The Doctoral Network “Edible Soft Matter” (ESM), funded by the European Union in the frame of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) funding programme is an international, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral network gathering leading experts in basic and applied soft matter and food sciences.
The objective of this 48-month project, starting from 1st March 2025 is to train and develop the employability of a new generation of young researchers, regulators, consultants and project leaders by providing them with a unique expertise in the design, production and quality assessment of innovative plant-based food products.
The consortium includes eleven Beneficiaries from seven countries (including three from the non- academic sector) who will each recruit at least one Doctoral Candidate and twelve Associated Partners (including four from the non-academic sector) with worldwide recognised and complementary expertise.
18 Doctoral Candidates will be recruited and trained in the frame of the ESM project. Through the implementation of an Individual Research Project (IRP) and the network-wide training activities, characterized by a strong involvement of the non-academic partners of the project, the Doctoral Candidates will develop the hard and soft skills needed to face the current challenges related to food and environmental transitions.

The ESM project is organised in seven work-packages (WP) including four research-based WP and three transversal WP dedicated respectively to Doctoral candidates training (WP5), Communication, dissemination & exploitation of the project results (WP6) and to Project management and coordination (WP7). The research-based WP unravel basic scientific questions to address the essential food-related research objectives: Plant-based Ingredients (WP1), Assemblies and Interactions (WP2), Multiscale Structuring (WP3) and Towards Innovative Manufactured Foods (WP4). The scientific objectives of the project will be achieved through the implementation of 18 Individual Research Projects (IRP).

IRP15: PhD position in "The role of plant-based proteins on the structure and quality of plant-based cheese"

Supervision:

• Main supervisors: Katlijn Moelants and Paul Smith (CARG)

• Co-supervisor(s): Deniz Gunes (promotor, KUL), Slavka Tcholakova (USOFIA), Amparo Tarrega (CSIC)

   

Objectives: 

In this work, we aim at finding the relations between the structure and the quality of plant-based cheese. The structure these cheeses will be described at different levels (macro-micro). The role of each ingredient with the focus on plant-based proteins as well as interactions with other ingredients will be investigated. The (micro-)structure of plant-based cheeses will be compared to a dairy-based reference and the causes of the differences in structure will be studied. To describe the quality of the cheese, sensory and textural performance (mechanical properties) in application will be measured. Tools will be developed to characterize the structure of the cheese (at different length scales) and to measure its quality. 

Expected results: 

• Toolbox to measure and describe the structure as well as the quality of plant-based cheese
• Description of the structure of plant-based cheese and the differences between plant- and animal-based cheese.
• Description of the role of the main ingredients and their interactions in the structure formation of plant-based cheese
• Guidelines for structure and ingredient requirements to improve the quality of the plant-based cheese

Planned secondments: 

• USOFIA (S. Tcholakova) for 4 months: Study of the cheese matrix using surface chemistry techniques
• KUL (D. Gunes) for 4 months: Effect of shear on the microstructure of the plant-based cheese, as studied by microscopy
• CSIC (A. Tarrega) for 4 months: Sensory measurements on model systems