University of California (Davis) food engineering Distinguished Professor Emeritus R. Paul Singh will speak at the University of Otago as its latest Harraways 1867 Visiting Professor.
He is highly recognised in food engineering education, research, development, consultation and technology transfer programmes, and his work focuses on novel ways to process food.
With research students, he has developed a fruit and vegetable processing system for Nasa's manned mission to Mars.
Prof Singh will give workshops and a public lecture on Tuesday titled "Framing the future of food systems in the era of climate change" in the St David Lecture Theatre at 5.30pm.
The lecture aims to show how our present food systems, which are reliant on finite resources, are contributing to environmental degradation and climate change.
His lecture will explore the transformative potential of a circular bioeconomy, where waste becomes a valuable resource.
A bioeconomy is an economic sector that produces and supplies food, feed and fibre, and bio-manufactures other products from biomass materials derived from agriculture, forestry and aquaculture.
The goal is to create a more sustainable, resilient, and environmentally friendly bioeconomy sector.
The sector aims not only to produce and supply food and other bioproducts, but also regenerate natural resources, minimise losses and wastes, and mitigate environmental impacts across bioproduct supply chains.
University of Otago sciences pro-vice-chancellor Prof Richard Barker said Prof Singh's knowledge of food engineering would be hugely beneficial to Otago's teaching and research, and would help inform its provision of advice and service to the food industry.
