Keynote Speakers and Session Chairs

Roland Ernest Poms

ICC Secretary General/CEO

Coordinator of MoniQA EU Network of Excellence

ICC - International Association for Cereal Science and Technology

MoniQA - Monitoring and Quality Assurance in the Total Food Supply Chain (EU Network of Excellence)

Background and experience

Dr. Roland Poms is Secretary General/CEO of ICC - International Association for Cereal Science and Technology www.icc.or.at, based in Vienna, Austria, and Coordinator of the EU Network of Excellence MoniQA - Monitoring and Quality Assurance in the total Food Supply Chain www.moniqa.org.

He holds MSc and PhD degrees in Food Technology and Biotechnology from BOKU, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, in cooperation with the University of Minnesota, USA. During the past 15 years he has had several research positions in Austria, Belgium, Italy, USA, and New Zealand. His major expertise is method development for food safety assessment (microbiological and biochemical) and GMO detection.

Dr. Poms has a part time position at BOKU, where he is an affiliated lecturer on food safety assessment and GMO safety. He maintains university collaborations in Canada (Guelph), China (Zhengzhou, Chengdu), New Zealand (Lincoln, Palmerston North, Auckland), Thailand (Bangkok), USA (Minnesota). As BOKU affiliate he has acted as BOKU university ambassador and supported various joint collaboration and research initiatives.

In recent years Dr. Poms worked on the validation of rapid methods and co-ordinated several international research projects during his employment at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (2001-2004) and ICC (2004 - date). He is coordinator of MoniQA (2007-2012) and partner in PlantLibra (2010-2014) and Connect4Action (2011-2013)  Dr. Poms is Co-Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed international journal QAS - Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods www.icc.or.at/journal/qas, he is author of some 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers, various book chapters, and some 200 abstracts. He is involved in working groups of various international organizations like CEN, ISO, IAM, Codex Alimentarius, AOAC, AACC Int'l, and others.

Resource expert

Development and validation of food analytical methods; Food allergen detection and analysis; GMO analysis; Microbiological analysis; Rapid methods, ELISA, Dip stick assays, PCR; Networks and negotiations; Research management and coordination, EU programmes and Global Initiatives

Dirk Maier

Professor, Grain Science & Industry Department, Kansas State University, USA

Dirk E. Maier is Professor and Head of the Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University where he is responsible for leading the department's teaching, research and outreach programs. He serves as the Director of K-State's International Grains Program which aims to educate foreign business leaders, industry professionals and government officials about U.S. grains and oilseeds through technical training and assistance programs in storage, handling, milling, marketing and processing. He also serves as the Director of the GEAPS-KSU Grain and Biorefinery Operations Distance Education Program which provides continuing education to grain industry professionals around the world. He has traveled extensively throughout the world as a speaker and participant in many national and international industry meetings and scientific conferences. Dr. Maier's research and extension education programs focus on post-harvest engineering, stored product protection, structural fumigation, value-added processing, and quality assurance of agricultural crops and biological products.

Cao Yang

Professor, Academy of State Administration of Grain, China

CAO Yang graduated from Zhengzhou Grain College on Jan 1986, Master's Degree, Now he works at Academy of State Administration of Grain, China. He is a research leader of grain storage system, to deal with the research and extension of control insects by low oxygen, inert dusts killing insects(physical mechanism),control stored grain insects pests in Chinese farm and Chinese grain industry. He is a reviewer expert of "Key Technologies R&D Program" of the 11- Five Plan in Ministry of Science and Technology P. R. China. And he is a Peer Reviewer of Cooperative Research Centres Program 13th Selection Round, The Commonwealth of Australia through its Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research ("DIISR"). He is reviewer of Journal of the Chinese Cereals and Oils Association. The projects of "Development of Grain Reserve Four Combination New Technology" that he undertaken got a national science and technical progress award(first-class) of China in 2010.

Joel Abecassis

Scientist, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique ICC President Elect 2011-2012. INRA, France

Joel Abécassis is in position of senior scientist at National Institute for Agricultural research (INRA) in Montpellier (France). He has a great experience in cereal processing as well as in the management and coordination of multidisciplinary research projects. Since 30 years, his research focuses on cereal quality and cereal processing. He has published over 100 technical papers in International journals on durum wheat and pasta, soft wheat and biscuit, corn products and on 5 exploited patents. He is also involved in coordinating activities at national level (INRA cereal group) and as the chairman of the scientific board of ARVALIS, the French technical institute for arable crops. He is also the French representative to ICC and the new President-Elect.

