In the first session regarding Food Design Engineering, AgroParisTech’s own Marwen Moussa invited guest speaker Kurt Callaghan from Ingredion Incorporated USA to speak on the subject of sustainable development. His presentation instigated reflection on the meaning of sustainability and the true criteria needed to achieve a durable solution, bringing along many interesting questions from the audience on what they could anticipate to see of this in the years to come. After the presentation, students from the Food Design Engineering track had the chance to present their master thesis projects.

The second session was presented by Paola Vitaglione from UNINA. Paola introduced the Healthy Food Design specialization, bringing to the stage Professor Josep Rubert from Wageningen University to introduce his preliminary research on the effects of the degree of mastication on the microflora and digestibility of food. This cutting-edge research introduced how a simple question gone unanswered could result in a detailed scientific approach to further understanding how our bodies interact with its fuel. Later on, students from the Healthy Food Design track presented their master thesis

The third session was hosted by FIPDA, the FIPDes alumni committee. They discussed their goals, missions and involvement in keeping the FIPDes community a growing and connected population that seeks to help and elevate one another. Ending with a round-table event where alumni shared their experience during FIPDes and navigating the world after graduation.

As goes without saying, food is an important part of any FIPDes event! A lunch break was taken with an intercultural meal highlighting cuisines and specialties from the regions of the many esteemed guest speakers. This left us all with the opportunity to mingle among peers and professionals and discuss culture, experience and our many curiosities.

The fourth session introduced the last of the specializations, Food Package Design and Logistics in Lund. Erik Andersson took the stage to introduce us to a special guest, Ulf Nyman from Tetra Pak Sweden. Ulf introduced us not only to the importance of packaging in the development of food and the innovative measures being explored to produce them sustainably.

The last session of the day was held by TU Dublin where Anna Cruickshank introduced us to our final speaker of the evening Margaret Connolly who introduced us to the interesting area of market insights and consumer behaviour, aligned with the topics of culinary innovation and new product development studied in Dublin during FIPDes second semester. This presentation allowed us to understand the importance of consumers as a centre for decision-making in food formulation and the future of the food industry.

We ended the day with the Professional Communication Awards for best poster, best flash presentation and best master thesis picture. Finally, the graduates of Cohort 11 presented their projects at the poster session along with a networking cocktail where both students and teachers had the opportunity to learn about this year’s thesis. From Cohort 13, we want to thank the FIPDes staff for the organization of the FIPDes Day and want to congratulate Cohort 11 for their accomplishments. We hope to see the amazing projects of Cohort 12 next year!