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COMFOCUS COMFOCUS project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme aims to progress the EU food consumer science community by integrating key European research infrastructures in the inherently multidisciplinary field of food consumer science, in order to promote their optimal use and joint development.

FINAL Conference of COMFOCUS is coming!

On February 13th 2025, COMFOCUS is organising its FINAL event in Wageningen (Netherlands)!

COMFOCUS is organising its FINAL Conference to bring together, inspire and motivate researchers in the field of food consumer science to disseminate the COMFOCUS approach and adopt the “new way of working”!

This will be a live in-person event with keynote speakers, learning labs, parallel sessions and panel discussions, and will be accessible for the COMFOCUS fellows, advisory boards´ members and food consumer researchers.

Join this conference to learn more about the COMFOCUS approach and this “new way of working”, and to discover the tools that can support you.

Are you willing to participate in the event? Send us an email for more information.

Get ready for more news soon!

Final paper of COMFOCUS

Our final paper that will explore perspectives on the new way of working in food consumer science is in work! The COMFOCUS community will soon receive a short survey to share their experiences and opinion. Your input is essential to reflect on challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. Keep an eye out for the survey link!

Sustainability and future of COMFOCUS

We´ve been working on implementation of strategies and steps for the project exploitation, that also requires to identify the main Key Exploitable Results (KERs) of COMFOCUS.

The first communication about KERs we had in the 3rd Year COMFOCUS Annual Meeting in one of the plenary interactions with the project partners. During the meeting, we identified a list of the main KERs that can be transferred beyond the COMFOCUS project boarders:

• Institutional Community of New Way of Working;
• Toolbox of search services and other tools, related to our data repository;
• Harmonized measures and protocols, to facilitate data interoperability and re-use.

Right now, we are interviewing the COMFOCUS project partners to find a way to maintain these achievements and developments after the project end.

More results of our work will be available on the COMFOCUS website soon.

COMFOCUS contributions to the food consumer Science field

COMFOCUS has recently contributed to the food consumer science field by submitting papers to scientific journals, particularly:

• The paper with the title “European Perspectives on Public Benefit in Relation to Food: Insights from a Serious Game Approach” was published in the Sustainability journal.

Abstract: “There is limited understanding of what constitutes public benefit from the perspective of the public, and none that we are aware of related to food consumer science. The purpose of this study is to contribute towards a better understanding of public benefit as a whole and its connection to food choice, essential to driving progress towards responsible consumption and healthier diets. Public benefit, associated trade-offs and responsible actors were investigated via written questions, and food choice was explored during group discussions using the PlayDecide methodology.”

Click here to read the paper.

• We submitted a position paper to the journal Trends in Food Science and Technology.

The title of this paper: «Towards a future-proof integrated food consumer science discipline».

Abstract: “Despite its maturation, the field of food consumer science (FCS) faces new challenges and opportunities that require further development. The COMFOCUS position paper introduces a new approach centred on three interconnected levels of integration (data, institutional, and social) to cultivate a collaborative culture. We identify three key challenges for advancing the field: achieving FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data through the harmonization of diverse measures and datasets, optimizing resource utilization by enhancing access to research facilities, and fostering collaboration among early-career researchers. The success of this ambitious transformation relies heavily on effective collaboration among scientists and stakeholders. Through our experiences and activities in the COMFOCUS project, a pilot of an integrated and open FCS community, we illustrate the potential of FCS as a harmonized, data-rich science that can significantly contribute to healthier and more sustainable food systems”.

The paper will be available in the journal soon.

Academic Training took place in Bologna, Italy on October 10th!

On October 10th 2024, COMFOCUS had its second face-to-face Academic Training in Bologna, Italy. It was hosted by the University of Bologna, Department of Agri-food Sciences and Technologies and Prof. Dr. Matteo Vittuari, who was happy to greet the COMFOCUS fellows, PhD and MSc students (University of Bologna), consortium members and a member of International Advisory Board (IAB) in the walls of the university.

The main theme of the training was the future of COMFOCUS: project ambition and vision, challenges that the food consumer science field faces challenges in the modern world, strong worldwide need to change diets to prevent diseases, climate change and environmental harm.

The event also hosted several insightful sessions on EEG (Electroencephalography) approaches, investigation of the properties of fragrances in humans, choice experiments in virtual settings and on measuring psychophysiological signals in a harmonized way. Read more about the event here.