2023 Speakers

We are seeking for speakers to share their experience, expertise, opinions and best practices in NutrEvent conferences.
If you are interested, please contact Marion Loizurot.

Learn more about the NutrEvent 2023 speakers:

Over 60 international experts will share their experience and knowledge in the Food, Human and Animal Nutrition sectors.
They will discuss current innovation stakes and provoke conversations that matter for players in food supplements, finished food products and animal nutrtion.

Anouk Gijbels

Anouk Gijbels

Post-doctoral researcher
The NetherlandsWageningen University & Research

Anouk Gijbels is a post-doctoral researcher working on precision nutrition and postprandial metabolism at the Division of Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research. She holds a PhD from the same university, during which she conducted a pioneering precision nutrition trial to test effects of a more personalised dietary intervention on cardiometabolic health outcomes. Combining human dietary intervention studies with extensive phenotyping, Anouk investigates inter-individual variation in dietary response to better understand why everyone responds differently to nutrition, mostly in the context of obesity and cardiometabolic health.

Anouk Gijbels

Post-doctoral researcher
The NetherlandsWageningen University & Research
Antje Räuscher

Antje Räuscher

Co-head/Partnerships Lead
GermanyProVeg Incubator

Antje Räuscher is the Co-Head and Partnerships Lead at the ProVeg Incubator, the world’s first and leading accelerator program for alt-protein startups globally. Driven by the challenges of our food system Antje joined the ProVeg in 2019, to build the ProVeg Incubator and has since worked with more than 90 startups to date. She has more than eight years of experience across startup innovation, strategy development as well as deep knowledge in the alternative protein industry.

Prior to joining Antje worked in business development and consulting for startups, corporates and for the German Agency for International Cooperation. She studied Business and Economics in Berlin, Seoul, Shanghai and Copenhagen.

Antje Räuscher

Co-head/Partnerships Lead
GermanyProVeg Incubator
Antonio J. Meléndez Martínez

Antonio J. Meléndez Martínez

Full Professor
SpainUniversidad de Sevilla

Prof. Antonio Jesús Meléndez Martínez is a Standford University’s World’s 2% Scientist since 2020.

His main research interest deals with. the sustainable production of health-promoting foods, with a strong focus on carotenoids and derivatives in the context of agro-food, health and cosmetics.

He obtained his PhD in Pharmacy in 2005 at Universidad de Sevilla. He has also conducted research at University of Liverpool, Royal Holloway University of London (UK) and USDA-Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USA).

He was the coordinator of two large international networks on carotenoids, one Iberoamerican funded by the CYTED (IBERCAROT network) and another European funded by COST (COST Action EUROCAROTEN). Altogether scientists from more than 50 countries were involved.

Some awards and recognitions:

  • Extraordinary Prize of Doctorate.
  • International Carotenoid Society George Britton Award for Young Researcher.
  • Fellow of the International Carotenoid Society.
  • Manuel Losada Award to Excellence in Agro-food Research.
  • Iberoamerican Academy of Pharmacy Award.
  • Induction into the scientific honour society Sigma Xi.

He has been a fellow of very competitive programmes, such as Marie Curie, Juan de la Cierva and Ramón y Cajal.

He has published over 100 research papers, 10 book chapters and edited a free book on carotenoids (https://idus.us.es/xmlui/handle/11441/68953).

He has been an invited speaker at many scientific events (Pigment in Foods, Symposium of Carotenoids, Green Extraction of Natural Products Congress, Gordon Research Conference, Brain and Ocular Nutrition Conference etc.) and at industry-oriented events (Nutraceuticals Europe, Vitafoods Europe, Nutrevent).

He has been involved in the organization of communication activities such as the infoday “Raising awareness about the socioeconomic importance of carotenoids” in Brussels (2019).

He has also produced informative videos in non-technical lenguage about the importance of carotenoids (Informative videos about carotenoids).

Dr. Meléndez-Martínez has also delivered talks at R+D+I policymakers-oriented events.

Antonio J. Meléndez Martínez

Full Professor
SpainUniversidad de Sevilla
Aurore de Monclin

Aurore de Monclin

Consulting Partner
Francethe HMT

Aurore de Monclin has over 15 years of global experience from Farm to Pharma with a specific focus in Nutrition, Health & Sustainability. Aurore is an expert in detecting the opportunities for growth and the elaboration of the corresponding roadmap for companies and brands that want to be the game-changers in their industry. She is a specialist in the vision and implementation of strategies to enable the right ideas to win. Aurore enjoys translating science into consumer language and delivering commercial value.

Healthy Marketing Team specialise in serving the change-makers in the food & nutrition industry. They are experts in enabling the right ideas to win. They have the knowledge, the ambition to be a partner in change and a speed-to-change formula from insights to activation.

