The DPTC Knowledge Day 2022 was held at the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise, on 12 May. The day was a resounding success: with 10 presentations from invited speakers from across the globe, our attendees heard the latest in research from data integration in dairy to future trends in sustainability in dairy processing. For many of our audience, it was the first time meeting in person for more than two years – new connections were made and old ones rekindled, and over 100 members of our community were present on the day. Our invited speakers included Dr Steve Holroyd (Fonterra), who spoke about data integration in dairy processing; Elaine Berkery (Eastway Tech Ltd), who discussed industrial machine data; Dr Marcus O’Mahony (PMTC), who addressed powder processing; and Matthieu Ballu (EC), who gave a talk on Europe’s response to energy challenges.
In the afternoon we heard from Dr Paul Deane (MaREI) on Ireland’s energy and climate footprint; PJ McCarthy (RGFI), who spoke about Project Clover – sustainable biomethane; Dr Francis Kearney (VistaMilk) who addressed the future of sustainable milk production; and Prof Karin Schron (University of Twente), on trends in sustainable food processing in the Netherlands. Our own PIs Prof Colm O’Donnell and Prof JJ Leahy also chaired two of our sessions and gave their own very interesting presentations on the adoption of PAT in dairy processing, and the future of dairy processing sludge validation respectively. Alexa Twomey (Enterprise Ireland) chaired our session on Energy Landscape Impacting on Dairy Processing. Our informative day included a fantastic networking lunch at the Midlands Park Hotel.
