Dr. Kai Knoerzer has a background in process engineering (BSc), chemical engineering (MSc) and food process engineering (PhD, summa cum laude), all awarded from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). In 2006, he commenced work with Food Science Australia (a joint venture of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Victorian Government) as a Postdoctoral fellow. He has since become a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO Agriculture and Food. Kai has a proven track record in food process engineering research and development, particularly of innovative technologies. Currently, he is leading research and venture science activities across a number of innovative food processing technologies, including high pressure thermal processing and extrusion technology. Kai’s work has shown both science impact, with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, conference proceedings and book chapters, 7 patents/applications, 4 edited books and over 100 oral and 50 poster presentations at national and international conferences, as well as commercial impact in the food industry. His work has also been recognised with various international awards for research excellence. Kai has been an active member of IFT’s International Division in the leadership team for >10 years and is past chair of this division. Kai serves Elsevier's Food Science Reference Collections as the Food Process Engineering section editor. Dr Robert Sevenich has a background in food technology and got his PhD from the Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) in 2016. Currently, he is working as a Post-Doc and group leader at the department of food biotechnology and process engineering at the Technische Universität Berlin. His main research focus is on high pressure processing as a tool for sterilization & pasteurization purposes and its influence on vegetative microorganisms, spores, nutrients and food processing contaminants in model and real-food systems. Robert has written 20 peer-reviewed papers, worked on numerous European projects, has given over 40 presentations and received numerous awards. Robert is a subsection editor of Elsevier’s Major Reference Work “Innovative Food Processing Technologies – A Comprehensive Review. Robert was also the chair of the international division of the Institute of Food Technologist from 2018-2019 and is currently serving as a past chair.