Aurore de Monclin

Consulting Partner
Francethe HMT
Benoit Cudennec

Benoit Cudennec

Associate Professor
FranceUniversité de Lille

Benoit Cudennec obtained his PhD in Marine Biotechnology and Physiology, focused on the valorization of proteins from fisheries co-products by hydrolysis and identifying bioactive peptides involved in regulating energy homeostasis. Associate professor at Lille University, he teaches biochemistry and carries out his research activity in the team “Health benefits of protein hydrolysates and agro-food co-products: production control, characterization and valorization” of the UMRT BioEcoAgro 1158. His multidisciplinary research focuses on studying specific physiological processes that lead to beneficial health effects and originate at the intestinal level following the digestion of proteins.

Benoit Cudennec

Associate Professor
FranceUniversité de Lille
Bram Kerkhof

Bram Kerkhof

Head of Product
DenmarkReduced

Bram Kerkhof: An innovator with an appetite, I specialize in food experimentation, fermentation, and sustainability; solving production problems to yield better taste, for less – effort, waste, or cost. I thrive when applying design thinking to the kitchen, and cultivating curiosity & creativity across team members. Equipt with a Bsc in Microbiology, Msc in Food Innovation, and 12 years of professional kitchen experience I’ve found my niche in leveraging microbes to create unique flavors. Led by deliciousness I use my knowledge to find solutions for a healthier, tastier food system.

Bram Kerkhof

Head of Product
DenmarkReduced
Canberk Genc

Canberk Genc

Change and Education Programs – Founder
SpainRural PM

Canberk is a farmer, management advisor, system thinker in agriculture, food systems and organizational agility subjects. He led many initiatives with pioneering organizations on a global scale, counting more than 82000 hours project portfolio management experience in environments such as banking, app and SaaS development, biotech, supply chain, retail, hospitality and agriculture. After witnessing environmental erosion and participating in group studies in the EU Commission, he helped to establish Rural PM (a farm to fork life cycle incubator and an educational organization) in 2016 with the aim of strengthening the management models of farm to fork system actors to improve their value creation in a regenerative way.

Canberk Genc

Change and Education Programs – Founder
SpainRural PM
Catherine Lefranc-Millot

Catherine Lefranc-Millot

Senior Nutrition and Health R&D Manager
FranceRoquette Group

Catherine Lefranc-Millot qualified as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (from the National Veterinary School, Maisons-Alfort, France) and later obtained a French PhD in Biotechnology (from the University of Technology, Compiègne, France).

Prior to working for Roquette, she had managed for several years a research team in a French dairy company, working around milk peptides, proteins and hydrolysates with specific biological activities, compatible with food and nutraceutical applications.

She has been working for Roquette since 2005, first as the Corporate Scientific Communications Manager for Nutrition and Health (R&D), then (since 2016) as a Senior Research Manager Nutrition and Health. Her research is specifically focused on long-term, prospective and exploratory research, around plant-based proteins and their derivatives, interested in their potential impact on nutrition and health.

Catherine Lefranc-Millot

Senior Nutrition and Health R&D Manager
FranceRoquette Group
Christian Diener

Christian Diener

Senior Research Scientist
USAInstitute for Systems Biology

I study the interactions between microbial communities and their environment using genomic and experimental strategies. I mainly focus on the gut microbiota – the community of bacteria living in our gut – and its impact on our health. For that I use a variety of computational strategies revolving around statistics and mechanistic models to identify potential connections between the microbiome and host health and validate them in the wet lab.

I was originally trained in computational biology during my bachelor’s degree at the Free University in Berlin, and transitioned to systems biology during my PhD studies in the International Max Planck Research School for Computational Biology and Scientific Computing, where I worked on signaling pathways in yeast communities. I became interested in research operating on the interface of microbial communities and human health and dove deeper into each of those in my two following positions. In my first postdoctoral fellowship at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, I designed multifunctional antimicrobial peptides and in my second postdoc at the National Institute for Genomic Medicine in Mexico, I studied metabolic alterations in human cancers and the microbiome in type 2 diabetes. This ignited my passion for metagenomics and molecular ecology as an interface between microbes and human health and led to my current research position.

Christian Diener

Senior Research Scientist
USAInstitute for Systems Biology
Christina Reh

Christina Reh

Co-Founder
GermanyAiko Pet Foods

Christina Antonie Reh is a senior researcher at HSLU Lucerne in the field of consumer behavior, and sustainable consumption. After her studying at WHU, LMU, and Columbia University, and having worked in consumer goods for several years, Christina co-founded two companies that foster a more sustainable consumption, Aiko Pet Foods and Baybies. Aiko produces insect-protein based food for dogs. The larvaes used for their products are grown on food byproducts, which enables them to optimize the nutritional value for dog feed and produce in a highly sustainable, circular manner.