Huang Weining

Professeur, Jiangnan University, China

Perry K. W. Ng

Professor, Michigan State University, USA

Perry K.W. Ng is a professor at Michigan State University (MSU).  He obtained his university education in Canada, graduating with a Ph.D. degree from the University of Manitoba in 1987.  He joined the faculty of MSU in 1992 to initiate a Cereal Science Program in the Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (FSHN), and has additionally worked with MSU's Institute of International Agriculture since 2008.  His research foci include physicochemical and genetic properties of wheat proteins in relation to end-use qualities, cereal chemistry and technology, extrusion technology, and modifying grain components for functional food ingredients. A member of AACC Intl. for over 25 years, he was named AACC Intl. Fellow in 2010.  He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Cereal Science, coordinates a number of international projects, has graduated over a dozen post-graduate students, mentored 42 post-doctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and visiting professors from 12 countries, and has over 120 scientific publications.

Liu Ying

Professor Wuhan Polytechnic University, China

Professor of School of Food Science and Engerneering, Wuhan Polytechnic University;Executive director of the food branch of Chinese Cereals and Oils Association ;Executive director of Rice branch of China National Association Of Grain Sector;

Director of Rice processing Engineering Research Center in Hubei Province;

Editor boards of 1, Journal of the Chinese Cereals and Oils Association, 2, Journal of the Grain science and Technology and Economy, 3, Journal of the Cereal & Food Industry;

Mainly research in: 1,Grain resources development, 2Grain quality control, 3,Grain processing technology .

Undertake the National Technology R&D Program for the 11th five-year and 12th five-year plan and many province level as well as enterprise research projects;

Steen Balchen

Technology manager, Vegetable Oil Technology, Alfa Laval (Malaysia), Malaysia 

Since leaving the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) back in 1985, he has been occupied within the oil & fats industry or academia.

The work places have been Aarhus Olie (now AAK) - a producer of full range of fats & oils, DTU - program for utilizing fish oil in food and later PhD in conjunction with Scanola, Scanola - an oil mill integrating with downstream refining process, Palsgaard - producer of emulsifiers based on fats & oils, and lastly (since 2006) Alfa Laval - supplier of components as well as complete process solutions for this industry. In January 2011 He moved from Alfa Laval's Copenhagen based Vegetable Oil Technology centre to the Kuala Lumpur hub addressing the rapidly expanding palm oil industry.

He has taken up different positions, but all related to the technical aspects of the business. His core competence is processing technology, with special focus on stripping/deodorization.

Xu Xuebing

Professor, Wilmar (Shanghai) Biotechnology R & D Center Co., Ltd., China

Richard Cantrill

AOCS Technical Director, Urbana, USA.

Richard Cantrill holds a BSc Honors in biochemistry and a PhD in lipid biochemistry from Sheffield University (UK). He is the current Technical Director of the AOCS (American Oil Chemists' Society) since 1996, with responsibility for the maintenance of the Official Methods and Recommended Practices of the AOCS, the AOCS Laboratory Proficiency Program, reference materials, collaborative study support and technical advice. He has expertise in method validation and application in the area of fats and oils analysis for commerce and international trade. He maintains the AOCS role as a recognised standards development organization (SDO) and an international non-governmental organization (INGO). During his career he has gained experience in academic research and teaching, industry-based research and not-for-profit society scientific management. He coordinates numerous technical committees and panels for AOCS and also is Secretary for IAM, and ISO/TC 34/SC 16 (Molecular Biomarkers) and administers a number of US groups participating in ISO/TC 34 (Food Products) and subcommittee activities. He represents AOCS at Codex Alimentarius, AOAC, CEN and IOC, he is also a member of JECFA. He was an observer on the EU-funded MEDEO project and an advisor to the EU-funded MONIQA project. He is author of more than 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters and is a regular speaker at scientific conferences.

Tian Shaojun

Professor, Henan University of Technology, China

Okkyung (OKKY) Kim Chung

ICC and AACC Past President, Professor Emeritus, USDA-ARS, USA

She is Professor Emeritus, Kansas State University (KSU), Manhattan, Kansas, USA and ICC Honorary President.  She received her B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Seoul, Korea and both M.S. in Chem. and Ph.D. in Grain Sci. from KSU. She retired in 2005 from Research Leader of the Grain Quality Research Unit, Director of Regional Hard Winter Wheat Quality Laboratory, USDA/ARS, and Professor (Adjunct) of the Department of Grain Sci. & Industry, KSU. Dr. Chung has gained national and international stature with over 220 professional publications on wheat lipids and quality, many honors/awards, and numerous presentations in over 20 countries. She was the US National Delegate to ICC and served on Executive Committee (1994-2005). She is a Past President of AACC International (1997-1998), AACCI Fellow and a recipient of Gedde's Memorial Award and also, an ICC Past President (2000-2002), a Fellow of ICC Academy and a recipient of Friedrich Schweitzer Medal.

