Sustainable Food Management

The staff on the degree programme deal with current and future topics relating to food and sustainability, which are addressed in national and international projects. This expertise is also incorporated into teaching and students are given the opportunity to be involved in such projects.

Numerous other practical projects during the degree programme offer you the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in real-life scenarios and gain valuable practical experience. By working on these projects, you not only deepen your specialist knowledge, but also strengthen your teamwork and problem-solving skills, which prepares you optimally for the demands of the professional world.

Right at the start of their studies, students are given the opportunity to analyse a specific foodstuff in detail by asking various questions (for example: Can the hazelnuts in muesli be replaced by local ones?) Methodological research questions are also dealt with in group work.

Bachelor’s theses often involve collaborations with companies that approach students with assignments or specific questions, which are then dealt with as part of the thesis.
Orders that have been realised in Bachelor’s theses include, for example:

• Recipe adaptation and optimisation of a mushroom spread (Gut Behütet)
• Food pairing combinations with marzipan (Zotter Schokoladenmanufaktur)
• Potential and feasibility of geofood (Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark)
• Styrian chestnut beer (Sterz association)
• Planning and validation of an efficacy study of dietary supplements (Ringana GmbH)

Automation of the ‘Hopfensau’ microbrewery

One example of a practical project as part of a degree programme course was the automation of the ‘Hopfensau’ microbrewery.

This brewing system is used at the institute to brew small experimental batches of beer in order to conduct targeted research on the topic of beer. Students are also allowed to brew their own beer during their studies with the help of this system and thus learn about the beer brewing process at close quarters.
The ‘Hopfensau’ was automated as part of a practical project (in collaboration with the Production Technology and Organisation course) to make the brewing process simpler and more reproducible.
The programming of the temperature control was also realised as part of the course.