Since 2013, we organise our annual contest attracting the talent of tomorrow, rewarding a high-quality thesis inspired by healthy or plant-based food. As of 2023, the Vandemoortele Healthy Food Award is now called the Vandemoortele Plant-Based Foods Award. And we already have a winner!
The freshly graduated MSc Food Technology Kelly Kristabel Wibowo has won our Vandemoortele Plant-Based Foods Award 2023. Her thesis on plant-based drinks showed excellence and convinced the jury.
Kelly received her award at the proclamation of the international masters from our partner, the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of UGent. She states: “This award will always remain very special to me as I completed my internship at the R&D center in Izegem, under the bakery business lines. I was introduced to the R&D environment, met many inspiring colleagues, and gained interesting knowledge on bakery science.”
This award will always remain very special to me.
Picture: Nele Beirinckx, our Group R&D, Quality & Master Data Director, hands over the award to our winner at UGent. Kelly gets a money prize of € 1000 and a certificate of merit.
R&D: developing together
In 2012, our ‘Vandemoortele Lipid Science & Technology Centre’ joined forces with the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of the University of Ghent (Belgium). In light of our objective, the research centre wants to acknowledge excellent research in the domain of plant-based foods. Hence, an annual award has been established in 2013, the Vandemoortele Healthy Foods Award.
With our growing focus on plant-based products, we award a high-quality master thesis on fundamental or application research dealing with plant-based foods (including but non-limiting to production, optimisation, evaluation, characterisation, preservation, formulation, sensory aspects, sustainability or health impact).