Large corridor with high ceilings and columns with many people looking around blue poster boards.

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MEETinLEEDS celebrates hosting a record-breaking success of Food Colloids Conference, as international academia, consumer industries and equipment companies meet

MEETinLEEDS is celebrating the success of the recent 17th Food Colloids Conference: Application of Soft Matter Concepts, which took place between 8th – 11th April 2018 at the University of Leeds. MEETinLEEDS collaborated with the School of Food Science and Nutrition to welcome 300 delegates from 29 nations who attended the conference to expand and exchange knowledge in Food Colloids. The event marked the return of the conference to the UK after 14 years and was a major success, with a record-breaking number of high quality posters in the conferences’ history.

MEETinLEEDS, the conference facilities of the University of Leeds, welcomed delegates to the iconic Parkinson Building at the University of Leeds for three days of science-packed talks, presentations and demonstrations. The social programme included a York sightseeing experience followed by a live-country music and conference dinner at the National Railway Museum on the 10th April. 300 delegates representing internationally renowned research and academic institutions, as well as leading food, soft matter industries and instrument companies from 29 nations, attended, with key FMCGs including Nestlé, Unilever, Arla, L’Oréal, Danone and Mars finalising the list.

The conference boasted a record-breaking number of 182 high quality posters; the highest in the history of the Food Colloids Conference, which was founded in 1986 in Leeds. These posters were presented by academics across different levels and experiences – from students through to pioneers in the field, coming from all over the world and from various disciplines, including food science, mechanical engineering, nutrition and pharmaceutical science. The posters were on display in the Parkinson court for the entire duration of the conference, including coffee breaks, lunches and drinks receptions, facilitating high level of interactions and engagement. The formula of single oral presentation sessions rather than parallel sessions also kept delegates engaged whilst updating them with cutting-edge scientific discoveries in Food Colloids, with this year’s theme being the application of Soft Matter Concepts.

Leeds’ internationally recognized strength and reputation in the Food Colloids domain helped MEETinLEEDS win the bid, with the University of Leeds being home to the biggest and most highly cited Food Colloids and Processing academic group in Europe. The Food Colloids Group at the University of Leeds is internationally acclaimed for its interdisciplinary research worldwide, ranked first in Europe and third in the World according to field-weighted citation impact in Food Colloids, making it an ideal location for the conference destination, alongside it originating in Leeds.

Anwesha Sarkar, Associate Professor of Food Colloids at the School of Food Science & Nutrition at the University of Leeds, who is the conference chair commented: “We are delighted with the incredible success of our recent conference held in Leeds, and felt it truly highlighted the excellent conferencing facilities the city has to offer. The event offered an ideal environment for inspiring scientific conversation, with new knowledge uncovered as Food Colloids research reaches an important crossroad with paradigm shift towards ‘tailored’ food design for improving nutrition and human health.

There was a strong focus on the use of advanced structural characterization techniques that ranged from macro scale to few nanometers to understand complex food structures being presented by experts from various disciplines (from food science to pharmaceutical science to physics to mechanical engineering to biology). The buzzing city of Leeds also has a vibrant multi-cultural aspect and it is only a few miles from the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, where we had the opportunity to sightsee during the social event organized for the conference delegates – we are aiming to visit again soon!”

Harriet Boatwright, Sales & Marketing Manager at MEETinLEEDS, added: “We are so pleased with the successful outcome of the Food Colloids conference. Not only was it brilliant to attract such a high profile conference due to the excellent work of the School of Food and Nutrition and our conferencing offering, but it was a huge success having returned to the UK after 14 years. It was great to showcase some of our iconic venues, such as the Parkinson Building which hosted the record-breaking poster session enabling excellent networking, and we look forward to welcoming more events such as this over the coming year.”