Professor Mohammad Naushad Emmambux is a distinguished academic and researcher based at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa. He holds a full professorship in the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences and serves as the research leader for food processing at the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security .Prof. Emmambux completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Mauritius and pursued his postgraduate studies at UP, earning both his MSc and PhD in Food Science there. He has been with UP for over two decades, contributing significantly to the field of food science through research and teaching.His research interests lie in the chemistry and technology of food biopolymers, aiming to enhance nutrition, functionality. 

Marta López Cifuentes holds a doctorate from BOKU University (Austria) in sustainable food systems. In 2022, she was awarded an Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship by the Austrian Science Fund, which enabled her to work as a visiting researcher at the Centre for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Surrey (UK). Currently, she is based at the Institute for Sustainable Economic Development (BOKU University), where she serves as the principal investigator for the Austrian component of the "Trans-Local Food Coalitions" project. Her research addresses key issues in sustainability transformations, with a particular emphasis on democracy and justice within food systems. She has extensive experience in inter- and transdisciplinary research. In addition to her academic endeavours, she is an active member of the Viennese Food Policy Council, where she engages in shaping the local food system.

Alison leads the grain quality group at Rothamsted Research.  Her research addresses strategic priorities of “Food Nutrition and Health”. Her main focus of research is in exploiting cereal grains for improved human health and processing, specifically the content and composition of dietary fibre, phytochemicals and minerals in wheat grain. The goal is to deliver stacked enhanced nutritional traits into elite cultivars for maximum beneficial impact.  Her group has extensive experience in carbohydrate, protein  and phytochemical analysis and characterisation, using state-of the art HP-AEC, RP-HPLC, SEC-MALS, PACE and mass spectrometry.

Alessandra Marti is Full Professor of Food Science and Technology at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS) at the University of Milan.Her main research activity focuses on the set-up of (bio)technological processes for enhancing the functional properties of major and minor grains and related products.Professor Marti is the author of more than 100 scientific publications and several book chapters. She has led multiple research projects, including industrial collaborations, and has been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences. She currently serves as one of the Technical Co-Directors of the International Association of Cereal Science and Technology (ICC) and is a board member of the Italian Association for Cereal Science and Technology (AISTEC). She is also part of the editorial board of international journals.