Future Leaders

Our impact on postgraduate and postdoctoral education and training means we are always developing our future food science leaders and creating an enhanced capacity for food research and food innovation in the New Zealand agri-food sector.

Read Impact Case Studies here

What does it mean to be a
Riddet Institute PhD Student?

Dr Tim Angeli is a Senior Research Fellow at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and member of the Riddet Institute. In this presentation, he gives his thoughts on what it is really like to join us for postgraduate study. View it here

Awards

Our Doctoral and Post Doctoral scholars regularly win a variety of awards for their work.
Here are a few examples of recent awards:

Feng-Ming Chian

Meat Science Young Scientist Award for the second best oral presentation by the international journal, Meat Science at 64th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST) in Melbourne, Australia from 12 -17th August 2018.

Olivia Ogilvie

2018 AACCI Protein Division Best Student Paper Award Cereal & Grains 18’, American Association for Cereal Chemistry International, London, UK, 21st – 23rd October 2018.

Riddet Institute Student
Communicator Award Winners

Every year the Riddet Institute holds a Student colloquium and the best presenter is selected for this award.

2021 Laura Payling
2020 No winner
2019 Alex Kanon
2018 Hoang Du Le
2017 Nick Smith
2016 Sewuese Okubanjo
2015 Shikha Pundir
2014 Nadia Berger
2012 Niranchan Paskaranavadivel
2011 Tim Angeli
2010 Lisa Te Morenga
2009 Thilo Berg

Conference Presentations

We provide a variety of training opportunities and funding to enable students to present their work at overseas conferences and other forums, or to join with other specialists in their filed around the world.

Sarah Priour recently presented to the Global Food Science Student Competition 2018, in Wuxi, China (14-18 Nov 2018). She presented a poster on “Impact of lipid on the protection of Lactobacillus rhamnosus under temperature fluctuations occurring during transport”.

Laura Payling, Anika Hoogeveen, and Starin McKeen recently presented papers and posters at Focus on Fibre and Food Monitoring Conference 11-12 February 2019 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Dr Julia Low, Maheeka Weerawarna, Esther Onguta and Janita Botha presented at the 13th NZOZ Sensory and Consumer Science Symposium, 3-5th February 2019 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Industry Internships

The Riddet Institute developed a new scheme that provides funding so that eligible industry partners can offer our young scientists practical experience in the corporate workplace, helping to prepare them for their first graduate employment opportunity in food science and related areas.

Industry partners gain technical hands-on project support from high-calibre interns, whilst showcasing their skills and suitability for relevant employment opportunities that may arise in the future.

PhD students develop new skills, industry insights and grow connections in a commercial agri-food environment. Aligning the placement with the student’s research topic is not essential; rather, the value of the placement is in developing relationships with industry partners, experiencing a commercial work environment and strengthening the pathway to meaningful employment. There are up to 5 available placements per year and projects can be 3-6 months.

The Riddet Institute provides funding to offer elite student scientists practical experience in the corporate workplace. We support business and industry partners with hands-on technical project support from high-calibre interns for research and development.

Contact Melanie Ruffell, our Stakeholder Relationship Manager if you would like further information or to discuss options.