As some of you may already know, I’ve been Chair of the E3S Next Generation (NG) group (Previously: Student and Early-Stage Researcher) since 2019. It was a real pleasure to lead the group to what it is today. I feel very lucky to have meet and discuss with such wonderful and open-minded individuals. I am very proud of my organizing committee which support me in the organization of new events and activities where people can share their experiences (Eurosense Early Career Research Seminar, Webinar,….). Thank you to Imogen Ramsey, Cristina Proserpio, Adriana Galinanes Plaza, Paula Conroy, Maite Iriondo De Hond.
Also, a special thank you to Christina Dietz co-chair of the group, she was very supportive by helping me with the group and its activities.
You can see a summary of our activities and achievements at the end of this article, but first, it is with sadness to announce that Christina and I are stepping down from our position in leading the group.
However, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the new Chair and co-chair of the E3S Next Generation group will be Karina Gonzalez Estanol (Chair) and Maddalena Libardi (Co-chair) both from Mexico and Italy, respectively.
In 2021, Karina joined the group as representative for Italy and wanted to be more active with the activities of the group. She was born and raised in Mexico City where she completed her bachelor’s degree in Food Engineering. After graduating, she moved to The Netherlands where she obtained her master’s degree in Food technology with specialization in Sensory Science at Wageningen University. In November 2019 she moved to Italy to start her PhD at University of Trento in collaboration with Fondazione Edmund Mach and Wageningen University. Her research focuses on investigating the sensory perception of composite foods by using a multidiscilinary approach integrating in-vivo flavour release, food structure, oral processing behaviour, and dynamic sensory methods.
Also in 2021, Maddalena joined the NG group as the recruitment and member manager within the organizing committee. Maddalena is originally from Italy where she concluded her study in Gastronomy at the University of Padua. In 2019 she moved to the Netherlands to start her specialization in Sensory Science. She showed a lot of interests and motivation for the group and its activities. Her field of research ranges from oral processing behavior to sensory perception of plant-based products. Currently she works as a Support Specialist at Eye Question.
Karina and Maddalena will outline their plans for the future of the group under their leaderships, but first I’d like to summarise what the group has achieved so far!
A look into the past
In 2015 Rocio Dorado (from Spain) and Martha Skinner (1st chair) founded the group, which has continued to grow and grow. Seven years later, we now have over 80 members, and a representative from each country associated with E3S. Representatives are active members of the group and have their profile on the website of E3S and invited to special events in exchange of Post of the month:
https://www.e3sensory.eu/working-groups/student-early-stage-researcher/representatives/
In 2019, I continue to overview all current activities of the group: Social media (LinkedIn), Post of the month, General assembly, Student oral presentation competition, … Also, I updated communication document and poster of the group to be shared on social media and with teachers at universities. In addition, I recruited a new social media manager (Adriana) who had been promoted as communication manager of the global E3S association.
In 2020, I started with the second edition of the knowledge exchange webinar which was hosted by Spain in March and it was a great success like the first one. Also, the webinar was recorded and shared to all person registered and/or interested in the topics presented. This event is an opportunity to develop and disseminate research, innovation and education in sensory science.
We started an exciting new initiative (Early Career Research Seminar) in the form of a 3h seminar which occurred during Eurosense (European conference in sensory consumer field). The presentations were selected from a worldwide pool of 130 abstracts and over 125 people joined the seminar. It was a great success for the first edition of the Early Career Research Seminar which will occur in the next Eurosense.
We’ve had group meetings with country representatives along the three years to offer them possibility to increase their network, discuss on different topics and present on-going projects.
Lastly, the main committee, Christina and I decided to develop a map with current ongoing PhD theses in Europe. It is good to see what is made across Europe and facilitate network and contact. If you are a PhD candidate in an European University and not yet on the map, you can contact us ( e3s-sesrg@e3sensory.eu ).
https://www.e3sensory.eu/working-groups/student-early-stage-researcher/phd/
Now I would like to hand over to Karina and Maddalena to share what they have in store for the group under their new leadership
What does the future hold?
We are very excited and truly determined to keep adding value and helping to achieve the goals that the previous chairs have outlined.
As the new chair and co-chair we want to encourage young researchers to actively engage with the sensory community by joining E3S-Next Generation group, as we believe we are all the next generation of leaders in this field.
We would like to continue communicating and making more visible the research that is being done by members of the next generation group by promoting the Early Career Research Seminar at different conferences, as well as integrating new ways of promotions such as individual interviews for podcasts.
Moreover, we would like to strengthen the exchange of knowledge, initiatives and collaborations across disciplines and borders, especially but not limited to research focused on sustainability issues (e.g. reduction of food waste, shifting consumer dietary choices towards more sustainable ones, increasing food diversity, etc.) since, we believe that sensory and consumer researchers can contribute in tackling the global challenges that we are all facing. In this regards we want to promote this association to younger students to encourage them into pursuing a career in sensory science and create a bridge with education.
We look forward to a successful 2022, and hope that as many of our members as possible will join our activities and help us shape and strengthen this group of the next generation of the European Sensory Society!
Sincerely,
Karina and Maddalena