Professor Metabolic Nutrition | Robert Gordon University
Valorisation of by-products from the agri, food and drink sector for identification of high value/low yield bioactives for use as nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals or cosmeceutical
Professor Bermano is a Registered Nutritionist (Nutrition Science) with the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN), held by the Association for Nutrition. She obtained her degree (Laurea) in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Milan, and her PhD in Molecular Nutrition from the Rowett Research Institute/University of Aberdeen. She joined Robert Gordon University in 2003 and, after 6 years (2009-2015) as Theme Leader for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health research within the multi-disciplinary Institute for Health & Wellbeing Research, she is now Professor in Metabolic Nutrition. She is also Director of the Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE) and Co-Director of the Centre for Natural Products in Health, which focuses on the identification of novel pharmaceutical and nutraceutical agents from plant, marine algal and food processing waste-derived sources. Professor Bermano's research focuses on identifying novel “nutraceuticals” for optimal nutrition and disease prevention and to assess their effects at molecular and cellular levels in in vitro and in vivo models of disease, or clinical studies. Her work in sustainable nutrition and nutraceuticals has led to collaborations with food and drink industries to develop methods for valorisation of by-products, isolation of high-value/low-volume chemicals, assessing their activities in biological systems and identification of mechanisms of action for use as nutraceuticals. She has ongoing partnerships with several food & drink businesses and have secured funding from Zero Waste Scotland (Circular Economy Development Grant), BBSRC-IBioIC and InnovateUK (KTP).
Severn Treescapes Project Manager | Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
Demonstrating that nature and food security are not mutually exclusive land use areas
Assistant professor | Corvinus University of Budapest
Dr. Zalán Márk Maró is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Institute of Sustainable Development, Corvinus University of Budapest. He earned his BSc degree in Rural Development and Agricultural Engineering and later completed his MSc in Business Development at Corvinus between 2015 and 2020. His research interests include food waste reduction, sustainable food systems, and short food supply chains. In November 2024, he successfully defended his PhD thesis, which analyzed both the supply and demand sides of geographically indicatation product, called pálinka. He has received several prestigious scholarships and awards. As a lecturer and researcher, he is actively involved in topics related to sustainable agriculture and the food industry, having presented at numerous national and international conferences and published widely. He has also participated in several international research projects. In 2025, he served as a visiting professor at Newcastle University.
Farm Advisor | Systems4food
Director of Planning, Economy & Wellbeing | West Lancashire Borough Council
Delivering net zero food systems in real-world places, particularly where land use, spatial planning and environmental constraints intersect. I'm interested in paludculture which we are trialling locally, protected edibles, food insecurity and agri-tech innovation.
I'm Director of Planning, Economy & Wellbeing at West Lancashire Borough Council. I lead on local plans, economic strategy, regeneration, wellbeing (including food insecurity). I've worked in regeneration, inward investment, funding, culture and placemaking. I'm particularly focused on bridging national ambition and local delivery in ways that are viable for landowners, farmers and communities
Project Manager | Pumpleback Limited
A plethora of food related topics, with my main focus currently being on enhancing food production through optimising growth conditions and growing periods.
Fascinated by our relationship to food and fuel systems, currently project managing programmes across the food and farming sector - really keen to meet like minded people who share a passion for this sector and hold innovation at their core.
Co-Founder / Director | Emergent Generation
Activities which benefit young people with an interest in sustainability of food and farming systems.
We help our community to build a sustainable, agroecological and regenerative future by supporting them with knowledge exchange, networking and collaboration.
Co-Founder / Director | Emergent Generation
Activities which benefit young people with an interest in sustainability of food and farming systems.
We help our community to build a sustainable, agroecological and regenerative future by supporting them with knowledge exchange, networking and collaboration.
Data Scientist and AI Engineer
Farmer
the roll out of an agriecological approach to more main stream farming in order to make us more food /environmentally resilient, secure and working with nature.
I have a background in health care but since the family have flown the nest have started farming cattle for beef.
PhD Candidate | Erasmus University Rotterdam
Sustainable food transitions, plant-based diets, animal welfare, consumer behavior, marketing, behavioral interventions, cognitive biases, nudging
I am a second year PhD student at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands). I am working on the European Horizon project CUES - Consumers' Understanding of Eating Sustainably and focus my research specifically on plant-based diets. My first paper addresses consumer acceptance of plant-based fish and seafood alternatives. My second research investigates consumers' willingness to reduce dairy consumption and willingness to adopt plant-based dairy alternatives across 4 European countries - Germany, Spain, Hungary, and Finland. In the future I would be interested in conducting experiments with behavioral interventions/nudging of plant-based food alternatives.
Lecturer | Queen's University Belfast
Food safety and security applications - particular interests around testing technologies, supply chain mapping, dynamic risk assessments and predictive analytics.
I lead a research group at the Institute for Global Food Security, Queen\'s University Belfast which undertakes two key strands, the first being to develop new testing methods to better detect existing threats to food security and consumer safety, the second being to map supply chains, develop risk registers, identify weak points to deploy testing technologies, and to develop strategies to improve food security and safety both in UK and internationally.
