Dr Iris Haberkorn and Byron Perez's research is recognised with international awards for their work in the field of food science.
Dr Iris Haberkorn (Senior Scientist and Project Lead) and Byron Perez (DoctoralPhD researcher), were honoured in November 2022 with internationally renowned awards in the field of food science for their outstanding academic performance related to SEC’s 'Urban Microalgae-Based Protein Production' project.
Dr. Iris Haberkorn is a food scientist aiming to drive sustainable agri-food system transformation. As a Senior Scientist and lead of the 'Urban Microalgae-based Protein Production' project at the SEC, her research focuses on the eco-efficiency enhancement of single-cell-based value-chains through the establishment of circular bioeconomy concepts. More precisely, her research contributes to leveraging the eco-efficiency of microalgae-based value-chains through the establishment of a pulsed electric field (PEF)-based biorefinery for single-cell up- and downstream processing. Dr Iris Haberkorn won the 'Young Scientist Award' from the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) during the IUFoST world conference held in Singapore on 31 Oct.
Byron Perez, who joined the SEC in August 2022, was awarded the 'MSc Master Student of the Year Award' by The European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) for his work on leveraging heterotrophic microalgae productivity through nanosecond pulsed electric fields application. His findings will be applied in SEC’s Microalgae project to upscale microalgae cultivation with a more efficient economic performance. The work was conducted at the Sustainable Food Processing Laboratory at ETH Zurich under the supervision of lead-PI Prof. Alexander Mathys in collaboration with the SEC. Byron received his award on 9 November in Dublin, Ireland.
The 'Urban Microalgae-based Protein Production' project is led by the Singapore-ETH Centre, together with the National University of Singapore (NUS), ETH Zurich, and the Agency for Science Technology and Research’s (A*STAR’s) Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI).
Both awards highlight the importance of the research conducted under the 'Urban Microalgae Protein' project for ensuring future food security. They also mirror the relevance of the two young researchers work beyond its contribution to achieve Singapore’s “30 by 30” target towards a global impact by establishing more sustainable, resilient agri-food systems. We congratulate them for these outstanding achievements!
More information on the project can be found at their project page.