Gianluca Donadini holds an MSc degree in Biological Sciences (1994, University of Parma. Parma, Italy) and a one year postgraduate specialization in Oenology and Sommellerie (2006, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy). His research aims at investigating the complex interactions between consumers, the marketplace and industry. In detail, Gianluca's research aims at explaining why, when and how consumers will consume food, while simultaneously studying how food is produced and stored. This complex system is explored through different disciplines (economics, food science, sensory science, ethology, nutrition, psychology, sociology, marketing and anthropology) by means of a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. After a major focus on food safety, risk perception and risk communications since the second half of the 1990s, his attention has gradually expanded to cover consumers’ behavior, nutrition, diet and health, and most recently also sustainability and food authenticity. Beer and brewing is one of the focuses of his research activity that spans both large-scale brewed and craft-made beer. In addition, Gianluca's research focuses on pre-schoolers and aims at investigating patterns of food preference and acceptance in children.
Somrita Gan Choudhuri (PhD, National University of Singapore) is an Independent Researcher based in Singapore. Her scholarship explores communication inequalities in contemporary society. She uses research methods to examine various communication processes, strategies, and tactics to explore access to communicative spaces that leads to communication inequalities for effective solutions. Currently, she is focusing on the digital landscape.
Somsubhra Gan Choudhuri is the co-founder and CEO of Ai Palette, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup. Using artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics and image recognition, Ai Palette helps its customers craft and launch new products by spotting and analyzing emerging consumer trends.
Somsubhra is a marketer by training, a salesperson by expertise and is passionate about product innovation, having worked closely with some of the world's largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands for more than a decade. He has been listed as one of the Top50 Innovators at the 11th World Innovation Congress.
Ariola Harizi is a Business Management graduate. She has specialized in executive management and marketing, thanks to her managerial experience in different companies operating in Albania and lecturing at University. She is a PhD Candidate at the Slovak University of Agriculture, Slovakia.
Orkida Ilollari has participated in several conferences and seminars, and is the author of several articles and publications in scientific journals in Albania and abroad.
She is the author of the book ‘Macroprudential Policies – The Effect on Guaranteeing Financial and Banking Stability’. Dr Ilollari has many years of experience in the banking sector in various managerial and decision-making roles. She currently holds the position of Director of Master Programs and is a lecturer in the finance department of the Faculty of Economics at the Mediterranean University of Albania.
Namrata Mehta-Shah Taking on entrepreneurial endeavors with Coup D'ePop and Xocolatti, an innovative chocolate company run by a husband-wife duo, Namrata wears the hat of Cofounder for both start-ups by assuming the role of Creative Head as well as Marketing Director. Being a health nut, adventurer, and hopeless romantic at heart drives her to pursue her passions as a culinary enthusiast.
Shradha Mehta Balancing roles as Co-Founder of Coup D'ePop and running Ecomm Sales and Strategy for Essilor-Luxottica, North America, Shradha thrives on innovative disrupters within the ever-evolving digital retail landscape. As an entrepreneur, she launched and sold a Fashion Tech company, Dress for the Day. A strong believer in positive vibes only, this off-the-chart extrovert starts every day with a go-getter attitude.
David Moskowitz is a data scientist who uses experimental designs to help Fortune 500 companies develop successful new products and services. He has a BS in MIS and an MA in Accounting. David currently works as the lead data analyst for CraneCo, a global manufacturing company. He is married to a wonderful wife and is blessed with six children.
Petraq Papajorgji, Canadian Institute of Technology, Editor in Chief: International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems (IJAEIS). Professor Papajorgji has published a number of scientific papers and books.
Dalma Radványi is a food scientist who received her PhD summa cum laude in Analytical Chemistry from Szent István University, Hungary in 2017. Her thesis was part of an EU-funded project entitled ‘Research of analytical measurement and computer processing of metabolic markers to develop the technology of compost production KMR 12-1-2012-0189’. She was awarded a Fellowship granted by the Republic of Hungary. She has been working as an assistant lecturer at Szent István University since 2016 and is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She is currently involved in an EU-funded research project entitled ‘E-nose research center – analysis of natural odor patterns and their applications in agricultural sciences’. She has established an international reputation by presenting her results at several conferences around the world. Furthermore, she has established a strong relationship with agricultural companies who adopted methods she developed. She developed a detailed database of volatile organic compounds indicating the presence of harmful microbes present in mushroom compost. Additionally, she introduced a chemometric approach to distinguish raw chromatograms which speeds up analytical measurements in heavily time-dependent agricultural applications. She has published several research articles in highly respected journals in the fields of analytical chemistry and biochemistry, chemometrics and food and consumer sciences. Through tutoring activity, she has helped students win national scientific competitions. Dalma currently lives in Budapest with her family, she enjoys traveling, reading, and working on publications.
Robert Sherman is a Microsoft Certified Programmer with over 20 years of experience who specializes in web portals, web sites and SQL databases. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1986, and runs an independent programming service, RobertSoft. He created the MProd360 system for rapid product optimization and the PVI360 (Personal Viewpoint Identifier) to extend the assignment of people to mind-sets beyond the basic experiment.
Giorgia Spigno is Associate Professor of food science and technology at the DiSTAS – Department for Sustainable Food Process of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC). She holds an MSc degree in Food Science and Technology (1999, UCSC) and a PhD in Chemical and Process Engineering (2003, Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy). Since 2001 she has been teaching different courses in Food Processing, Food Processing Plants, and Food Packaging at both BSc and MSc degree level in Food Science and Technology and Food Technology and Sustainability at the Agrisystem PhD School (UCSC).
She has gained expertise in food processing, food packaging and plant design, optimisation, innovation and modelling, such as the characterisation and optimisation of food functional profiles and shelf-life.
Ardita Todri graduated in Banking & Finance at Padua University. Subsequently she has specialized in Financial & Risk Management, thanks to managerial experience in various international banking groups operating in Albania. She holds two PhD degrees, one awarded by the Polytechnic University of Lugano and another awarded by the Catholic University of Murcia.
Himanshu Upreti is the CTO and Cofounder at Ai Palette and leads their technical development and vision strategies. He comes with industrial experience in the background of big data analytics and advanced machine learning (ML). Prior to Ai Palette, he worked at Visa Data Labs building large-scale data platforms with ML and AI predictive modeling, where he successfully filed two trade secrets. He is an alumnus of IIT Guwahati with a specialisation in mathematics and computing.
Ryan Zemel A market researcher who assists entrepreneurs in identifying ‘perfect’ products and messages that resonate with target markets. He has improved the efficiency and success of the ideation stage for numerous products and brands. He has strong expertise in conjoint analysis and research coordination.
