AI-Optimised Fermentation for Sustainable Protein Production from Food Side Streams

One full scholarship is available in the School of Food Science and Nutrition in 2024. This scholarship is open to UK and covers UK tuition fees plus UKRI maintenance per year (£17,668 in 2022/23). Please note that international applicants are welcome to apply but would need to cover the difference in international tuition fees.

This fully funded PhD place provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research in a range of fields relating to Food Science, Bioprocessing, Alternative Proteins and Data Analytics and is aligned to a currently funded BBSRC AI for Bioscience partnership with CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australian Government – CSIRO) in Australia. 

The award is open to full-time candidates who have been offered a place on a PhD degree at the School of Food Science and Nutrition. 

Approximately one-third of all food produced gets wasted. At the same time, current alternative protein production often uses high-purity substrates. This project aims to use AI to optimise yeast fermentation processes that use agri-food side streams as substrates to produce sustainable, economic, and nutritious proteins for human consumption. 

Agri-food side streams are often variable in composition with low nutrient and high moisture content, making fermentation challenging. This means that the pretreatment methods, fermentation parameters, yeast species, nutrient supplementation, and downstream processing must be optimised for each new side stream. This project will produce transferable AI models that enable quick optimisation and evaluation of the economic and environmental viability of valorising new agri-food side streams. This will reduce the laboratory data collection burden for researchers in the UK and world-wide. 

Specifically, this project will: 

• Create databases by collecting fermentation data in the laboratory and collating previous experimental results from the literature. 
• Use hybrid modelling to combine data-driven machine learning with mechanistic knowledge from first-principle physical equations to model microbial dynamics. 
• Develop environmental, economic, and nutrition metrics to evaluate the fermentation processes. 
• Utilise Bayesian optimisation to guide the trials in the laboratory whilst optimising for environmental sustainability, economics, and nutrition. 
• Explore the use of advanced sensing techniques (e.g., ultrasonic sensors, near-infrared spectroscopy, or computer vision) to further improve production by characterising materials (e.g., food waste streams, substrates after pretreatment, fermentation products) and monitoring processes (e.g., pretreatment methods, fermentation, and downstream processes). 

How to apply

Formal applications for research degree study should be made online through the University’s website. Please state clearly in the research information section that the research degree you wish to be considered for is AI-Optimised Fermentation for Sustainable Protein Production from Food Side Streams as well as Professor Nicholas Watson as your proposed supervisor.

If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence that you meet the University’s minimum English language requirements (below).

As an international research-intensive university, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. We foster an inclusive environment where all can flourish and prosper, and we are proud of our strong commitment to student education. Across all Faculties we are dedicated to diversifying our community and we welcome the unique contributions that individuals can bring, and particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to Black, Asian, people who belong to a minority ethnic community, people who identify as LGBT+ and people with disabilities. Applicants will always be selected based on merit and ability.

Entry requirements

Applicants to this scholarship in the School of Food Science and Nutrition should normally have at least a first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) as well as a master’s degree in an appropriate discipline. Applicants are advised to check with the relevant School prior to making an application. Applicants who are uncertain about the requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the School or Graduate School prior to making an application.

English language requirements

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.5 overall with no individual skill band below 6.0 in each component (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.