THE AGENDA
Thursday 24th October
6.45 pm Social Dinner Craft Beer | Brasserie Surréaliste | Bruxelles (brasseriesurrealiste.com)< /a>
Friday 25th October
8.00-8.20 Welcome Coffee
8.20- 9.15 Peter Schieberle: Understanding Chocolate Aroma: On the way from c ocoa seeds to chocolate consumption
9. 15-9.45 Jimena Gomez de la Flor: The European Flavour Association disti lled: Anticipation through regulation, influence via advocacy, and amplific ation through communication. A brief exploration of how EFFA's initiatives can empower the craft of flavourists.
9.45-10.30 Michel Aubanel: The technology behind cocoa flavour
10.30-11.00 Coffee Break
11.00-11.45 Erica Liberto: Cocoa flavour quality and artific ial intelligence in the industry 4.0 (HYBRID EVENT)
11.45-12.30 Spencer Hyman: Why craft chocolate is an amaz ing tool to explore flavour, taste and texture
12.30-1.15 Networking Lunch with Kumasi drinks
1.15-1.30 Heather Spooner presents her poster "Discover of nov el 3-oxazolines in chocolate", awarded as best poster presentation at Weurm an Symposium 2024 in Wageningen.
1.30-1.45 Andrea Albertino: Have you ever thought about using these components in a chocolate flavour?
1.45-2.30 Zoi Papalexandratou, Clay Gordon: Quantifying the Flavours of Cocoa and Chocolate
2.30-3.15 David Nilsen: From Pod to Pint: Unlocking Surprising Flavors & Harmonies Between Craft Beer & Craft Chocolate
3.15-3.30 Closing
THE SPEAKERS
PETER SC HIEBERLE
JIMENA GOMEZ DE LA FLOR
Jimena has over 15 years of experience working in Communications and European Affairs. She currently works as Communications Director for the European Flavour Association (EFFA) developing and impleme nting its communication strategy. She studied journalist in Spain and previ ously worked as a Senior Communication Officer at the European Commission I nformation Service and at other European Associations and Institutions
MICHEL AUBANEL
Michel Aubanel, MSc is the Global Flavour Ingred ients Director linking team in various region, China, North America, Brazil , Europe. Michel’s job is to explore new raw materials all over the world a nd find ways to improve not just the health of people, but also the planet. Michel holds a Master in Chemical Engineering and Organic Chemistry from U niversity Marseille in France. He has 35+ years’ experience in the flavour industry, has worked with companies like Mane, Sanofi/Degussa, Cargill and Kerry Taste & Nutrition. This year he celebrates 10 years with Kerry. M ichel is an active mentor of more than 25 young technicians trained and als o graduates in Naas (Ireland). His knowledge and expertise have been captur ed on 8 scientific publications. He also holds 3 patents and a great number of scientific publications. He specialises on Natural Extracts, Chemistry, biochemistry, liquid flavours and powder flavours. Active member of IOFI ( International Organization of the Flavor Industry) since 2008 as a recogniz ed Science Board Member where he is part of various TaskForce. He also supp orts communities as an active member since 2005 of "Fleurs de Batie" in Fra nce and Burkina Faso as supporting various Kerry Sustainable program as the “Tsara Kalitao” for the Kerry organic and sustainable vanilla beans.
SPENCER HYMAN
Spencer c o-founded Cocoa Runners over a decade ago, expanding his knowledge and pass ion for craft chocolate. Spencer has a background leading operations across retail, technology and startups — setting up Hasbro in Japan, launching Am azon’s Software, Video Games and Electronics stores in the UK and COOing La st.fm’s music service. He is passionate about saving, and savouring, the wo rld through Craft Chocolate. He often appears on TV, media and at conferenc es, including Sunday Brunch, World Cocoa Conference, Great Taste Awards, So ciety of Flavourists, International Wine Challenge, Barista Connect, Academ y of Chocolate and more. Spencer is always on the hunt for great new craft chocolate makers and farmers, exploring how cocoa is grown and crafted — an d understanding more about flavour, and how Craft Chocolate pairs with othe r great craft experiences like wine and coffee.
ERICA LIBERTO
Erica Liberto obtained her Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Chem istry and Technology at the University of Turin in 2001. In November 2001, she received a scholarship for a two-year research internship from the Univ ersity of Turin as part of the project "Characterisation and temporal evolu tion of the flavour profile of alcohol/cherries through chemical analysis c ombined with chemiometric analysis", funded by Soremartec (Ferrero Group). In 2003, she received a research grant from the University of Turin for a r esearch project entitled "Characterisation of the chemical and organoleptic Robusta fresh harvest (Robusta project), green coffee and roasted coffee". In 2009, she obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Turin with a thesis on "Approaches to accelerate the analysis of volati le fractions of plant matrices". In 2019, she became Associate Professor of Food Chemistry at the Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco of the University of Turin.
