Intensive week in the Blue Food PhD course
During week 10, an intensive course week was held at Kristineberg Center in Fiskebäckskil. PhD students and course participants from industry gained new knowledge about seafood production, with a Swedish and global perspective.
This year, Blå Mat's new PhD course was held for the first time and a group of 17 motivated students were fully focused on absorbing new knowledge from teachers from both academia and industry.
The course examiner is Ingrid Undeland, Professor of Food Science at Chalmers.
"I've been looking forward to the first version of this Blue Food PhD course," says Ingrid Undeland, "in addition to giving students an opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge about seafood, I'm sure it will lead to new projects and collaborations with industry.
One of the course participants is Mar Vall-Llosera Juanola, a Blue Food PhD student at Chalmers with a focus on algae.
My background is in product development and how different ingredients work. But I have limited experience in Swedish primary seafood production. I am taking the course because I want to learn more about fishing, farming, innovation in the sector and the challenges and needs of the industry now and in the future.
So far the course has been exciting, focusing on the seafood value chain from primary production to consumer behavior. We have learned about seafood production from fishing and farming, product development and the importance of seafood from an industry perspective. We have had lectures with experts in different parts of the seafood industry and heard about the future challenges they want to tackle. I recommend the course to those interested in the seafood value chain, it is also an excellent opportunity to meet a mixed group of students and professionals in the sector.
John Axelsson is also a Blue Food PhD student at Chalmers, focusing on small pelagic fish.
I see the course as a great opportunity to network with other PhD students working with seafood and to find links and contacts with the course lecturers for future collaborations and maybe even career opportunities after the PhD.
Although the course is intensive, with a packed schedule during the week at Kristineberg, he is happy with his choice to take the course.
The course really gives a broad perspective on the whole area, covering many different areas and now I know who to contact after the course if I want to go deeper into any area. It is also well organized with everything from accommodation and food to daytime activities, group work and social activities in the evenings.
Emma Gabrielsson, Sustainability Manager at Guldhaven Pelagiska also attended the course.
I am so impressed! This course gave me who work with these issues more insight into different areas that we can develop and improve, and I got to meet all the inspiring doctoral students. I hope that this will lead to more collaborations within the Blue Food Center's initiative and I really look forward to following all the doctoral students in the future and how we can help develop the future of seafood in Sweden.
The course "Seafood: from production to consumption" will be offered next in 2024.
(This is an adaptation of a text by Susanne Nilsson Lindh, Chalmers. The group photo is taken by Simon Ungman Hain, GU)