Christina Reh

Co-Founder
GermanyAiko Pet Foods
Colette Shortt

Colette Shortt

Regulatory & Nutrition Specialist

Colette (PhD, MBA) is an independent regulatory specialist and a registered public health nutritionist with over 30 years industry experience gained in European and Global scientific and regulatory leadership roles (SmithKline Beecham, Yakult, McNeil Nutritional and Johnson & Johnson). At J&J, she successfully coordinated one of the first disease risk reduction health claims in EU. She is active in scientific advisory boards focussed on innovation (NICHE, EC Microbiome Projects Masters, MicrobiomeSupport and the KTN Microbiome Network. As Global Regulatory Affairs Director Emerging Science & Open Innovation, working with both J&J Consumer Health, and World Without Disease Accelerator Janssen, Colette conducted due diligence on microbiome start-up propositions and early pipeline projects. Colette is a member of the European Council of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Association for Nutrition.

Colette Shortt

Regulatory & Nutrition Specialist
Corinne Forget

Corinne Forget

Market Manager Petfood & Livestock
FranceJRS Rettenmaier France

I graduated at AgroParistech Paris Grignon in 1995 with a Master of Science in Agronomy & Lifesciences, and I did my final specialization in  Animal sciences.

I started to work as an R&D Monogastric Nutritionist & Project Manager and then became Head of Formulation Department (Trouw Nutrition, France –Nutreco group – during 11 years)From 2009, I have worked for international additives company to develop solutions for Animal Nutrition & Petfood, focusing on nutritional benefits, immunity & health strategies : I worked especially for Zinpro a world specialist of Organic Trace minerals and Perstorp a chemical specialist on role of  Acidifiers and SCFA on hygiene and gut health..

Since 2023, I joined Rettenmaier France (JRS group).

We are actively promoting Sustainable and Biosourced Fibers as functional or nutritional solutions : as a producer and a BtoB supplier, we are involved in new product development in different sectors such as Food, Pharma, Agriculture…
I’m Responsible for the BU Petfood, Aquaculture and Livestock.

Corinne Forget

Market Manager Petfood & Livestock
FranceJRS Rettenmaier France
David Lafond

David Lafond

CEO & Chief Visionary Officer
USACelesta

Dr. Lafond has more than 45 years of experience in food research and development.  He is Chief Technology Officer for Healthy Ingredient Solutions, LLC, which is focused on launching new and novel healthy ingredient products, technologies, and business development services for clients in North America and Europe.  He is experienced in finding technologies or companies that can bring about new innovation opportunities or accelerate existing innovation programs by finding the missing technology or business solution.  This includes establishing and managing external development of that solution as well as licensing-in technologies, partnerships, and joint development ventures.

He has also founded and is CEO and Chief Visionary Officer of Celesta Company LLC, on a mission to improve sleep, relaxation, and the ways we think about both.  Together with his team of experts, he has developed clinically tested ingredients blended to help reduce stress during the day and get better quality sleep at night.  Prior to this Dave developed and led a technology scouting program for Kellogg Company where he was responsible for finding new technologies, validating those technologies from a technical and business standpoint, and recommending which to bring into Kellogg to support their 3-5 year innovation pipeline.

Previously, he managed product development in several business units around the world within the Kellogg Company and enhanced growth through many new global product launches.  Prior to his 22 year career at Kellogg Company, he spent 18 years in the product development/R&D area working for Kraft, Quaker Oats and Keebler companies. He has earned a BS in Biochemistry from Iowa State University, an MS in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Illinois, an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School, and a PhD in Food Science from Michigan State University where he studied physical properties of fiber and related them in clinical work to hormonal signaling for appetite control.

David Lafond

CEO & Chief Visionary Officer
USACelesta
Gaëtan Kerloc’h

Gaëtan Kerloc’h

Head of Impact
FranceFive Seasons Ventures

Gaëtan is the Head of Impact of Five Seasons Ventures, a pan-European VC fund specialising in food-tech investments for a healthier and more sustainable system.

After 5 years of strategic and sustainability consulting, he now manages Five Seasons Ventures’ impact and ESG strategy, and helps the 17 portfolio companies on their sustainability journey.
Gaëtan holds a double master’s degree from Sciences Po Paris and the FGV of Sao Paulo.

