IFST South East Branch Annual Branch Meeting and Lecture – The Application of Artificial Intelligence in Food

Organised by IFST South East Branch 

Join us for the IFST’s South East Branch Annual Meeting to hear about the updates of the branch from this past year and highlights of the coming year.

This will be followed by our annual branch lecture, where this year’s theme will be on ‘The Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Food’.

An opportunity for members/non-members, students, graduates and professionals to engage and discuss this topic with networking opportuntities.

What participants will learn about: Delegates will hear from three experts sharing the latest “Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Food”

Who should attend: Anyone with an interest in food science and technology and related sciences. Open to all – e.g. students, graduates and professionals, both members and non-members of IFST.

Annual Branch Meeting, 18:30 – 19:00

Annual Branch Lecture/ Presentations (19:15 – 21:00)

Speaker: Professor Nicholas Watson, University of Leeds 

Nik is a Chartered Engineer with a MEng in Mechanical Engineering (University of Hull, 2006) and PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Leeds, 2010). From 2010 - 2014 Nik work as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the Food Physics Lab at the University of Leeds where he developed several acoustic sensing technologies for industry partners. In 2014 Nik was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham and was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2020. During his time at Nottingham, Nik focussed on combining in-process sensing (acoustic and optical) with machine learning for a variety of industrial applications and developed expertise in the broad area of Digital Manufacturing within the Food and Drink Sector. Nik Joined the University of Leeds in 2023 as a Professor of Artificial Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. During his career Nik has published over 50 journal articles and led projects funded by Innovate UK, EPSRC, STFC and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Speaker: Aaron Day,Technical Sales Manager, Telus Consumer Goods

Making the future friendly. Providing innovative and connected software solutions for the Food and Agriculture industry
8 years across food manufacturing, hospitality & TIC industries 
2 years in software for the agri-food Industry.
Name of talk: AI-Powered Food Safety Culture

Speaker: Professor Louise Manning, Professor of Sustainable Agri-food Production at the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology, University of Lincoln. 

Louise Manning is Professor of Sustainable Agri-food Systems at the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology, University of Lincoln. Louise has worked for over 35 years undertaking consultancy and research to inform policy, business productivity and efficiency and personal development in the agri-food sector. Her research and consultancy expertise lies in food integrity including food safety and quality, food crime, food waste management, food governance, social and corporate responsibility. Louise brings a strong background in developing professional development programmes and executive education, applied research, and promoting innovation. She has published over 125 peer-reviewed papers and also written and edited multiple books and book chapters. Her recent work focuses specifically on traceability, transparency, ethical use of data and the increasing digitisation of food supply.

IFST member and non-members - Free
IFST member and non-members evening buffet - £10.00

If you are an IFST member, please ensure that you are logged into the IFST website before completing your booking so you can access member rates for events. Published events fees will apply to non-members and members can only gain preferential rates by logging in to their IFST account.

Sponsorship opportunities are available. For more information, click here and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions via info@ifst.org.

Please note: IFST is a registered charity with the mission of ‘recognising and empowering food professionals by promoting excellence in science and its application throughout the food chain’. Each year, we are proud to run over 60 events, including webinars and workshops, which engage with thousands of food professionals worldwide from over 50 countries. IFST members attend all webinars free of charge. All non-members who would like to attend our events will be charged a small fee and all attendees will receive a certificate of attendance. You can find details of our membership packages.