Keynote and Plenary Speakers

Keynote Lecture: Sir David King
Director, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford
Title: Managing the Earth's Food Resources to Deliver for Nine Billion

Sir David A. King is the Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, Director of Research in Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Collegio Carlo Alberto, Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and a senior scientific adviser to UBS. He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to H.M. Government and Head of the Government Office for Science from October 2000 to 31 December 2007.
Keynote Lecture: Gebisa Ejeta
Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, USA, Global Food Prize Winner 2009

The 2009 World Food Prize winner, Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia, whose sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed have dramatically increased the production and availability of one of the world's five principal grains and enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.
SAAFoST's Ernest Newbery Memorial Lecture: Werner Bauer
Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President Innovation, Technology and R&D Nestlé, Switzerland
Title: Food Science & Technology - Bridging Local and Global Needs

After completing his education in Chemical Engineering with a PhD from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Mr. Werner Bauer began his career as a Professor at the Universities of Hamburg and Munich. Between 1986 and 1990 he was Head of the Frauenhofer-Institute for Food Technology. His interest in nutrition led him to accept the position of Head of the Nestlé Research Centre in 1990, a position he held for 7 years. Mr. Bauer was then promoted to Head of Research and Development at Nestlé Headquarters in Vevey. He moved to take over Technical Management of Nestlé South Africa and subsequently the management of Nestlé Southern and Eastern region. In 2002 he took charge of Corporate Technical, Production, Environment and R&D. In 2007 he became the Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President, Head of Innovation, Technology and Research & Devlopment, Nestlé S.A.
Plenary Lecture: Diana Bánáti
Director General, Central Food Research Institute, Hungary & Chair of the Management Board, European Food Safety Authority
Title: Paradigm Change in the European Food Safety Policy

Prof. Diana Bánáti is the Director General of the Central Food Research Institute, Hungary; Chair and Professor of the Budapest Corvinus University (Department of Food Regulatory Sciences and Consumer Science) and the Szent István University (Department of Food Science). She is the Chair of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Her main field of interest is food safety. She is a lecturer in food safety, food regulatory science.
Plenary Lecture: David Schmidt
President & CEO, International Food Information Council (IFIC)
Title: Issues New and Retro: What is Driving Global Food and Health Trends

A frequent speaker on a wide range of food safety and nutrition issues. Prior to joining IFIC in 1993, Schmidt served as the first Bush Administration's director of external affairs for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Plenary Lecture: Einar Risvik
Research Director, Nofima Food, Norway
Title: Better tools for value segmentation in open innovation

The research of the institute is focused towards the industrial needs through a process with strong industrial involvement. Nofima Food is strongly linked to the food industry, in direct contact with 25% of all national food producers each year.
Plenary Lecture: Thomas Ohlsson
Professor Emiritus, SIK - The Swedish Food Institute, Gothenburg, Sweden
Title: Sustainable Food Production - Today and in the Future

Professor Thomas Ohlsson, former director of a research group on Environmental and Process Engineering and Vice President of SIK-The Swedish Institute of Food and Biotechnology in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he since 1969 has held a number of research and administrative positions. He now acts as senior advisor to SIK. He has done research on food processing and manufacturing technologies and also environmental and sustainability assessment of food production systems and products.
Plenary Lecture: Erich Windhab
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health, Zurich, Switzerland
Title: Latest advances and future perspectives for "Radical Innovation" in Food Science & Technology

Full Professor of Food Process Engineering at the Institute of Food Science and Nutrition at the ETH Zurich since April 1991. Prof. Windhab's research priorities are fluid technological processes for microstructuring of multiphase systems, mainly in the food-related field. He connects the domains of rheology, fluid dynamics, micro structuring analysis and process-/apparatus development.
Plenary Lecture: Mr Cliff Sampson
Managing Director: Foodcorp Consumer Brands, South Africa
Title: A Manufacturer's View on the Shape of the South African Food Industry

Cliff has spent the last thirty years working in the fast moving Consumer Goods Industry fulfilling the role of Managing Director for sixteen years. He has worked for both South African and Multi-National companies and prior to joining Foodcorp in 2008 he was Managing Director of National Brands for eight years. Cliff has a Dip. Inst Marketing Management, MAP(Wits) and a MBA from Henley. He currently is the Managing Director of The Foodcorp Consumer Brands Division looking after six business units viz. Baking, Beverage, Fishing, Grocery Milling, and Pies.
IUFoST Distinguished Lecturer: Nina Fedoroff
Science and Technology Advisor to the US Secretary of State, US State Department
Title: Issues of Our Time: Rethinking Food Production in a Hotter, Drier World

Dr. Fedoroff is an American professor at Penn State University known for her research in life sciences and biotechnology. She is currently on leave from Penn State to serve as Science and Technology Adviser to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and administrator of USAID, and served in the same role under former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Dr. Fedoroff has won a number of prestigious awards, including the 2006 National Medal of Science in the field of Biological Sciences, the highest award for lifetime achievement in scientific research in the United States. She has published numerous articles in scientific journals and has produced two books dealing with biotechnology and food science, including "Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods." President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Fedoroff to the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation, in 2001.