Gaëtan Kerloc’h

Head of Impact
FranceFive Seasons Ventures
Isabelle Guelinckx

Isabelle Guelinckx

Executive Director ad interim
BelgiumILSI Europe

Isabelle Guelinckx is the Executive Director at International Life Science Institute (ILSI) Europe, Brussel, Belgium. She received her MSc and Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven, BE. To specialize in nutritional research she completed a second Master at the University Maastricht, NL and a professional Bachelor in Dietetics and Nutrition at the Catholic College Leuven, BE. During her doctoral thesis on obesity management during pregnancy, she acquired experience with different methods to assess dietary intake and physical activity, and lifestyle interventions to induce behavioral change.

After 10 years within academia, Isabelle jointed Danone Nutricia Research, Palaiseau, FR where she managed R&D projects, an R&D Team and closely collaborated with Marketing, Strategy & Insights department on worldwide Liq.in7 surveys. Isabelle has over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Since 2019 she joint ILSI Europe, as she stronly believes in the power of collaboration between industry, academic and the public sector. As a mother of 2 kids and partner of an ambitious man, she considers herself a very lucky woman.

Isabelle Guelinckx

Executive Director ad interim
BelgiumILSI Europe
Ivan Stefanic

Ivan Stefanic

EIC Programme Manager for Food Chain Technologies and Novel & Sustainable Food
BelgiumEuropean Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)

Ivan Stefanic is a business development and technology transfer specialist with more than 30 years of international experience in research and business. Ivan is also a Full Professor in the field of economics and entrepreneurship in agribusiness. He is passionate about deeptech and disruptive innovations, gamification of learning experiences, mentoring students and young entrepreneurs, and enterprising university.

As an EIC Programme Manager he proactively manage two portfolios of projects, Novel technologies for resilient and sustainable food supply chains and Precision nutrition.

Ivan Stefanic

EIC Programme Manager for Food Chain Technologies and Novel & Sustainable Food
BelgiumEuropean Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)
Jerome Duramy

Jerome Duramy

Business Development & Account Director, Europe
IrelandNuritas

Jerome Duramy is the Business Development Director for Europe at Nuritas. With a BSc Hons in Biochemistry from the University of St-Andrews, he has focused his career at the intersection of science-backed innovation, business and sustainability, building expertise over the past 15 years in biotech, nutrition, cosmetics, animal nutrition, and agriculture.

Before joining Nuritas, Jerome played a pivotal role in supporting new product launches within DuPont and an upcycling startup, driving growth in diverse sectors across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

At Nuritas, Jerome’s focus is to collaborate with partners and customers to bring to consumers the benefits of our unique AI-discovered unique bioactive peptides.

About Nuritas: Through cutting edge AI-precision technology, Nuritas is achieving what is currently not possible through traditional R&D: Creating a brand-new category of natural yet precise and science-backed ingredients. In partnership with Nuritas, companies now can truly innovate, by replacing or elevating their product portfolios and creating the next generation of healthier, safer and greener products.

Jerome Duramy

Business Development & Account Director, Europe
IrelandNuritas
Jessica Rehdorf

Jessica Rehdorf

Director Business Development Enzymes
GermanyBRAIN Biotech AG

Jessica studied biochemistry and received her PhD in enzyme technology in the laboratory of Professor Uwe Bornscheuer at the University of Greifswald, Germany. During her studies, she worked as a research assistant at Chirotech Dow Chemical Company (now Dr. Reddy’s).

Since then, Jessica has been working for the German biotech company BRAIN Biotech AG in various functions. After 7 years in R&D as a scientific project manager, she moved to BRAIN’s business development department where she is responsible for the enzymes, antimicrobials and probiotics business. During this time she completed an MBA course at the LSE in London, UK. Today, Jessica is Director Business Development Enzymes at BRAIN Biotech AG.

Jessica Rehdorf

Director Business Development Enzymes
GermanyBRAIN Biotech AG
Joanna Moro

Joanna Moro

Bioactives Clinical Trials Specialist
FranceIngredia Dairy Experts

Joanna Moro is a clinical trial specialist for Ingredia since 2021. She works in R&D department, and she is in charge of the development of preclinical and clinical studies for bioactive ingredient to evaluate their efficacy and to better understand their mode of action.

She obtained her PhD in Nutrition Sciences in 2021, during which she worked on the impact of essential amino acid deficiency on protein and energetic metabolism.

Joanna Moro

Bioactives Clinical Trials Specialist
FranceIngredia Dairy Experts
Jolanda Lambert

Jolanda Lambert

Senior Project Manager Microbiology
The NetherlandsNIZO

After obtaining her PhD degree studying host-microbe interaction in Lactobacillus at Wageningen University & Research, Jolanda has worked in both pharma and food industry. In her current role as senior project manager at NIZO, Jolanda is involved in a wide range of R&D projects related to the application of microorganisms in food and health. Her expertise and passion lie in pre-, pro-, syn-, and postbiotics, gut microbiome, molecular biology, and fermentation research and development. Furthermore, she is well-versed in projects handling the data related to these areas of expertise, by the implementation of bioinformatics, data streamlining, and machine learning.

