The department welcomes opportunities to collaborate with individuals, companies and organisations in both the private and public sectors.
Food, nutrition and culinary science is about our encounters with food and meals and is, to a large extent, an interdisciplinary field. Food and meals, and how they are produced, have an effect on health, the economy and the environment for individuals and society. The department can offer several opportunities for collaboration. Please contact us for more information.
Tailor-made contract education and professional development
Can we help you develop your staff? We can tailor training for your employees. This is called contract education.
Does your company need development, are you facing a problem or a complicated situation of some kind that requires an investigation? Our students can diagnose and analyse this over a 10-week period under the supervision of senior researchers and come up with suggestions to move forward.
Placement training
Our students spend part of their studies at industry companies. We have a contact network of industry companies that is constantly evolving. If you would like to supervise a student in your business, please contact us.
Every autumn, approximately 25 dietician students and about 20 gastronomic students finish at VFU, and in the spring term about 20 dietician students specialising as food economists or food inspectors are on placements.
Recruitment activities
Do you need to recruit well-trained staff? Contact us, we regularly arrange industry meetings for students and companies.
The restaurant opens to the public
Would you like to eat and drink well while experiencing a unique environment and different types of meal experiences? During their studies, our students run the Training Restaurant on a number of occasions during early spring and early autumn. Both lunch and dinner are served. Keep an eye out and follow us on our Facebook page.
Degree projects
At the end of their education, the students must practise their skills in the form of a degree project, which is often done in collaboration with a company or an organisation. Every year, about 45 degree projects are written at the Department, and some of these are done in collaboration with municipalities, county councils, companies and organisations. The degree projects have dealt with menu planning for school meals and elderly care, self-control, organic food, diet and health, recipe development, the dietary situation for special patient groups and more.
For your company, working with a student through a degree project can be a way to try out an idea, solve a problem or highlight current issues. At the same time, it is an opportunity to ‘try out’ a new resource – maybe the student will get the chance next time you recruit?
Training and professional development
With its broad expertise, the Department has the opportunity to develop and offer courses and seminars in most food and culinary science fields. We have extensive experience in distance and online courses. For example, we offer a day of continuing professional development for home economics teacher during the November break every year
Research collaboration
We are happy to collaborate with municipalities, county councils, companies and organisations in large or small research projects.
The Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science is an education associated member of the European Federation of the Association of Dietitians (EFAD; http://www.efad.org). Membership of the Federation is open to all National Associations of Dietitians from member states of the Europe Union and higher education institutions worldwide that teach dietetics. In 2020, EFAD has 33 National Dietetic Association members, representing over 35,000 dietitians in 28 European countries and 40 Education Associate Members from 30 different countries educating about 10,000 dietetic students.
In 2018, Professor Agneta Hörnell received EFAD's first ”European Dietetic Fellowship Award”. Her award speech was held at the EFAD 2019 conference in Berlin. Watch the speech or read the audience copies of the slides.
