PhD Scholarship in Food Science and Technology: Project: Improving freekeh nutritional and technological quality through novel approaches

This project has been designed to solve food industry problems in line with sustainability and value-addition goals and will be co-supervised by Edlyn Foods, one of the renown Australian food industries in Melbourne. There would be a potential opportunity for the PhD student to complete a 3-6 month internship program at Edlyn Foods. This project would suit people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including food technologists, food scientists, chemistry, and chemical and process engineers.

This project has been designed to solve food industry problems in line with sustainability and value-addition goals and will be co-supervised by Edlyn Foods, one of the renown Australian food industries in Melbourne. There would be a potential opportunity for the PhD student to complete a 3-6 month internship program at Edlyn Foods. This project would suit people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including food technologists, food scientists, chemistry, and chemical and process engineers.

Full PhD scholarship for a minimum of 3 years

Full PhD scholarship for a minimum of 3 years

Applications are now open.

Applications are now open.

17/07/2023

17/07/2023

One (1) scholarship available

One (1) scholarship available

Applicants should meet RMIT HDR admission requirements, this scholarship is primarily targeting local students but international students may be considered subject to the approval of the industry partner.

Applicants should meet RMIT HDR admission requirements, this scholarship is primarily targeting local students but international students may be considered subject to the approval of the industry partner.

High quality applicants with relevant background to email their Resume and Application letter to Dr Mahsa Majzoobi mahsa.majzoobi@rmit.edu.au

High quality applicants with relevant background to email their Resume and Application letter to Dr Mahsa Majzoobi mahsa.majzoobi@rmit.edu.au

Applicants with previous experience with cereals chemistry (especially Freekeh and wheat), processing, evaluation, and value-addition, as well as having industrial collaboration, excellent communication skills (oral and written), strong track record in high impact research journals are highly recommended to apply.

Freekeh or green wheat is an ancient whole grain with a history spanning thousands of years. Freekeh is produced from wheat harvested early, at the end of the milky stage when culms and spikes are green. Some studies have shown that freekeh contains higher resistant starch and dietary fibre, significantly greater proportion of essential amino acids, particularly lysine, methionine and threonine and has better protein digestibility than normal wheat. Freekeh has been successfully used in production of traditional foods, however, it is still less known in the modern food industry. The main goal of this research project is to understand the unknown physicochemical and nutritional aspects of freekeh to enhance its food applications.
To accomplish this project, the researcher must develop an excellent understanding of food chemistry especially grain chemistry and composition, analytical methods, food processing, data collection and analysis. In this project various advanced analytical methods will be applied to identify and measure the bioactive compounds, protein and starch content and digestibility of different types of freekeh. Some of the techniques in this research will be HPLC, UV mass spectroscopy, Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and NMR Rapid Visco Analyser, X-ray Diffraction, FTIR, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Texture Analyser, Dough rheology, Colourimetry methods, novel food processing methods, quality control tests, sensory evaluation and data analysis.

Applicants with previous experience with cereals chemistry (especially Freekeh and wheat), processing, evaluation, and value-addition, as well as having industrial collaboration, excellent communication skills (oral and written), strong track record in high impact research journals are highly recommended to apply.

Freekeh or green wheat is an ancient whole grain with a history spanning thousands of years. Freekeh is produced from wheat harvested early, at the end of the milky stage when culms and spikes are green. Some studies have shown that freekeh contains higher resistant starch and dietary fibre, significantly greater proportion of essential amino acids, particularly lysine, methionine and threonine and has better protein digestibility than normal wheat. Freekeh has been successfully used in production of traditional foods, however, it is still less known in the modern food industry. The main goal of this research project is to understand the unknown physicochemical and nutritional aspects of freekeh to enhance its food applications.
To accomplish this project, the researcher must develop an excellent understanding of food chemistry especially grain chemistry and composition, analytical methods, food processing, data collection and analysis. In this project various advanced analytical methods will be applied to identify and measure the bioactive compounds, protein and starch content and digestibility of different types of freekeh. Some of the techniques in this research will be HPLC, UV mass spectroscopy, Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and NMR Rapid Visco Analyser, X-ray Diffraction, FTIR, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Texture Analyser, Dough rheology, Colourimetry methods, novel food processing methods, quality control tests, sensory evaluation and data analysis.