The Role of Innovation in Building a Food-Secure Future

Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond

Webinar: The Role of Innovation in Building a Food-Secure Future

In early May, the Canadian government committed $252 million to help farmers and food processors manage through COVID-19, and it deemed workers in the food supply chain an essential service. Join Dr. Rickey Yada, Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Dr. Anubhav Pratap Singh, UBC Food and Beverage Innovation Professor, and Dr. Peter Dhillon, CEO Richberry Group of Companies, as they discuss how Canada can plan for a more food-secure future and ensure Canada is able to withstand future pandemics.

About the Presenters

In 2014, Professor Rickey Yada was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. Prior to UBC, Dr. Yada was at the University of Guelph where he held numerous leadership roles, including Assistant Vice President Research, Canada Research Chair in Food Protein Structure, Scientific Director of the Advanced Foods and Materials Network (Networks of Centres of Excellence), and Founding Member of the Food Institute. He is, currently, the North American Editor of Trends in Food Science and Technology as well as serving on the editorial board of several journals. His areas of research includes: the structure – function relationships of enzymes (aspartic proteases) and carbohydrate biochemistry as related to nutrition and food quality.

Dr. Yada serves in a leadership capacity to several research and industry organizations, some of which include Chair of the Board of Trustees, International Life Science Institute – North America; Board of Bioenterprise Inc.; Advisory Committee Member – Arrell Food Institute and Seeding Food Innovation Grant Program (George Weston Loblaws); Member of the Scientific Advisory Panel – Riddet Institute (New Zealand); and a Member of the Advisory Panel – AgResearch (New Zealand). He is also a Past President and Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology and the International Academy of the International Union of Food Science and Technology, and is also a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists. Dr. Yada has an honorary DSc from the University of Guelph and was the 2019 Harraways 1867 Visiting Professor, University of Otago, New Zealand.

Anubhav Pratap-Singh currently holds the BC Ministry of Agriculture Endowed Professorship in Food & Beverage Innovation. His research group in the Food Nutrition and Health Program of the Faculty of Land & Food Systems explores novel technologies for preservation and quality extension of food products. Prof. Pratap-Singh shall discuss the evolving role of innovative and emerging technologies in the food sector, and shall discuss the linkages between industry and academia.

Peter Dhillon currently serves as Chairman on the Ocean Spray Board of Directors. As Chairman, he is an ex-officio member of all Board Committees. Peter has played an active role on many organizations and boards. He was the director for the Vancouver Airport Authority, B.C. Ferries (where he was also vice chairman), the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. He was also on the Board of Governors of Simon Fraser University, the audit committee of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Vancouver Hospital and the UBC Hospital Foundation (where he was a board member). He was also chair of the Vancouver Branch of Right to Play, an international humanitarian organization for children in communities affected by war, poverty and disease.

Peter is also known for giving back to the community with his philanthropic and charitable service, which has spanned a wide variety of important areas including health care, child humanitarian support, education, and sport. He has made significant financial contributions to many organizations including Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Olympic Committee, Arts Umbrella, and the Khalsa Diwan Society. At the University of British Columbia, he established the Rashpal Dhillon Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Endowment and the Rashpal Dhillon Track & Field Centre in his father’s memory. Most recently, Peter established the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics in partnership with the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

Lennie Cheung’s doctoral research aims to help mitigate yield losses of potatoes and other staple crops by exploring their mechanistic interactions with disease-causing pathogens. A UBC Food Science alumni, Lennie was the first female and foreign researcher of Japan’s second largest natural gas provider. There, she spent three years helping set up a food science laboratory and building networks with partners from all across the food chain. Lennie also has work experience from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Summerland Research and Development Centre, and BC’s fruit and vegetable processing industry and food retailers.

The Building Resilient Food Systems During COVID-19 and Beyond series is brought to you by the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS), the BC Food Web, the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS), and the Royal Bank of Canada. This webinar series focuses on answering fundamental questions about the resiliency of our food system during and beyond COVID-19.