PhD Scholarship Sustainable Insect Production and Processing

The Sustainable Food Processing Group at ETH Zurich uses a combination of emerging food safety approaches, novel protein processing and sustainability assessment to target fundamental challenges in food science and society such as food security. new position.We are looking for a candidate who is highly motivated to work as part of an EU-funded and collaborative project with the Swiss Federal Research Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) on production of safe and sustainable insects (e.g. black soldier fly larvae, mealworms) from organic wastes and side streams. Sustainability, safety and scalability of the insect industry will largely depend on the efficient use of low-value substrates for insect production.

In line with these needs, the doctoral student will determine preferred physical properties of substrates, pre- and co-treatment (e.g. microbial) strategies and feeding experiment standards. In addition, the successful candidate will towards exploring new insect products while ensuring their safety with innovative non-thermal processing technologies. Embedded in an international multidisciplinary research team, the candidate will work towards making sustainable insect products and organic waste and side stream management a global reality, contributing to food security and resource management.

The candidate should have excellent academic qualifications, good communication skills, and strong self-motivation. In addition, enthusiasm, talent, and interest to engage independently in multidisciplinary research (i.e. engineering, microbiology, food science, animal nutrition, entomology) and the underlying mechanisms is required. The successful candidate must have a Master degree (or equivalent) in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, Environmental Microbiology, Agricultural Sciences, Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Ecology or Food Science. The candidate should have a sound foundation in biology, microbiology and food processing principles, and be interested in entomology. The position will be open until a suitable candidate has been indentified.