Pilot Projects
In our Living Lab, we offer funding for small-scale pilot projects for researchers and external partners.
Researchers can also get help in order to reach out internally to colleagues from other disciplines and to external partners and collaborators. Furthermore, we continuously get inquiries from companies and other external partners interested in collaboration. In these matters, we always reach out to relevant researchers across UCPH.
Small-scale funding for cross-disciplinary plant-based food projects
Development of solutions (technical, products, ideas, concepts, etc.) must be based on cross-disciplinarity and co-creation with one or more end-users. The amount obtainable per pilot project is DKK 100-300,000. The max project period is 1½ years.
Our funded pilot projects
At SCIENCE two canteens will shift to only be serving vegetarian and vegan food. This takes place in September 2023 and will be used to document the process of changing, consumer preferences, communication in the process and collaboration with Compass Group, the canteen provider.
Further the project will focus on how to engage researchers and students in the plant-based food and shift in menu. All researchers and students at UCPH are welcome to join and to use the data produces in the project and to contribute with new data.
Contact person: Morten Wendler Jørgensen, SAMF and the Green Solutions Centre
Read the Verdens Bedste Nyheder article here.
Rapeseed accounts for the largest fraction (~50%) of crude protein obtained from protein crops in the EU, with 150-200.000 ha grown in Denmark alone. The rapeseed press cake contains 30-40% protein with an excellent amino acid profile as well as dietary fibres. Today, the press cake is largely unexploited as human food due to its content of compounds that taste bitter and are anti-nutritional. We have assembled a team of experts who will explore the obstacles that must be overcome to bring rapeseed protein to our dinner tables throughout the entire value chain.
The project involves three departments at UCPH: Plant biologists at PLEN will investigate a bitter compound at the molecular level, scientists from FOOD will study the sensory properties of the press cake, while ethnologists at the SAXO Institute will explore what it is that affects consumer acceptances of novel foods such as rapeseed press cake. Reaching out of academia, we have teamed up with gastronomy innovators at Munk Food, who will create novel product prototypes from rapeseed press cake.
External partners:
Munk Food: R&D chief Juan Agustín Muñoz and project manager Mette Johnsen
Key persons:
| Barbara Ann Halkier, Profesor | Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences | Faculty of Science |
| Wender Bredie, Professor | Department of Food Science (UCPH FOOD) | Faculty of Science |
| Frida Hastrup, Associate Professor | The Saxo Institute | Faculty of Humanities |
| Deyang Xu, Researcher | Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences | Faculty of Science |
| Jakob Skytte Thorsen, Laboratory Assistant | Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences | Faculty of Science |
| Arendse Maria Toft, Master student | Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences | Faculty of Science |
Our project is called SHEAF – Pilot Intervention Study, which is part of a bigger project, SHEAF – Sustainability, Health and Acceptability of plant-based foods, where we are now working with plant-based analogues for dairy products. We will run a pilot study with 20 participants who are healthy and regular dairy consumers. The dietary intervention would consist of substituting regular dairy products (milk, cheese, yoghurt) for plant-based analogues for 30 days. Participants will be provided with products weekly for 4 weeks to guarantee they all have the same products and measure adherence to the intervention by receiving the empty packages. We will assess participants’ perceptions of their global health and post-prandial feelings when consuming plant-based products, and we will investigate what changes in diet composition and if the substitution of animal products requires the participants to change their diet beyond the intervention. Participants will also participate in a reflection workshop to describe the role of dairy in their diets during the intervention. After the intervention, half of them will participate in semi-structured interviews regarding their views on animal and plant-based dairy and sustainable diets.
External partners:
Christian Christiansen – CEO; DRYK
Simon Francis- CEO; Casheury – Swedish Vegan Creamery
External academic partners:
| Derek V. Byrne; Professor | Department of Food Science | Aarhus University |
| Barbara Vad Andersen, Tenure Track Assistant Professor | Department of Food Science | Aarhus University |
Key persons:
| Beatriz Philippi Rosane, PhD Fellow | Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports | Faculty of SCIENCE |
| Susanne Gjedsted Bügel, Professor | Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports (NEXS) | Faculty of SCIENCE |
| Sophie Wennerscheid, Associate professor | Center for Applied Ecological Thinking (CApE) | Faculty of Humanities |
| Lise Tjørring, Postdoc | Center for Applied Ecological Thinking (CApE) | Faculty of Humanities |
This interdisciplinary project combines agriculture and ethnology to understand a novel agricultural system and its social dynamics. It aims to achieve crop rotation benefits through strip cultivation, dividing fields into crop strips. The project explores plant species suitable for robot-assisted strip cultivation, describes contemporary and historical cultivation systems for diverse crops, and studies people's connections to a local landscape through crops. Focused on a demo experiment at PLEN's Experimental Farms, it analyzes human interactions with local plant-based foods at the Centre for Sustainable Futures. Findings will be shared through events and demos while establishing a network of external partners for development and implementation.
Activities:
External partners:
AgroIntelli and Nordic Beet
Key persons:
| Svend Christensen, Professor | Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences | Faculty of SCIENCE |
| Frida Hastrup, Associate Professor | The Saxo Institute | Faculty of Humanities |
| Jesper Svensgaard, Team leader | Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences | Faculty of SCIENCE |
A small-scale pilot project can be based on the following
- An existing research project that can be boosted with the development and test of a solution - and a cross-disciplinary approach
- A collaboration between UCPH and external partners – e.g. as a pre-project for a research application based on co-creation with external partner(s) and focused on the development of a plant-based solution
- An ambition to make a diverse partnership, based on academic commitment and extern partners, for example, around existing UCPH infrastructure
The funds can be used for salaries (from research assistant to researcher) of the staff carrying out the tasks in the project and for other project-related costs. The project must be managed and run by one or more researchers, but the actual execution can be carried out by, for example, a research assistant or other UCPH-employees with competencies within the field.
The most important aspect is the specific content: development of the specific solution(s) in a cross-disciplinary and user-inclusive set-up, as well as learning from the process and having the opportunity of testing the solution.
Living Lab Manager
Mette Frimodt-Møller is Living Lab Manager, and you can contact her here.