Targeted beneficiaries

Target Group 1

Young food scientists that are going to build the future food sector in UZB. This group consisted of BSc, MSc and PhD students studying in partner universities in UZB whose education is related to the food science and technology area.

This group covers wide areas of food science including food chemistry, food technology, food engineering, food analytical chemistry, food microbiology and food safety as well as more specific education such as dairy technology, meat science, fermentation science and others. It was concluded that this is the major target group where most attention will be required since it was the largest group and they have the highest potential to make a significant impact on the Uzbek food sector.

Target Group 2

Food science and technology teachers and researchers that are going to teach the future food science professionals. This target group includes young teachers and researchers as well as deans, heads of departments, study leaders, and laboratory heads from partner universities in UZB.

Target group 2 is a key in order to facilitate a multiplication effect of the project’s outcomes in UZB in terms of capacity building. The most promising and talented young food science teachers and researchers will have a chance to be trained at the EU partner HEIs (P2-P3) within the train-the-trainer scheme in WP4. The needs analysis showed that the teachers represented in the target group 2 were lacking training in using modern pedagogical methods applied in the food science and technology area, and that they are not updated by the latest advances used in the EU HEIs.

Target Group 3

The food industry employees and stakeholders who are going to apply advances in science to novel foods and processes.

This target group include mainly the food science researchers and experts working in food companies, managers of food industries, heads of research and development divisions in the food companies, and other stakeholders including private business owners, authorities, the Ministry of Higher Education, the The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations of Republic of Uzbekistan

The majority of the food science researchers and experts working in food companies expressed their needs of learning modern methodologies applied in various areas including advanced spectroscopic and chromatographic analysis methods, food production process optimization, food quality control and food safety. Based on these needs, WP4 and WP5 of the ECAMPUZ are designed in such a way that researchers and teachers trained in the partner EU HEIs will develop a “Cluster of Advanced Topics in Food Science and Technology” for industry people. This will meet the needs of the heads of research and development divisions, which is to establish sustainable and mutually beneficial collaborations between HEIs and food companies using the EU standards. One of the common opinions between the stakeholders, including business owners, managers, and authorities was the establishment of the “Uzbek Food Science and Technology Society” for professional development. However, the most urgent need of the target group 3 was to educate a highly trained and knowledgeable new generation of food science students in partner universities in UZB who could reform the food industry to become sustainable and far more efficient.