ERA Chair Holder

Professor Lília Ahrné’s research focusses on understanding the effect of processing on the physical, chemical, and structural characteristics of foods, using this knowledge to develop new processes and products. She has worked with several raw materials (e.g. fruits and vegetables, powders, milk, dairy alternatives) and processes, including both traditional and novel technologies (e.g. emulsification, membrane filtration, extrusion, 3D printing). Her main research activities are focussed on structuring technologies and separation technologies to deliver gentle processes to produce sustainable foods.

She is Chair-elected of the Scientific Council of IUFoST, Board Member of EFFoST, and member of the leadership team of ETP Food For Life. Previously, she was President of EFFoST and led Food Science Sweden. She run for over 10 years a multisector platform in Sweden on Powder Technology involving academy and major food industries (e.g. Arla Foods, Astra Zeneca, Hoganäs). In Denmark, she started the Forum for membrane technology in food processing that involves more than 20 companies (e.g. Arla Foods, TetraPak, SPX, GEA, AlfaLaval, Glycom, MMS, Ecolab, Chr Hansen, Novo Nordisk), and all universities in Denmark and Lund University in Sweden.

She has published more than 150 scientific papers (80 since 2020), trained 29 talented PhDs and is currently supervising another 8. She has attracted more than €25M from different national and international sources, and carried out several large confidential contract research projects for industry. She is inventor of a CSM-owned patent for a process to produce low fat donuts that has been industrially implemented and has also contributed to policymaking by working as advisor to Food 2030 of European Commission R&I Directorate F and 5th SCAR Foresight Expert Group.