Fengcheng Wang

Professor, Henan University of Technology, China ,ICC President Elect 2013-2014

Fengcheng Wang is a professor in cereal science and technology at Henan University of Technology (HAUT), and serves as director of the National Engineering Technology Research Center for Grain Processing and Equipment, China. He received his B.S. degree in from Zhengzhou Grain College in China and both M.S. in Biological-Agricultural Engineering and Ph.D. in Grain Science from Kansas State University, USA. Dr. Wang has been actively involved in many national international research and development projects on the engineering and technological aspects of cereal processing. Several awards have been gained for his contributions to the Chinese milling and baking industry. He is undertaking innovative research and development work especially on quality testing, product development, and processing technology for cereal grains. He plays an active role in the Chinese Cereals and Oils Association (CCOA) as co-chair for the Flour and Food Division and in the Chinese Grain Industry Association (CGIA) as co-chair for the Wheat and Flour Division. He is also the Chinese deputy representative to ICC and the President Elect 2013-2014.

Meinolf Lindhauer

ICC Technical Director and Chair of the Technical Committee, Max Rubner-Institute ( MRI), Germany

Professor Dr. Meinolf G. Lindhauer, Director and Professor, is head of the Department of Safety and Quality of Cereals of the Max Rubner-Institute (MRI) - Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food in Detmold, Germany. In parallel he is deputy of the president of MRI. He is biologist by education and in addition to 19 years activities in the present field of responsibility he has another 10 years experience in agricultural research. His cereal related experience and that of his department is covering cereal chemistry and cereal technology along the whole range of the cereal processing chain from raw material quality assessment (including contaminants like heavy metals, pesticide residues and mycotoxins) and cereal processing to cereal based food quality and nutrition aspects. The "scientific production" comprises more than 300 items (oral contributions, communications, and ca. 60 original articles). Prof. Dr. Lindhauer is member of several international (e.g. AACCI, ICC) and national cereal research organizations.

Bian Ke

Professor, Henan University of Technology, China

Jan Willem van der Kamp

ICC Academy Chair, TNO, Netherlands

Dr Jan Willem van der Kamp, Senior Officer International Projects at TNO, the Netherlands, has over 35 years experience in cereal and food research, biotechnology, research management and communication. In addition to his R&D positions in Unilever and since 1985 in TNO he served in ICC as President, and in AACC as International Director. He was involved as invited speaker in many ICC related Conferences, including numerous events in China . He managed and participated in a wide range of EU projects, and led the technology transfer and communication activities in tbhe major EU project HEALTHGRAIN (2005-2010). His recent activities include membership of the editorial boards of the World Mycotoxin Journal and Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods, Chair of the ICC Academy , Board member responsible for communication activities of the HEALTHGRAIN Forum,www.healthgrain.org and chair of the Scientific Committee of the 1st ICC Conference in India , 16-18 January 2012.

Qu Lingbo

Professor, Henan University of Technology, China

John R N Taylor

ICC Immediate Past-president- 2011-2012, University of Pretoria, South Africa

John Taylor is Professor of Food Science and Research Theme Leader in the Institute of Food, Nutritional and Well Being at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where undertakes research into the functional and nutritional quality and processing of African cereal grains, especially sorghum and millets.

John is author of some 120 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 16 book chapters, many technical reports to industry, and has co-edited a monograph on Pseudocereals and Less Common Cereals.  He is an editor of the Journal of Cereal Science and Editorial Board member of the ICC journal Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods.

He is recipient of many awards, including: Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, AACC International's Excellence in Teaching Award, Fellow of AACC International, Fellow of the International Academy for Food Science and Technology, and recipient of the University of Pretoria's Chancellor's Award for Research.

Donghai Wang

Professor, Kansas State University, USA

Dr. Donghai Wang is a Professor in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Kansas State University.  His research and teaching program has focused on bioconversion of renewable materials into biofuels, chemicals, and biomaterials, and properties of biological materials. During the past 10 years, he has conducted more than 20

research projects as PI and involved in about 20 projects as Co-PI. Dr. Wang has been granted about $3 million as PI and about $11 millions as Co-PI. He is the author and co-author more than 70 peer reviewed journal articles, 6 book chapters, and 3 US patents.  He is the Associate Editors of Transaction of the ASABE and Applied Engineering in Agriculture.  He was an invited speaker for scientific symposia and international conferences.  Dr. Wang is a member of the ASABE, AACC, BEPS, SIM, and AIChE. He is the recipient of Frankenhoff Outstanding Research Award, Kansas State University in 2009, ASABE Rain Bird Engineering Concept of the Year Award in 2010, and ASABE Superior Paper Award in 2011. He received his Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering (1997) from Texas A&M University at College State, TX, and did his Postdoctoral training at USDA-ARS Center for Grains and Animal Health Research from 1998 to 1999, Manhattan, KS.

