New “Culinary chemistry” chair in Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen wishes to appoint a professor with special responsibilities in Culinary Chemistry from 1 June 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter. As you may remember, Thorvald Pedersen was appointed professor of “Molecular gastronomy” some years ago for a limited time. One of the tasks then was to establish molecular gastronomy as a field of study at Copenhagen University (then KVL). As a result prof. Leif Horsfelt Skibsted and colleagues initiated several projects related to molecular gastronomy (only Danish text on site). Today Peter Barham is one of several affiliated professors at the Food Science department in Copenhagen, and over the last couple of years he’s been involved in activities which ultimately have lead to the creation of this new post.

I quote the following from the job description:

The professor´s duties will comprise research and teaching in Culinary Chemistry. The professor will have an established track record of research in some area of food science or food chemistry and it is expected that the appointee continues to work in and increase his or hers reputation in that area at the same time as initiating new research. The professor will need to have excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

The appointee should have qualifications within one or more of the following core research areas:

• Observations in professional kitchens to permit the scientific description and subsequent modelling of processes used for cooking of food to optimize gastronomic quality.
• Development of new cooking strategies and methods to be established in restaurant kitchens, domestic cooking and small scale food preparation in general.
• Transfer of knowledge and traditions from cuisines with different historic and ethnic background into a scientific framework with the purpose of design of new dishes and meals.
• Develop food and beverage model systems facilitating controlled flavour and texture development in foods and beverages.
• Explore the creative and artistic interaction between art and science in relation to food and beverages and their combination.

Head over to the Danish site to read the complete announcement text. The deadline for applications is January 5, 2010.