Winner Professor Henriëtta de Kock
Professor Henriëtta de Kock is an associate professor of food science at UP, where she obtained a PhD.
De Kock’s research focuses on the optimisation of the sensory properties of food and beverages that contribute to the nutritional status and wellbeing of consumers in sub-Saharan Africa. This includes food product development and business creation to meet the demands of a growing and more urbanised African population, the exploration of the sensory experiences provided by Africa’s biodiverse food sources, and the manufacture of products that are not only nutritionally adequate, but also appealing and appetising. De Kock collaborates with an extensive network of researchers in South Africa and abroad.
She has a NRF C2 rating, and is the co-author of 40 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, three book chapters and more than 100 conference presentations, including four keynote papers she was invited to present at international conferences. She holds one registered patent. De Kock has established a strong multidisciplinary research group at UP, and currently supervises/ co-supervises 13 PhD and six MSc students, and mentors one junior researcher/lecturer. She has successfully supervised/co-supervised nine PhD and 25 MSc students, as well as mentoring two postdoctoral fellows and an African Women in Agricultural Research and Development Fellow. Most of the postgraduates are women who continue to make a difference as academics, scientists and entrepreneurs.
She also supervised three exchange students from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Austria, the École de Biologie Industrielle in France, and Friedrich-Schiller University in Germany.
De Kock serves on the scientific committees of several international conferences. She is the current research chair of the European Sensory Network and serves on the board of the Bakery and Food Technology Incubator Centre of South Africa. She is a reviewer for several international journals, including Food Quality and Preference, the Journal of Cereal Science, Food Science and Technology, and Food Chemistry.