Xiuzhi Susan Sun

Dr. Xiuzhi Susan Sun is a University Distinguished Professor of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University. She focuses on converting agricultural feedstocks into environmentally safe materials. Her research interests include plant proteins extraction and modification; peptides and protein structures, adhesion, and self-assembly; biobased adhesives; poly(lactic acids) and its nanocomposites; bioenergy co-products; and thermodynamics and rheological properties of biobased polymers. She is the author and co-author of more than 130 peer reviewed journal articles and holds 8 patens. She co-authored a book “Biobased Polymers and Composite”. She is the Associate Editors of Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy, and the Journal of Cereal Chemistry. She is currently a member of the AAAS, ACS, ASBAE, BEPS, and The Scientific Research Society Sigma Xi. She is the recipient of Higuchi Endowment Research Achievement Award in 2011, Sigma Xi Outstanding Senior Scientist Award in 2007. She was appointed as the USDA National Research Initiative Technical Panel Manager of Biobased Products and Bioenergy in 2004 and 2005. She serves on the committee of USDA multi-states project “Science and Engineering of Biorenewables and Bioeconomy”. She received her Ph.D. in Agriculture and Biological Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ke Bian

Mr. Ke Bian is a professor of Scholl of Food Science and Technology at Henan University of Technology. He is also the chairman of ISO/TC34/SC4 (International Organization for Standardization/Food Technology Committee/Cereals and Pulses Sub-committee ). His research interests include Grain storage, processing and certain industrial application of grains. He had been a visiting scientist in the University of Nottingham (England) and Kansas State University (USA). He is an out standing scientist of Henan Provance, China. His research work has rewarded many prizes: 1. “Integrated ‘four in one’ New Technologies for Grain Storage” awarded the First Prize of China’s National Science and Technology Advancement (2010). 2. “High Performance and Low Energy Consumption Wheat Processing Technology” awarded the Second Prize of China’s National Science and Technology Advancement (2011) 3. “Characterization of Wheat Proteins By Electrophoresis” awarded Second Prize Science and Technology Advancement Award of Internal Trade Ministry, China (1994) 4. “Method for Maize Variety Identification and Purity Assessment” awarded First Prize of Science and Technology Advancement of Ministry of Commerce, China (1992)

Wang Qiang

Wang Qiang, professor, Ph. D advisor, prominent agricultural research scientist of Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) of the People’s Republic of China. Deputy Director of the Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology, CAAS. Director of the national agro-products processing research and development center, chief expert of “Primary Agro-Products Processing Characteristics Research and Quality Evaluation” project, funded by Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest, MOA.
Gained 1 second prize for National Science and Technology Progress Award, 1 Second prize of Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award in Hu Nan, 1 First prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of China General Chamber of Commerce; 2 First prize and 1 Second prize of Scientific and Technological Achievements Award in CAAS.Gained Five National Invention Patents; Two Utility Model Patents. Published more than 100 articles in Carbohydrate Polymers, Food Hydrocolloids.
Studied on Cereals and Oils Processing Quality Evaluation and Procedure Control. Bioactivator Preparation and Function Evaluation. The Study and Demonstration of the Standardization and General Quality Control System of Agro-products Processing.

Yao Huiyuan

a senior scientist and the vice president of CCOA. He has been working on the field of cereal processing for almost 50 years and made great achievements in the innovation in cereals processing technologies, then won the title of the expert of the Government Special Grant. As a professor in Jiangnan University, under his teaching, a large number of talents were trained. Therefore, he is the only one recipient of the Outstanding Award of Jiangnan University from the School of Food Science and Technology. Because of the excellent jobs, he had owned many titles in China, as the tem leader of expert group in a major science and technology project in the connection with the refined processing of agri-food during the Tenth Five Year Plan period, Chief expert in the top-level design of the development plan that is relevant to agri-products processing during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period, etc.

Wang Ruiyuan

now is the executive vice president of CCOA and China National Association of Grain Sector and has enjoyed the title of the expert of the Government Special Grant since 1995. During 1994~2000, he was the CEO of China Grains and Oils Group Corporation (CGOG), a large state-owned grain and oil marketing enterprise under the direct administration of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. He had drafted the development plan of the cereals and oils industry in the period of the 6th, 7th and 8th five year plan in China. Besides, more than 100 academic papers and research reports had been published since then.

Dr. Gary R. List,

lead Scientist, the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, USA. Learn more information.

Roberto J. Pena

Cereal Biochemists and Principal Scientist, HP-CHIMMYT, Mexico Bachelor’s degree from National University of Mexico, Mexico Master’s degree from Kansas State University, USA PhD degree from University of Manitoba, Canada Principal Scientists and Head of the Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory of CIMMYT More than 27 years with CIMMYT addressing wheat quality improvement under diverse agro-climatic conditions. Main area of research: Improvement of grain compositional factors determining wheat quality. More than 90 publications in refereed journals and book chapters