Two food experts join the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Two new experts have joined the Food Innovation Centre team at the University of Nottingham. Food innovation technologist Kavya Krishnamurthy and Research Associate Vlad Dinu are now part of the team offering expertise in food innovation to small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Both Kavya and Vlad bring substantial knowledge of food and drink innovation to the table, and we are delighted to welcome them on board.
The Food Innovation Centre, based at the Bioenergy and Brewing Science building at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, offers free support to eligible small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire under the Driving Research and Innovation project - a three-year project that runs until the end of June 2023. Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the D2N2 LEP, the project is run by the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, in conjunction with the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory in the School of Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and in association with the Midlands Engine. It is a unique collaboration project that provides free specialist innovation support to small and medium-sized businesses.
Kavya has previously worked in a variety of roles in the food industry, first as a qualified chef and member of the UAE Junior National Culinary Team, Dubai, and later leading product development for her family's instant packaged foods business Veekes & Company in Bangalore, India. Keen to merge her skillset and experiences, she completed her MSc in Food Science and Innovation from Manchester Metropolitan University and joins the Food Innovation Centre as a food innovation technologist. She is also a member of the IFST Food Processing Special Interest Group. Prior to joining the Food Innovation Centre as a Research Associate, Vlad worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Nottingham. He completed his Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-funded PhD in 2019 looking at ways to maximise flavour during food oral processing. He then successfully secured the 2019 EPSRC Doctoral Prize – with the funding allowing him to continue his research into the biophysical effects of flavourings on biological molecules. His interests lie in the area of consulting, innovation, analysis and management of food interactions.
For more details about the Food Innovation Centre, visit: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/fic/foodinnovation-centre.aspx