Academic Outreach (AO) is F1rst’s platform for building a stronger bridge between academia and industry. The programme creates opportunities for students, researchers, faculty members and academic institutions to engage with current industry needs, emerging technologies, applied research and career-relevant knowledge.
The main objective of this initiative is to promote Processed Traditional Indian foods research amongst PhD candidates across Indian universities and research institutes. It is not simply to deliver courses. AO is designed to encourage knowledge exchange, interdisciplinary thinking, innovation and stronger industry awareness, helping academic learning connect more closely with real-world food science, technology and business challenges.
The project targets two different groups of PhD students:
- Group 1: students who are about to complete their PhD and hence will soon be examining opportunities for employment
- Group 2: students who are about to commence their PhD studies
1. PhD Student Promotion Programme
We conduct this special programme exclusively for research/PhD students. PhD students proposing to conduct or currently conducting relevant research in food science including processing, technology, legislation and characterization are eligible to participate in the programme. The unique aspect of the programme is that it encourages inter-disciplinary research, thus encouraging revolutionary and innovative findings.
2. DuPont NutriScholars Award (DNA) - An Open Innovation Programme
DuPont NutriScholars Award (DNA), a pan-India food science programme that facilitates knowledge exchange and drives innovation among the country’s food academics. This programme aims to develop innovation capability of university students with support from DuPont. The programme was previously held in 2017, 2018 and 2020. The competition provides a platform to bring innovative ideas in local and ethnic foods using at least one or more DuPont food ingredients.