Since 2006, Eri ca Liberto has coordinated and supervised several research projects funded by food companies, focusing in particular on integrated and advanced analyt ical approaches linked to chemometric tools for the analysis of foods and m edicinal plants.
The research interests focus on: (a) the development of approaches to accelerate chromatographic s eparations and integrated solutions for sampling and detection in the quali tative and quantitative characterisation of food samples; (b) chemometric t ools useful in profiling target and non-target metabolites and in fingerpri nting associated with rapid analytical techniques with a view to on-line te chnological transfer; (c) applications of "omics" approaches in the discove ry of markers related to nutrition or in the definition of the metabolic fi neprint. Her research activities and international collaborations are descr ibed in 88 publications in international journals and 12 book chapters, ora l communications and posters at national and international conferences.
ANDREA ALBERTINO
Andrea Al bertino received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2010 and started working for Ker ry (former San Giorgio Flavours site) soon after. The company went through many ownerships, last Kerry Group, before shutting activities down a few ye ars later. This was his first encounter with the world of flavours, specifi cally learning about flavour encapsulation and raw materials. He moved to I reland within Kerry in 2013 working mainly in sweet and beverage flavour fo rmulation, before joining Esarom Austria in 2017 continuing the development of flavours for the same end use markets.
He joined the British Society of Flavourists during the pandemic and be came Honorary President in 2023; the Society is active organising online we binars and in presence events, recording podcasts with relevant figures of F&F industry and university, publishing an online magazine (New Flavour ist) as well as collaborating with the British Society of Perfumers, Societ y of Cosmetic Scientists, Flavour Horizons, with the ultimate scope of prom ote flavour knowledge across the industries.
ZOI PAPALEXANDRATOU
CLAY GORDON
DAVID NILS EN
David Nilsen is a beer writer and educator living near Dayton, Ohio. He's an Advanced Cicerone© and a member of the N orth American Guild of Beer Writers. He hosts the Bean to Barstool podcast, and is the co-founder and editor of Final Gravity, A Beer Zine, as well as the author of Pairing Beer and Chocolate. You can find him online at davidnilsenbeer.com and on social @davidnilsenbeer.
THE VENUE
The event w ill be hosted by EFFA which is located in Brussels City Ceter (Av. des Arts 6, 4th Floor), approximately 13km from the closest airport (Brussels Inter nation Airport).
Main train station is 2 km from the EFFA premises.
HOTEL RECOMMENDATIONS
Courtyard Brussels, o nly 5 min walk from EFFA premises. Bo ok your corporate rate for European Flavour Association (EFFA)
Martin’s hotel, 12-15mi n walk from the office and next to the European Commission.
NH hotel Berlaymont: in front of Martin’s hotel.
Thon Hotel is a lso walking distance from EFFA.
Double Tree hotel by Hilton, 1 5 min walk from our office.
Jime na has over 15 years of experience working in Communications and European A ffairs. She currently works as Communications Director for the European Fla vour Association (EFFA) developing and implementing its communication strat egy. She studied journalist in Spain and previously worked as a Senior Comm unication Officer at the European Commission Information Service and at oth er European Associations and Institutions
Michel Aubanel, MSc is the Global Flavour Ingredients Director linking team in various region, China, North America, Brazil, Euro pe. Michel’s job is to explore new raw materials all over the world and fin d ways to improve not just the health of people, but also the planet. Miche l holds a Master in Chemical Engineering and Organic Chemistry from Univers ity Marseille in France. He has 35+ years’ experience in the flavour indust ry, has worked with companies like Mane, Sanofi/Degussa, Cargill and Kerry Taste & Nutrition. This year he celebrates 10 years with Kerry. Michel is an active mentor of more than 25 young technicians trained and also grad uates in Naas (Ireland). His knowledge and expertise have been captured on 8 scientific publications. He also holds 3 patents and a great number of sc ientific publications. He specialises on Natural Extracts, Chemistry, bioch emistry, liquid flavours and powder flavours. Active member of IOFI (Intern ational Organization of the Flavor Industry) since 2008 as a recognized Sci ence Board Member where he is part of various TaskForce. He also supports c ommunities as an active member since 2005 of "Fleurs de Batie" in France an d Burkina Faso as supporting various Kerry Sustainable program as the “Tsar a Kalitao” for the Kerry organic and sustainable vanilla beans.
