TU Dublin hosts the 53rd IFSTI Food Science and Technology Conference
TU Dublin successfully hosted the 53rd Institute of Food Science and Technology Ireland (IFSTI) Annual Conference on January 22nd and 23rd. With over 100 attendees, the conference featured four keynote presentations, 24 oral presentations and 48 poster presentations under the theme ‘Global Food Resilience: Challenges and Strategic Approaches.’
The conference has a rich history, having originated in University College Cork as an opportunity for early-stage researchers to present their work. Many of today’s established food science researchers credit the conference as their first experience of presenting at a research conference. In recent years, the event has rotated annually between institutions, with TU Dublin honoured to host the 53rd iteration.
The conference was opened by Dr Dympna O’Sullivan, TU Dublin Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Dr Declan J. Troy, President of IFSTI. The opening keynote address was delivered by Dr Catherine Barry-Ryan. The morning session also included a presentation by Róise Flaherty on ‘Sustainable Valorisation of Dairy Processing Side-Streams: Engineering Yeast Cell Factories to Produce Carotenoids from Whey.’ Róise was awarded the Overall Best Postgraduate Oral Presentation and received a travel bursary of €2,000 from IFSTI to attend the IUFoST conference in 2026.
Highlights from Day 1 included a keynote from Dr Manuel Lopez Vernaza of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, alongside presentations on the nutritional stability of phytochemicals, the potential of plant-derived ingredients, and research by TU Dublin’s Nicola Sunderland on the toxicological and bioactivity screening of Tenebrio molitor larvae.
Day 2 was opened by Professor Olivia McAuliffe of Teagasc with a keynote titled ‘Technology Driven Food Innovation: Science, Consumer and Health.’ Presentations throughout the day covered a wide range of topics, including infant in vitro gut models, salt diffusion in cheese, and a presentation by Tarryn Ohlsson (UCD) on sensory differences in Irish honey.
TU Dublin congratulates prize winners Sarah Ellen Kearney, Vishal Sharma and Emmanuel Duah Osei (poster presentations), and Róise Flaherty, Tarryn Ohlsson and Angeleigh Rose T. Cirunay (oral presentations) on their outstanding work.
TU Dublin also extends its thanks to IFSTI; keynote speakers Dr Catherine Barry-Ryan (TU Dublin), Dr Manuel Lopez Vernaza (DAFM), Professor Olivia McAuliffe (Teagasc) and Dr Brian Carson (UL); and session chairs Kaye Burgess (Teagasc), Eimear Gallagher (Teagasc), Wayne Anderson (FSAI), Declan Troy (IFSTI) and James Lyng (UCD).
The conference was collaboratively delivered by the School of Food Science and Environmental Health, the Food Innovation and Health Research Centre, and the Sustainability and Health Research Hub at TU Dublin.