Finding Sustainable Sources of Nutrition
Future Food provides opportunities to educate and train new talent around the food value chain by leveraging the complementary strengths of the Swiss academic and industrial research communities.
The fellowship is a postdoc programme for exceptionally qualified young researchers who propose projects targeting future food issues such as nutrition, production, packaging and digital health. The fellowship provides personal research funds for three years, enabling fellows to work on their projects in a research laboratory anywhere in Switzerland with a “champion” in academia (the host professor at ETH Zurich or EPFL) and in industry (the industry partner).
New publications
Natural Dibenzo-α-Pyrones: Friends or Foes? Future Food Fellow Georg Aichinger published a review comparing published data on the two groups of natural DAPs regarding both adverse and beneficial effects on human health.
Extraction and identification of phospholipids from whole grain kabog millet flour. Future Food Fellow Joan Oñate Narciso et. al analysed the content of phospholipids and showed that they can inhibit the retrogradation of starch and bind amylose in the starting period of gelatinisation.
Local seed systems remain the fundamental source of seeds for many crops in developing countries. Future Food Fellow Marianna Fenzi et. al highlighted the importance of community level conservation of crop diversity showing how farmers maintained their agroecosystem resilience through seed networks during a challenging climate event.
Faces of the Future Food Initiative
Fellowships
The number of awarded fellowships depends on how many candidates successfully complete a selection process culminating with a face-to-face interview. In addition to scientific skills, the personality and motivation of the candidates will also be considered. However, the main criterion for selection is scientific excellence combined with industrial relevance. The call for new research or translational projects is conducted once every year.