Dashboard – Magnesium Zone

About Me

I am a researcher at Teagasc in food science. I love food, especially cheese, and science so there is always a lot of good food at work and at home! I like hiking and travelling too.
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I am from Australia and now living in Cork. I moved here to continue my work with cheese and dairy science. I enjoy reading a good book with my cat curled up beside me. On weekends I like to hike and appreciate being outdoors!
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In my work, I look at how the ingredients make cheese, yoghurt or other dairy products what they are. For example, what makes yoghurt thick or creamy or cheese melt and stretch. A lot of the work involves using microscopes to look at the products and link the way it looks under the microscope to the yoghurt or cheese texture. Once I have some interesting information, I can share that with dairy manufacturers to help them to improve their products or develop new ones.
My Typical Day

I wake up and have breakfast before getting stuck straight into work. I usually prefer to do some writing or complicated work in the morning when I am most alert. After lunch I usually have meetings with colleagues or people supporting my research. After that I finish off with whatever I was working on in the morning. After work I like to go for a walk and spend time with my family.
What I'd do with the prize money

If I was the winner, I would use the money to be able to bring some of our cheese research to schools and show everyone how cool food science is!

Education:

University of Queensland and University of Melbourne, Australia
Qualifications:

Bachelor of Food Technology and PhD in food/chemical engineering
Work History:

Several dairy manufacturers (Australia), scientist/researcher (Australia and Ireland).
Current Job:

Researcher

Anita Pax