On 1 January 2020, Umeå University School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts and the Department of Food and Nutrition will merge into the Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science. This new department will have a unique focus on the combination of science and gastronomic craftsmanship in relation to food, nutrition and meals.
Initially, the department will remain pretty much the same as before. Just remember the new name – the Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science, in Swedish Institutionen för kost- och måltidsvetenskap.
New opportunities for study programmes
In the short term, the department’s programmes will not change. The department will continue to educate future dieticians, home economics teachers and gastronomists with unique and much needed expertise. In the long term, however, the merge gives the department huge opportunities to advance our education even further. Merging in one department will mean that our teachers’ competence will broaden and more cross-disciplinary meetings and collaborations will take place.
A new doctoral education subject strengthens our research
As a result of the merge, the new doctoral education subject of food, nutrition and culinary science will be established. Within this subject, we can gather a breadth of competencies and perspectives on the importance of food and meals to humans and society, and through this strengthen our research environment. The new subject will also gather a large group of doctoral students and supervisors, which increases the quality of our doctoral education.
Our collaborations will proceed as usual
For anyone who already works together with the Department of Food and Nutrition and/or the School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts will be able to carry on collaborating as normal. This is the same if you are working with one of our researchers, supervises our students in an internship or represents one of our exchange universities.
And if you are not collaborating with us yet, please get in touch.
Why are we merging?
Our wish is that this merge will make us a crucial player and a key figure in knowledge development within nutrition and meal science both regionally and nationally.
The importance of food for climate, environment and health is highly topical, and society is faced with many important challenges in these areas. By gathering all competency in food, nutrition and culinary science at Umeå University under one roof, we gain new and better opportunities to increase both our research and education. A merger provides better openings to unexpected border-crossing collaborations, and a more efficient use of our joint resources.