Spencer co-founded Cocoa Runners over a decade ago, expanding his k nowledge and passion for craft chocolate. Spencer has a background leading operations across retail, technology and startups — setting up Hasbro in Ja pan, launching Amazon’s Software, Video Games and Electronics stores in the UK and COOing Last.fm’s music service. He is passionate about saving, and savouring, the world through Craft Chocolate. He often appears on TV, media and at conferences, including Sunday Brunch, World Cocoa Conference, Great Taste Awards, Society of Flavourists, International Wine Challenge, Barist a Connect, Academy of Chocolate and more. Spencer is always on the hunt for great new craft chocolate makers and farmers, exploring how cocoa is grown and crafted — and understanding more about flavour, and how Craft Chocolat e pairs with other great craft experiences like wine and coffee.
Erica Liberto obtained he r Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the Univers ity of Turin in 2001. In November 2001, she received a scholarship for a tw o-year research internship from the University of Turin as part of the proj ect "Characterisation and temporal evolution of the flavour profile of alco hol/cherries through chemical analysis combined with chemiometric analysis" , funded by Soremartec (Ferrero Group). In 2003, she received a research gr ant from the University of Turin for a research project entitled "Character isation of the chemical and organoleptic Robusta fresh harvest (Robusta pro ject), green coffee and roasted coffee". In 2009, she obtained her PhD in P harmaceutical Sciences at the University of Turin with a thesis on "Approac hes to accelerate the analysis of volatile fractions of plant matrices". In 2019, she became Associate Professor of Food Chemistry at the Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco of the University of Turin.
Since 2006, Erica Liberto has coordinated and supe rvised several research projects funded by food companies, focusing in part icular on integrated and advanced analytical approaches linked to chemometr ic tools for the analysis of foods and medicinal plants.
The research interests focus on: (a) the development of ap proaches to accelerate chromatographic separations and integrated solutions for sampling and detection in the qualitative and quantitative characteris ation of food samples; (b) chemometric tools useful in profiling target and non-target metabolites and in fingerprinting associated with rapid analyti cal techniques with a view to on-line technological transfer; (c) applicati ons of "omics" approaches in the discovery of markers related to nutrition or in the definition of the metabolic fineprint. Her research activities an d international collaborations are described in 88 publications in internat ional journals and 12 book chapters, oral communications and posters at nat ional and international conferences.
AND REA ALBERTINO
Andrea Albertino rece ived his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2010 and started working for Kerry (former S an Giorgio Flavours site) soon after. The company went through many ownersh ips, last Kerry Group, before shutting activities down a few years later. T his was his first encounter with the world of flavours, specifically learni ng about flavour encapsulation and raw materials. He moved to Ireland withi n Kerry in 2013 working mainly in sweet and beverage flavour formulation, b efore joining Esarom Austria in 2017 continuing the development of flavours for the same end use markets.
He joine d the British Society of Flavourists during the pandemic and became Honorar y President in 2023; the Society is active organising online webinars and i n presence events, recording podcasts with relevant figures of F&F indu stry and university, publishing an online magazine (New Flavourist) as well as collaborating with the British Society of Perfumers, Society of Cosmeti c Scientists, Flavour Horizons, with the ultimate scope of promote flavour knowledge across the industries.
DAVID NILSEN
David Nilsen is a beer writer and educator living near Dayto n, Ohio. He's an Advanced Cicerone© and a member of the North American Guil d of Beer Writers. He hosts the Bean to Barstool podcast, and is the co-fou nder and editor of Final Gravity, A Beer Zine, as well as the author of Pairing Beer and Chocolate. You can find him online at davidnilsenbeer.com and on social @davidnilsenbeer.
THE VENU E
The event will be hosted by E FFA which is located in Brussels City Ceter (Av. des Arts 6, 4th Floor), ap proximately 13km from the closest airport (Brussels Internation Airport).
Main train station is 2km from the EFFA p remises.
Courtyard Brussels, only 5 min walk fro m EFFA premises. Book your corporate rate for European Flavour Association (EFFA)
Martin’s hotel, 12-15min walk from the of fice and next to the European Commission.
NH hotel Berlaymont: i n front of Martin’s hotel.
Thon Hotel is also walking distan ce from EFFA.
Double Tree hotel by Hilton, 15 min walk from ou r office.
