• BACKGROUND

Aquatic food is important to human health and nutrition. Its security is of increasing concern as many wild stocks around the globe are currently over exploited and reaching their maximum sustainable production. As a result, aquaculture has become a vital contributor to the production of aquatic food; one of the world’s largest growing food production technologies; and an important source of income and livelihood for billions of people around the world.

Within Europe, growth has stagnated over the last 20 years and the region relies heavily on imported aquatic foods. The sector has underperformed in this region due to a complex set of economic, environmental, technical, political, welfare and market factors. The demand and opportunities for aquaculture production are extensive and lucrative. It is essential Europe overcomes the barriers within its aquaculture supply chain to secure a strong position in the global marketplace to convert these opportunities into valuable business, significant new employment and greater wealth for rural and coastal communities.

• THE GOAL

The aim of this Autumn School is to provide an overview of aquaculture production in Europe, showcase the worldwide opportunities, outline the current barriers and facilitators to production, encourage talented recruits and aspiring entrepreneurs into the sector and to create innovative solutions to address the challenges to production. The programme will also facilitate stakeholder engagement and partnerships through, for example, academic lectures, industry speakers, site visits and other networking/value-added activities.

• FORMAT

The Autumn School is a 4 week programme (part-time) which provides introductory training and theory in finfish, shellfish and algae biology, culturing, growth and molecular and metabolite analysis, under laboratory and small to large scale growth facilities. The programme will also outline the complex set of economic, environmental, technical, welfare, political and market issues which impact the aquaculture sector, from a stakeholder's perspective; and encourage students to develop innovative solutions to increase the sectors productivity and profitability. It will include a mixture of lectures, guest speakers and on site visit related to sustainable aquaculture production and food security. The blended programme will incorporate live online lectures and online training/experiences via Canvas. Throughout the Autumn School, participants will work with the entrepreneurship team to come up with innovative solutions to increase the productivity and profitability of the sector and present their business plan at a final pitch event. Throughout this entrepreneurship journey, the Aquaculture consortium will provide industry specific mentoring.

• WHO SHOULD APPLY?

We are looking for individuals that are passionate to transform our food system into a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system for all. In particular, we are looking for aspiring entrepreneurs with a keen interest in the aquaculture and the marine sector, who would love to come up with innovative potential business ideas to revolutionise the industry. Ideally, we are seeking undergraduates, postgraduates, posts-docs and professionals working in the marine or aquaculture sector. We are interested in individuals from multidisciplinary backgrounds to work in teams to come up with innovative ideas e.g. Marine Biology, Aquaculture, Food Sciences, Engineering, Business / Marketing, Informatics and Computational Science, among others.

The Sustainable Aquaculture Inspire Autumn School has been designed and developed by the EIT Food partners below:

• Dr Michaela Fox - Lecturer (Education) - Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast
• Dr Payam Mehrshahi - Senior Research Associate - Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge
• Dr René Groben - Molecular Microbiologist - Microbiology Research Group, Matís Iceland
• Dr Daniel Żarski - Assistant Professor, specialist in freshwater aquaculture - Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research
• Dr Matt Davey - Algal Physiologist - Scottish Association for Marine Science
• Dr Michael Ross - Algal Biotechnologist - Scottish Association for Marine Science

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

EMPTY ALL looks to reduce non-intended food and packaging waste by improved packaging design and technology.

• THE PROBLEM

Dealing with viscous and sticky food products is a big challenge for the food industry. Wasting food due to inappropriate packaging design causes major losses, whilst packaging materials ‘contaminated’ with food left-overs are impossible to recycle efficiently. Both facts lead to customer (B2B) and consumer (B2C) frustrations.

• THE CHALLENGE

To rethink and redesign commercial industry food-packaging systems which contribute to increased food loss and packaging waste due to non-functional food product release.

• WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
  

We are seeking innovative students from various backgrounds: agricultural sciences, food science, engineering, packaging technology, consumer science, business/marketing, informatics and computational science to build multidisciplinary teams to overcome this industry challenge. (Please still get in touch if your study programme falls outside those listed as we are interested in students from different backgrounds so we can discuss further if the programme is right for you).

You will be mentored by Industry Partners such as Nestle, Puratos, Flanders Food, Grupo AN and Syntegon and have support from research institutes DIL, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Swiss Food Research and be guided along the journey by Queen's University Belfast.

• OUTCOME

You will develop a packaging prototype and a valid business case which will be judged alongside the other teams in December and the winner announced.

A unique entrepreneurship, mobility programme for food & agtech start-ups from PhD students across Europe.

The EIT Food Global Food Venture Programme will support 30 highly-qualified PhD students from across Europe to turn their science into viable business in the Food & AgTech space. Join the 4th cohort to bring your innovative research from the lab to the market!

The Global Food Venture Programme offers a 6-Month curriculum designed to address the needs of aspiring entrepreneurs and early phase start-up ventures from PhD students. The programme comprises a 10-day Summer School in Entrepreneurship, 1-week Bootcamp in Business Incubation, an International Bootcamp with experts from the famous Silicon Valley and individual Mobility Grants for business meetings with industry partners to validate technology feasibility and value propositions.

The 2021 edition will conclude with a Final Competition Event, where students pitch their business plan in front of a jury and have the chance to win up to 10K cash Prizes for best start-up project. Participants are supported along this journey with one-on-one Business Coaching to advance start-up ideas and create solid business propositions in the food & agtech space. 

Apply to the programme to gain knowledge & skills in business creation, expert insights, showcases, mentoring and great networking opportunities!  

Application for 2021 is now OPEN!

For more information, check out the newsletter below:

EIT Food GFV newsletter 2021