Leading the way in food engineering – Professor Cordelia Selomulya on sustainable solutions and future challenges

Professor Cordelia Selomulya joined UNSW in December 2019 as a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and as the Research & Commercialisation Director of the Future Food Systems CRC. With extensive experience in spray drying and functional dairy and food powders, she was one of ten new Fellows elected to the Institute of Food Technologists in 2024.

In this interview, Professor Cordelia shares insights into her research on developing scalable, eco-friendly methods to enhance plant proteins for functional foods. She reflects on her journey, memorable experiences, changes in the engineering landscape, and the future impact of her work. Additionally, she offers valuable advice for students, highlighting the importance of innovation and sustainability in food engineering.
 

1. Can you describe the focus and inspiration behind your current research?

I'm currently working with my team at the School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW on improving the properties of plant proteins as ingredients, including for encapsulation and in functional foods. The idea is to develop strategies that can be scalable, generate less waste, use less chemicals, and not too convoluted. Often we see ideas or methods developed at the laboratory setting that are not feasible to translate at a larger scale for various reasons. As a chemical engineer, we need to be pragmatic while solving complex problems, in addition to developing a better understanding of the system.

The motivation for research is usually from seeing the opportunities in terms of challenging problems to be solved, and of course if there are resources available! I do find participating in conferences even outside your own field can inspire new ideas. The first time I attended IFT (Institute of Food Technologist) annual event and trade expo in 2013 in Chicago, I was blown away by the scale and the diversity of topics presented in all aspects of food, and the scale of the industry in North America. Presenting at that conference led to a collaboration with a US dairy company on improving the spray drying process for heat sensitive protein powders, which was among my first direct project with industry before continuing to work on many other projects in food and dairy space with partners in Australia, US, China, Netherlands, France, etc. It was also serendipitous that the formative years of my academic career was spent in the state of Victoria where >80% of dairy manufacturing and some of the major food companies are located. Even though I'm not a food scientist (my PhD and postdoctoral projects were in monitoring particle and aggregate behaviour for water treatment and mineral processing applications, respectively), I was honoured to be elected as a Fellow of IFT in 2024 - one of the very few Australians with the recognition since 1970. It also shows how versatile chemical engineering education can be in terms of areas of research / industry or careers that you can pursue.

2. Can you share a memorable experience from your research journey that has meant something to you?

There are many memorable experiences, but if I have to pick a recent one, it has to be hearing directly from our industry partners that the formulations / methods that we have developed in our lab have been successfully scaled-up in their commercial trials and may help expand operation and product lines in Australia and overseas. That gives us the confidence that the impact of our works goes beyond publication of research papers. Of course, seeing my PhD students completing their theses and continuing to progress their own careers in academia and industry is very satisfying - I recently received a happy email from a former student who is an early career academic in the UK because he has secured his first major research grant as the lead investigator.

3. Have you noticed any changes in the engineering landscape that has affected your research?

We need more highly skilled engineers even though a lot of manufacturing in Australia has moved offshore, as the industries (both current and new) continuously evolve with more automation, increasing focus on sustainability, and decarbonisation, including in the food and agricultural sectors. The use of generative AI will impact the way we do research - perhaps more efficient and faster - but we need to ensure that we have the strong scientific basis and fundamental understanding for whatever research topic or problem to be solved. Investment in research, including from industry especially at the early stage also needs to grow significantly - Australia has one of the lowest GDP spent on R&D investments among all the OECD countries - a figure that we should not be proud of.  True innovation requires resources and time, including in upskilling our workforce.

4. What impact do you hope your research will have on future generations?

Australia has a huge untapped potential as we are largely a commodity exporter of agricultural products - essentially "grow and ship". There are exceptions, for example the Australian dairy industry exports value-added dairy products including protein concentrates and infant formula, competing at the global scale. We are yet to have a significant capacity to process proteins or other components from plants as high value ingredients in functional foods or nutraceutical products. The global market for functional foods and beverages is expected to reach US$500 billion by 2028, growing almost 10% annually.  Ideally as a country, we should not be in a position where we have to import most of high value products from raw materials grown in Australia because we don't have the ability to process them locally. Hopefully the research that we do along with those from other colleagues in food engineering can shift the dial for Australia in the future.

5. What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing research in this field?

Food is such an integral part of human lives and often we don't realise how much science and innovation are involved in growing and processing them. Even the potato chips that you consume mindlessly while scrolling social media feeds have been carefully engineered in terms of taste, texture, shapes, sensory, and others to ensure that you will always reach for another one!  At the same time, the increasing awareness of our impact on the environment means that we need to come up with creative ideas for upcycling ingredients, sustainable packaging materials, efficient processes that generate less wastes or uses less energy, etc. There are plenty of opportunities to pursue a topic that you are passionate about in this field - even by looking around the supermarket aisles. You can start by exploring new ideas through honours thesis projects, design projects, or even entrepreneurship programs that are open to students.