Yili, the largest dairy company in Asia, has for the second time awarded outstanding PhD students on their PhD thesis work where they achieved outstanding scientific results with industrial applicability. The connect to Innovate Award recognizes research related to dairy science and technology, nutrition, and food safety by PhD students who are in their last year or have recently defended their thesis.

Yili is proud to support the future generations of global dairy experts with this award, which comprises a prize of € 3000. The winner was selected by an international jury consisting of Prof. Veronika Somoza (Technical University Munich & Leibniz LSB), Prof. Thom Huppertz (Wageningen University), Stephane Durande (Queen’s University Belfast) and Matthias D. Eisner (Yili Innovation Center Europe).

This time there were two candidates of such outstanding quality, that the jury decided to present the award to both. The Connect to Innovate award was granted to Dr. Christian Kürzl and Dr. Robert Axelrod. It was handed out by Matthias D. Eisner during the ceremony commencing the 10th anniversary of Yili Innovation Center Europe in Wageningen on 18th April 2024.

Dr. Christian Kürzl obtained his PhD from Technical University Munich, Germany, for his research on “Pulsed and alternating flow conditions for the cleaning-in-place (CIP) of membranes”. The jury selected this work because “it is extremely well executed and is of high relevance for the safe production of foods while also reducing the use of chemicals and water.”

Dr. Robert Axelrod received a doctorate degree from ETH Zürich, Switzerland, for his thesis on “Novel and Emerging Pulsed Electric Field Applications: Effects on Biomacromolecules in Food and Biomedicine”. As the jury stated he worked on “Evaluation of a technology for the manipulation of biomolecules and stretched it all the way from modification of proteins to applications in bio-medicine”.