Jolanda Lambert

Senior Project Manager Microbiology
The NetherlandsNIZO
Joni Symon

Joni Symon

Co-Founder and R&D lead
SwedenDe Novo Foodlabs

With a background in structural protein biochemistry and a passion for sustainability, Joni is a technical co-founder at De Novo Foodlabs. The startup, originally founded in South Africa, and now based in the UK, leverages precision fermentation technology in working towards improving population-wide nutrition by creating access to nutritionally valuable and difficult to access compounds. With a key focus on the effects of protein function on nutrition, the startup is currently focusing R&D efforts on commercialising recombinant production of bovine lactoferrin.

Joni Symon

Co-Founder and R&D lead
SwedenDe Novo Foodlabs
Judith Camarcat

Judith Camarcat

Chief of Staff
FranceLa Vie Foods

Currently Chief of Staff at La Vie Foods, the leading European scale-up in plant-based pork, where she oversees strategy and financing, Judith Camarcat has dedicated her career to accelerating the plant-based revolution in the food industry. She started her career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she worked for leading consumer goods and retail clients, before joining Five Seasons Ventures as an Associate in foodtech investment, where she led the raise of an €180M impact fund and invested Series A tickets in plant-based startups.

Judith Camarcat

Chief of Staff
FranceLa Vie Foods
Julien Tap

Julien Tap

Research scientist
FranceINRAE

Julien Tap is a research scientist at INRAE Micalis Institute, settled in Paris-Saclay, where he notably works on projects related to the interactions between gut and food microbiomes from a nutrition and health perspective using synthetic and computational ecology approaches.

In Joel Doré’s lab, his PhD project was to study dietary fiber’s impact on human gut microbiota using notably metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches. Since his PhD, his research interest focused on interactions between food, gut microbiota, and human health. This allowed him to work with European and US clinicians from several disciplines. As post-doc did at EMBL in Peer Bork’s group and at INRAE Metagenopolis unit, as well as an industrial scientist at Danone Research, he used several approaches like numerical ecology and machine learning technics to untangle gut and fermented food omics data as a function of clinical and dietary data.

Julien Tap

Research scientist
FranceINRAE
Juliette Raoul-Fortésa

Juliette Raoul-Fortésa

Associate
FranceCapagro

Juliette joined Capagro in 2021 after a first experience at Seventure Partners in their Health For Life fund. She has an engineering degree from AgroParisTech, and is now an Associate for the management company. As part of the investment team, she notably specialized herself in alternative proteins, alternatives to food packaging and agricultural robotics.

Juliette Raoul-Fortésa

Associate
FranceCapagro
Karim Kurmaly

Karim Kurmaly

Director Smart Protein
The NetherlandsDSM

Karim holds a PhD in Marine Science and is a passionate windsurfer who started out opening a pizza business in London straight out of university. Since then, he has extensive leadership experience in Sales & Marketing and Management mainly in Health and Nutrition. He started his career in 1989 as Project Manager in R&D in Aquaculture for Trouw International (Nutreco). Between 1992 and 2001, he held different positions within F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. such as Country Manager, Regional Manager and Feed Industry Manager. He joined DSM as UK Country Manager in 2003 and developed to Vice President Western Europe in 2005. In 2007, he grew the business several fold as Vice President Asia Pacific & Indian Continent, and from 2017 to 2022 as CEO of Veramaris he helped build the start-up biotechnology company into a mainstream supplier of natural marine algal Omega 3 replacing fish oil, by adapting value chain marketing, from farmers to retailers, into its business model. Most recently within dsm-firmenich, he leads a multi-disciplinary task force to develop a net zero single cell protein for food, feed and companion animal sectors.

Karim Kurmaly

Director Smart Protein
The NetherlandsDSM
Karlis Udris

Karlis Udris

CEO
LatviaElogium

Karlis has acquired a bachelor degree in Economics from Tilburg University and a masters degree in Law & Finance from Riga Graduate School of Law. He started his career at renewable energy industry, becoming the manager of two municipal power plants. Later on switched to real estate, and having successfully finished the development of a multi-apartment complex in Riga decided to look for new endeavours. During the pandemic he co-founded a biotech startup – Elogium – together with a group of scientists from Ljubljana. For the last two years he is the CEO of Elogium and is looking to scale it into a successful science driven animal health & nutrition company. Their first product in development is a feed additive that significantly reduces campylobacter infection in broiler chickens.

