ÎÞÂ붯»­

Business and Food students at ÎÞÂ붯»­ have discussed their final year research projects at an annual conference.

The event – now in its fifth year – allows its participants to both experience presenting their work at a conference and to get feedback from both their peers and University academics.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 Opening the event, Harper Adams Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan said: “I was just having a conversation with three of the people who are presenting and it’s fascinating the topics that have been picked – and it’s brilliant that it’s not only looking at things in the UK context, but also we’re going to hear about the Chinese context, we’re going to hear about the Australian context – which is great.”

Among student topics covered in oral presentations this year were consumer perceptions of pre-prepared fresh vegetables in the UK and China, the agricultural drivers of Glyphosate resistance in the UK and Australia, fast fashion in Beijing, and food labelling’s role in representing diets for people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome in UK supermarkets.

Meanwhile student poster presentations examined a variety of themes: from consumer preferences for vitamin gummies to whether smaller-scale crisp producers can effectively compete in the current snack market, and from the acceptability and appeal of powdered duckweed as a plant-based novel food protein to how people influence food safety culture in red meat processing facilities.

Professor Sloan added: “You will leave this University as knowledge creators and knowledge makers, not just knowledge takers.

“That is one of the real values of having research – instead of just being part of a thing where you listen to lecturers, and go off to do assessments that they have thought about, you get the opportunity to establish a question, understand it, find the knowledge to appreciate it and then repeat it back- so you will leave here as knowledge creators and knowledge makers.”

Prizes are also given out at the close of the conference for the best Oral and Poster presentation – with one set of winners chosen by students, and another by the University staff members who attend the day – which included Professor Sloan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Lee and Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Culture) Professor Dawn Arnold.

The Best Poster prize, as chosen by students, was secured by BSc (Hons) Agri-Food Marketing with Business student Nerys Parry, whose poster examined the value of principality origin labelling – with a focus on Welsh lamb – while the prize chosen by staff went to BSc (Hons Food Quality with Retail Management) student Kimberley Geng for her work on vitamin gummies.

Meanwhile the student choice for Best Oral Presentation went to BSc (Hons) Food Technology and Product Development  student Molly Smith for her presentation on her work on supermarket diet labelling for IBS sufferers – while the staff prize went to BSc (Hons) Food Technology and Product Development (Top Up) student Rachel Maddocks, who looked at the role staffing agencies can play in shaping food safety culture.

Senior Lecturer in Economics Dr Hairong Mu, who organises the conference each year, added: “The Conference provides such an exciting platform for all final year Business and Food students to showcase their ongoing projects with a wide range of fascinating projects – and it’s really amazing to see a turnout like this!”