Author: M

The Italian Network of the PhD Courses in Food Science, Technology and Biotechnology and Cluster Agrifood Nazionale CL.A.N are pleased to announce the 9th Edition of the “What for”  Award.

The initiative is aimed at:

• consolidating the relationship between the food industry and the research doctorate courses in the food sector;
• favouring the orientation of training courses towards issues of industrial interest;
• attracting knowledgeable and motivated young researchers in food industries.

The Award is aimed at promoting awareness among young researchers of the effects of the application of the research carried out by them and the ability to communicate, in a synthetic and effective way, how to promote technological transfer.

1. WHO CAN PARTECIPATE and HOW
   

   The Award is targeted to 3^rd year PhD students – that registered and will attend the 29^th  Workshop on the Developments in the Italian PhD Research on Food Science Technology and Biotechnology to be held in Teramo, University of Teramo, Department of Biosciences and Technology for Food Agriculture and Environment, from 10 to 12 September 2025, and – have developed a doctoral thesis project with a clear innovative and technology transfer impact for food companies. Interested PhD students have to select their choice to participate and apply for the “What For” Award (hereafter, WF-Award) in the registration form of the Workshop The registered PhD students have then to send a video of a maximum duration of 3 minutes, in which, through images and voice, the main results of the doctoral project are presented giving a main attention in highlighting the main aspects and results of relevance for technology transfer to companies and/or for the development of a business idea. The rules and deadlines for the registration and for sending the video are described in the dedicated section.  

2. SELECTION PROCEDURE AND CRITERIA
   The selection will take place in two phases:

• Phase I (by July 31, 2025): a pre-selection of a maximum of the 6 best videos will be made from all the ones received. The evaluation will be carried out by the Pre-selection Jury.

• Phase II (during the Workshop): selection of the winner from the 6 pre-selected videos. The winner will be determined by the joint vote of the Final Jury (weighted ratio: 60%) and that of the “popular” jury (weighted ratio: 40%) composed of all the participants at the Workshop (i.e. PhD students, tutors, others).

3. COMPOSITION OF JURY AND EVALUATION PROCESS
   

   Phase I: Pre-selection The Pre-selection Jury will be composed of 5 members: 2 professors (selected from the coordinators/delegates of the PhD programs that will not have PhD students participants to the WF-Award) and 3 representatives of the National Agrifood Cluster CL.A.N. Each member of the jury will evaluate the video based on the criteria below reported up to a maximum score of 100 points/video. 
   Phase II: selection of the winner The Final Jury will be composed of Presidents of the 2 Scientific Societies (SISTAL, SIMTREA) that sponsor the Workshop, or their delegates, n. 1 member (President or Secretary) of the National Coordination Committee of the PhD doctorate in Food science, technology and biotechnology, and n. 2 representatives of the National Agrifood Cluster CL.A.N. Members of the Jury will evaluate each video individually based on the same criteria of the pre-selection step, attributing a score up to 100 points/video. The results of this step of the final evaluation will be used to draft an initial ranking and the votes obtained by each candidate will be normalized with respect to the maximum score that could be achieved (500) and expressed as a percentage.
   The Popular Jury is composed by all the participants in the Workshop (PhDs, tutors, guests), who will be able to vote (one vote/registered participant)  by indicating their preference for one of the 6 pre-selected videos.
   The deadline to express the preference/vote is 11 September 2025, 6:00 pm.
   To favour the selection and vote, the videos of the 6 pre-selected PhD will be continuously showed during the workshop time, coffee and lunch breaks in the workshop classrooms and in the corridors on dedicated screens. All the votes collected by each video/PhD student will be summed up; then, the total votes will be normalized with respect to the number of voters, and expressed as a percentage. The weighted votes of the two juries (40% for the Popular Jury, 60% Final Expert Jury) will be summed up to compute the final score. In the event of an equal score, the candidate coming from the location with the lowest number of PhD students will be selected; in the event of a further equal result, the youngest candidate will prevail.  

4. EVALUATION CRITERIA
   Each member of the Juries (both Pre-selection and Final) could attribute the maximum score of 100 points, equally divided between:
   a.Originality, innovation, applicative purposes;
   b.Communication skills for the transfer of innovation

In the case of the Popular Jury, each participant in the Workshop will be able to express only one vote by selecting one of the 6 selected videos.  

5. DEADLINES AND TIMING
   Application: 2 steps

1. Step 1: application for the Award: during the registration for the Workshop in the online form, PhD students are asked to tick the box indicating your interest to participate to the award. Thus, the deadline corresponds to that of the Workshop registration.
2. Step 2: video submission: the video must be sent by the registered PhD student via e-mail to the Organizing Committee (phdfoodteramo@unite.it) no later than June 25, 2025 (the date of receipt of the e-mail will be considered valid).
   If the submission of the video does not occur by the deadline, even if the PhD student has stated jis/her interest in the registration (step 1), the application to the WF-Award is not valid.
3. Pre-selected final videos/PhD students. The pre-evaluation will end by July 25, 2025 and the selected candidates will be informed by July 31, 2025. The list of finalists will be published on the Workshop website and communicated to all workshop participants during the Opening session of the workshop (10^th September).
4. Nomination of the WF-Award winner. The communication of the winner and the assignment of the Award will take place at the closing session in the morning of the third day of the Workshop (September 12, 2025).
   The PhDs of the 6 pre-selected videos are recommended to remain until the time of the WF-Award  nomination session.  

6. PRIZE
   The amount of the Prize is 1 000,00 Euro (one thousand). The awarding of the Prize is left to the unquestionable judgment of the Jury of experts and the popular Jury who may also provide for the assignment of ex-aequo Prizes with distribution of the value of the prize. The Prize will be awarded by the delegate of the National Agrifood Cluster CL.A.N. during the closing ceremony of the 29th Workshop on the Developments in the Italian PhD Research on Food Science Technology and Biotechnology on September 12, 2025.

The participation in the competition implies complete and unconditional acceptance of these rules.
For more info: phdfood2025@unite.it

The Italian Network of the PhD Courses in Food Science, Technology and Biotechnology and Cluster Agrifood Nazionale CL.A.N are pleased to announce the 9th Edition of the “What for”  Award.

The initiative is aimed at:

• consolidating the relationship between the food industry and the research doctorate courses in the food sector;
• favouring the orientation of training courses towards issues of industrial interest;
• attracting knowledgeable and motivated young researchers in food industries.

The Award is aimed at promoting awareness among young researchers of the effects of the application of the research carried out by them and the ability to communicate, in a synthetic and effective way, how to promote technological transfer.

More information here