Karlis Udris

CEO
LatviaElogium
Leonardo Alvarez

Leonardo Alvarez

CEO & Founder
FranceProtera Biosciences

Leonardo Alvarez is the CEO and Co-founder of Protera, an AI-driven biotech startup that has developed innovative and sustainable protein-based food ingredients using its proprietary madi™  platform. As a biotech entrepreneur, Leonardo also founded Aminotec, a Chilean-based AgTech company that produces fertilizers and agricultural chemicals. Leonardo has received numerous accolades, including being named one of the 100 young leaders to watch in 2015 by El Mercurio in Chile.

 

Protera:
As Protera continues to make strides in the industry, it is now launching the madi™ platform as a product, enabling others to harness its power and create groundbreaking, sustainable solutions in food and beyond. Our global partners, such as Sofinnova, SOSV, ICL, Bimbo, and others, believe in the spirit and unique end-to-end development of our team to deliver protein ingredients with unmatched performance. In 2021, ICL Food Specialties joined forces with Protera Biosciences. ICL Food Specialties is a member of the ICL Group, a leading global specialty minerals company that creates impactful solutions through R&D to address sustainability challenges in global food, agriculture, and industrial markets.

Leonardo Alvarez

CEO & Founder
FranceProtera Biosciences
Lethicia Magno, PhD

Lethicia Magno, PhD

Innovation Project Manager
FranceCMI Roullier

Lethicia is Innovation Project Manager at Centre Mondial de l’Innovation (CMI), the research and innovation hub of Groupe Roullier. At the CMI, she is in charge of innovation funding, innovation management, partnerships and the scientific network.

She holds a double-degree in Agronomy from ISA Lille (France) and ESALQ (Brazil), and a PhD from INRAE (France). Her expertise lies in combining science with business, thanks to her professional experiences in research in public institutes, consulting to private companies and volunteering within international organizations (Thought For Food, World Food Forum).

Lethicia Magno, PhD

Innovation Project Manager
FranceCMI Roullier
Louise Bennett

Louise Bennett

Professor of Food Chemistry
AlbaniaMonash University

Louise Bennett is Professor of food chemistry at Monash University with interests in the physical-functional and health properties of foods. These research interests seek to transform foods into dietary tools that promote value-addition and nutritional security. Professor Bennett is the Director of the Monash Master of Food Science and Agribusiness and Co-director of the industry-facing, Monash Food Innovation. Prior to joining Monash University in 2017, Professor Bennett was a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, working on researching and supporting commercial translation of food innovations. Professor Bennett’s research specialisations are in the spaces of proteins and phytonutrients and is supported by local and international industry funding. Professor Bennett has authored >110 publications and 1 patent, with a h-index of 27.

Louise Bennett

Professor of Food Chemistry
AlbaniaMonash University
Luca Bucchini

Luca Bucchini

Chair // Managing Director
ItalyEuropean Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) // Hylobates Consulting

Luca Bucchini is a food risk scientist, and an expert in food and food supplement regulation. After public health and food risk assessment studies at Johns Hopkins, in the US, he co-founded the Rome-based food consultancy Hylobates – 18 years ago. He and his team have helped register thousands of food supplements across Europe, and supported businesses comply with EU law.

He has worked with the sports nutrition and food supplement industry for years, with its intriguing scientific and regulatory challenges. In the food and food supplement sector, Luca routinely helps companies manage crisis situations and recalls. Luca is the Chair of ESSNA, the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), and a Director of EuroFIR, the non-profit food and food supplement composition organisation.

Luca Bucchini

Chair // Managing Director
ItalyEuropean Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) // Hylobates Consulting
Marie-Claire Fichot

Marie-Claire Fichot

COO
SwissMitocholine

Docteur Marie-Claire Fichot is Chief Operating Officer at Mitocholine Ltd. Mitocholine Ltd is a UK- based company dedicated to the development of MitocholineTM, a novel composition of natural human metabolites and mitochondrial substrates essential for a healthy brain function. Prior to this activity, Dr Marie-Claire Fichot spent over 25 years in R&D management positions at Nestlé, focusing on infant, child and elderly nutrition products, as well as on nutricosmetics. Her experience spans  from the science substantiation (pre- and clinical studies) to global regulatory affairs, licensing/ partnerships, product development, and scientific communication. As a member of business executive committees, she developed strategic routes to market for several new products. She holds a PhD from Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Rennes (France) and an MBA from IMD Lausanne (Switzerland).

