Dear Subscriber,
You are invited to attend the upcoming Food for Thought seminar
What: The Science of Food Safety: 25 years in the past, 25 years into the future
When: Wednesday 14 May, 1pm to 2pm
Where: Online - This seminar will be held via Microsoft Teams Webinars. Please register using the link below.
Please note - We will record this event. A copy of the recording will be published to our YouTube Channel.
Synopsis
1 April 2025 marked 25 years since the FSA was established.
Over the quarter of a century that the FSA has existed, science has changed enormously. When we launched, the £2bn human genome project had not yet completed – today, many of us have sequenced our own genomes for a few hundred pounds or less. That pace of change has applied equally to food safety, both in the challenges we have faced (BSE, horsemeat, fipronil, Covid-19 and many more) and the science that we use to ensure food is safe and what it says it is. In this talk, we will look back at some of the major science developments of the last 25 years and then indulge in some (slightly wild!) speculation about what changes may be ahead in the next quarter of a century.
Let’s celebrate 25 years of the FSA, together.
Biography
Professor Robin May, took up his role as the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in July 2020. As the FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor May provides expert scientific advice to the UK government and plays a critical role in helping to understand how scientific developments will shape the work of the FSA, as well as the strategic implications of any possible changes. He is responsible for the integrity of the science and evidence that underpins FSA activities, as well as for communicating the FSA’s evidence-based approach to other government departments, external stakeholders and consumers.
Professor May’s early training was in Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, followed by a PhD on mammalian cell biology at University College London and the University of Birmingham. After postdoctoral research on gene silencing at the Hubrecht Laboratory, The Netherlands, he returned to the UK in 2005 to establish a research program on human infectious diseases. He was Director of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham from 2017-2020.
Professor May continues his work on Infectious Disease at the University of Birmingham. A Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor May specialises in research into human infectious diseases, with a particular focus on how pathogens survive and replicate within host organisms. In May 2022 he was appointed as the 39th Gresham Professor of Physic, a role in which he provides public lectures on medicine, health and related sciences.
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