Future. 

  • Angela Walsh - STFC

    Dr Angela Walsh is the Business Development Manager for the Hartree Centre at STFC. Angela’s role is to use high performance computing, big data and cognitive technologies to help improve UK competitiveness. Dr Walsh gained her PhD at the University of Newcastle where she undertook research into the performance of primers in marine splash zones. Dr Walsh has been with STFC for nearly 5 years and her interests lie in Agri-Tech & the Water Sector’’

  • Hasna Zaher - BBSRC

    Hasna Zaher is a Strategy and Policy Manager at the BBSRC in the Science Strategy team. Hasna’s background is in chemistry and she gained her DPhil in 2012 from the University of Oxford. Since completing her DPhil, she has worked both in the food industry, gaining a thorough understanding of quality traits and the supply chain, and academia.Hasna joined BBSRC in April 2018 where her remit focuses on reducing food loss using biological interventions, and precision agriculture and smart technologies. ​

Background information on the sandpits:

Each sandpit lead to the award of 1 SFN funding award of <8k each, which e.g. can be used for pilot studies and writing proposals for bigger pots of money. 

Sandpit 1: ‘Innovation in food manufacturing and supply chains’
This sandpit investigated applying different STFC facilities, technologies and data science to improve process and/or supply chain efficiency, product quality and environmental impact of food manufacturing and supply chains. It also investigated STFC capabilities to reduce waste in food manufacturing and across their supply chains, new product development with enhanced nutrition as well as novel ingredient development (including sustainable protein).

Sandpit 2: ‘Adapting to climate change: climate-smart agriculture’
This Sandpit investigated applying novel monitoring technologies and advanced modelling from STFC to understand and mitigate current and future impacts of climate change on food production and quality. Examples of novel monitoring technologies could be from STFC Facilities, through on-farm technology to applying astronomy methods to satellite data. 

The sandpits were almost entirely discussion-based culminated with putting together funding proposals in teams. 

In selecting successful applicants to join us we were looking for:

  • people enthusiastic and able to communicate across disciplines and bring diverse perspectives
  • a diversity of backgrounds 
  • a good balance of STFC specialists and food experts and 
  • a range of career stages (early career STFC researchers are particularly encouraged to apply).
  • Strong preference given to people who could attend the whole sandpit.