Marie-Claire Fichot

COO
SwissMitocholine
Martin Ham

Martin Ham

Business Development Manager
The NetherlandsNIZO

Martin Ham is a Business Development Manager at NIZO food research B.V,  an independent Contract Research Organization in the Netherlands, working with global companies in the food and ingredients area as well as personal care. Martin obtained a MSc. degree in Chemistry at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and has gained more than 25 years’ experience in business development, sales and marketing of science based CRO/CMO services in both the pharmaceutical, chemical and food market. His current focus is on foods and food ingredients with a health benefit or improved nutritional impact.

Martin Ham

Business Development Manager
The NetherlandsNIZO
Mathias Brink Lorenz

Mathias Brink Lorenz

Investment Manager AgriFood
DenmarkRockstart

Mathias Brink Lorenz is Investment Manager AgriFood at Rockstart. Mathias comes from a M&A and corporate strategy position in the biotech company Novozymes. Prior experience includes 8 years in the banking sector working for SEB in London, Copenhagen and Oslo, advising large corporate clients on their financial strategy. He holds a Master in Finance and Strategic Management from Copenhagen Business School.

Mathias Brink Lorenz

Investment Manager AgriFood
DenmarkRockstart
Michael Collier

Michael Collier

Strategic Consultant, Director Human Performance
United KingdomMcLaren Racing

As a qualified physiotherapist and sports scientist Michael has over 20 years experience working across acute and chronic health care as well as elite sport, helping race drivers optimise their performance most notably working as Jenson Button performance director during his championship winning year in 2009 and working with him up to his point of retirement in 2017.

Over the last 6 years Michaels transitioned into a commercial and strategic role at Mclaren, looking at ways in which technology can be leveraged to amplify access to human expertise to help individuals better manage their own health and wellness needs.

Nutrition is a key pillar to unlocking human health and potentially and he’s been working closely with technology and nutrition partners to help them deliver personalised nutrition experiences that offer proven consumer and business benefits.

Michael Collier

Strategic Consultant, Director Human Performance
United KingdomMcLaren Racing
Mohammed el Amine Benarbia

Mohammed el Amine Benarbia

R&D Director
FranceNor-Feed

Mohammed holds a veterinary degree from the University Ibn Khaldun of Tiaret, Algeria, followed by a master’s in Toxicology and Food Safety from the veterinary school of Toulouse, France, and a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Angers, France. He has conducted research at institutions such as INRA and INSERM in France focusing on mycotoxins, intestinal health, mitochondrial disorders, and oxidative stress. In 2015, he entered the private research sector, working for Nor Feed and Ajinomoto Animal Nutrition Europe. Since 2019, Mohammed lead the R&D team at Nor Feed, concentrating on plant-based solutions for animal health and nutrition.

Mohammed el Amine Benarbia

R&D Director
FranceNor-Feed
Mohammed Gulrez Zariwala, Prof

Mohammed Gulrez Zariwala, Prof

Professor & Director
United KingdomCentre for Nutraceuticals, University of Westminster

Mohammed Gulrez Zariwala is a Professor of Translational Physiology and founder Director of the Centre for Nutraceuticals at the University of Westminster. The Centre is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the area of nutraceuticals, supplements, and functional foods that seeks to act as a global catalyst for improving health and wellbeing guided by research and innovation. His research expertise spans the diverse areas of metabolism, neurodegeneration, and sports nutrition, with a focus on the use of natural bioactives to formulate and validate novel ingredients and supplements products.  He leads a research team that includes over 20 academics and researchers and has published 70+ high impact international research articles, abstracts and book chapters in his field.

Professor Zariwala works with multiple commercial partners worldwide and was involved in the development of the UK’s leading liquid iron supplement (Spatone Apple®), now marketed in 40+ countries. His most recent outputs include development of a range of high performance wellness and sports supplement products (Unity Ultra U®) that was launched worldwide in July 2021 in partnership with the international footballers Mathieu Flamini and Mesut Ozil. He has been awarded research and innovation grants from the UK government (Innovate UK), and international awards from prestigious government bodies such as the LPDP (Indonesia) and TETFund (Nigeria).

Professor Zariwala is established as a global thought leader in the field of iron deficiency and supplementation and regularly speaks at world leading events. He has presented his research at prestigious platforms such as the UK Parliament to the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and keynotes to the Australian College of Midwives. He routinely communicates to the media, and has made appearances on the BBC, BBC radio and various newspapers and publications.

Mohammed Gulrez Zariwala, Prof

Professor & Director
United KingdomCentre for Nutraceuticals, University of Westminster
Nard Clabbers

Nard Clabbers

Thought leader in personalised nutrition
The NetherlandsNCNC Nutrition Consultancy

Nard is an experienced networker, business developer, innovator, entrepreneur and strategic thought leader in (personalised) nutrition.

