description
- This research will build on the applicant’s current technical and research competencies in the areas of chemometrics, sensor design and development allowing him to transfer his skills to agri-food safety and quality control in the production of cereals, thereby expanding his knowledge base. The applicant aims to reinforce the international aspect of his research career through training from Drs Kim and Delwiche at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), pioneers in the application of Raman and fluorescence imaging to agri-food safety and quality assessment. They will train the researcher in the application of these techniques to cereals and in the development of super-resolution and data fusion algorithms to enhance safety and quality control of cereals. He will gain access to state-of-the-art spectral imaging facilities, develop project management skills and increase his network at the USDA Beltsville Agriculture Research Center (BARC). During the incoming stage at University College Dublin (UCD), under the guidance of Prof. Ward, the researcher will validate the techniques developed using cereals of economic importance to the EU and will promote the developed techniques to the major European cereal stakeholders. This fellowship will enable the researcher to develop an EU centre of excellence in spectral optical imaging technologies for agricultural and food safety, and provide a protocol for the development of sensors based on Vis-NIR, fluorescence and Raman imaging for rapid evaluation of cereal quality.