Background
The Dutch agriculture sector and the cultivation of saline crop, such as sea vegetables and seaweed, generate large volumes of underutilized biomass each year. These streams include rejected products, surplus harvests, trimming waste and other streams that do not reach the market. Yet, these materials contain valuable components such as natural flavors, colors, fibers, minerals, proteins and bioactive compounds with potential applications in the food industry. Together with SMEs and other partners in the food chain, HZ University of Applied Sciences is studying how these underused streams can be efficiently and sustainably upgraded into high-value food ingredients and products, while minimizing residual waste.
What are we looking for?
We are looking for a motivated student with a strong interest in food chemistry, innovation and sustainability who
- Is studying chemistry, life sciences, food technology or similar
- You have affinity with both chemical analysis and biological processes
- You’re eager to learn and be proactive in a research environment
Your tasks
- Conduct a literature review
- Design and perform experiments, in close collaboration with the project team. Analytical techniques can include extraction, GC-MS, HPLC, UV-VIS, microbiological analyses,…
- Analyze data and present internally and externally to industry partners
What you’ll learn
- Hands-on experience in applied food research
- Chemical and analyses applied to complex food matrices
- Skills in experimental design, data collection, and statistical analysis
- Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team of researchers and industry partners