After his study of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University, he worked for the food industry in international positions for more than a decade as a successful liaison between business and science.

He then joined Dutch innovation organisation TNO to lead their Nutrition and Health business line and set up the world’s largest public-private research consortium on personalised nutrition & health. This led him on a path of ‘personalised nutrition’, involving co-founding startup Happ as their CSO, founding NCNC Nutritional Consultancy and many public appearances on the topic.

Nard Clabbers

Thought leader in personalised nutrition
The NetherlandsNCNC Nutrition Consultancy
Natanael Viñegra de la Torre, PhD

Natanael Viñegra de la Torre, PhD

Project coordinator R&D&innovation
SpainCNTA

Natanael Viñegra works as a project coordinator at CNTA. He obtained his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, focusing on seed germination and molecular biology. Later he moved on to study flowering regulation at the University of Cologne, working on a perennial model plant. After this academic period, he switched fields to project management, working at the start-up The Cultivated B in Heidelberg, covering all aspects of cellular agriculture and its biotechnology uses. Since a few months, he is a project coordinator at CNTA, where he is in charge of project tracking and deadlines, as well as contributing to the preparation of new proposals. His interests span the field of biotechnology and its potential applications.

Natanael Viñegra de la Torre, PhD

Project coordinator R&D&innovation
SpainCNTA
Nathalie Lévy

Nathalie Lévy

Ingredients & Nutraceuticals Division Director
FranceNutrikéo

With a Food and Health engineering background, Nathalie joined the agency Nutrikeo as a consultant in 2013.

Nutrikéo is a consulting & marketing agency specialized in nutrition and life sciences. For 15 years, scientists and marketing experts support the industry on international projects, according to a virtuous and sustainable vision. In Agri, Food, Nutra, Cosmetics & Health. Since 2018, Nathalie is the Head of Ingredients and Nutraceuticals division. She works on various projects for ingredient suppliers, food industries, contract manufacturers and dietary supplements labs. She brings her expertise on various projects from monitoring, market studies, marketing strategies, innovation to communication.”

Nathalie Lévy

Ingredients & Nutraceuticals Division Director
FranceNutrikéo
Nico van Belzen, PhD

Nico van Belzen, PhD

Director General
The NetherlandsScienceConsult

Dr. Nico van Belzen is the founder and Director General of ScienceConsult.

From 2012-2018 he was Director General of the International Dairy Federation (IDF).

From 2003-2012 he was the Executive Director of ILSI Europe, the European branch of the International Life Sciences Institute.

From 1998-2003 Nico worked for DMV International, the business-to-business division of the dairy company Campina, where he set up and managed a laboratory to develop bioactive food ingredients, and subsequently became head of the department Research and Analysis.

From 1986-1998 Nico worked in universities and academic hospitals in The Netherlands as biomedical researcher specialised in molecular cell biology and cancer research, e.g. cloning the genes Drg1/NDRG1 and ICT1. He received a PhD in cell biology from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in 1990.

Nico van Belzen, PhD

Director General
The NetherlandsScienceConsult
Ninna Granucci

Ninna Granucci

Co-Founder & CEO
FranceGreen Spot Technologies

Ninna is Green Spot’s CEO and co-founder, a pioneering Fermented and Upcycled food ingredients company headquartered in Toulouse & a demo plant in Carpentras France producing ingredients that allow food brands to appeal to modern consumers with fermented & upcycled, clean-label, nutritious, and plant-based flours. Ninna has a PhD in Biotechnology and from Brazil to New Zealand and now in France, she is on a mission to use science and technology to bring better and sustainable nutrition to all.

Ninna Granucci

Co-Founder & CEO
FranceGreen Spot Technologies
Orri Björnsson

Orri Björnsson

CEO
IslandAlgalif

Orri has been working in the pharma and nutraceutical industries for nearly 20 years. He has extensive experience in building and starting up new plants, as well as in upgrading plants in many different countries. Orri has great competence in GMP, general quality, project management, recruitment, and operations, with an excellent track record in getting things done on time and budget.

Orri Björnsson

CEO
IslandAlgalif
Øystein Sæle

Øystein Sæle

Researcher
NorwayInstitute of Marine Research

Øystein Sæle is a senior scientist at the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway and holds a professor II position at the University of Bergen where he is teaching fish nutrition. He has been working with fish nutrition and digestive physiology since 2006, in various species, including salmon. He began his career at the University of Bergen before joining The National Institute for Nutrition and Seafood Research, which has since merged with IMR. In recent years, his focus has been on ensuring optimal fish nutrition using sustainable ingredients.”

Øystein Sæle

Researcher
NorwayInstitute of Marine Research