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Science, not limited to scientist – successful HealthFerm co-design workshop held in Belgium

Science, not limited to scientist – successful HealthFerm co-design workshop held in Belgium

Co-design workshop participants in Leuven, Belgium

On Thursday, 30th of March 2023, 29 sourdough enthusiasts gathered in Leuven, Belgium, to share experiences and improve research. This co-creation workshop was organised by KU Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in collaboration with Alice down the rabbit hole, a company specialising in co-creation. The group of participants, consisting of 24 home bakers and five professional bakers, discussed the HealthFerm research questions, the methods of data collection and the communication options in the framework of the citizen science project of HealthFerm. This evening was not only very interesting and informative, but above all a very pleasant evening with a great atmosphere!

Welcome by HealthFerm Coordinator Prof. Christophe Courtin of KU Leuven (on the left), presentation on sourdough by Prof. Luc De Vuyst (on the right)

The evening was kicked off by the coordinator of the HealthFerm project, Prof. Christophe Courtin of KU Leuven. While the participants were enjoying a tasty dinner, Christophe explained the HealthFerm project and the place of citizen science in the project. Collaboration with citizens is needed to map the microbial diversity of fermented foods in Europe, but HealthFerm wants to go further than just collecting samples of citizens. Citizens will be involved in the different stages of the research process, from providing their input on the research questions to analysing their own fermented products and suggesting different ways of communicating results. The HealthFerm project intends to involve home bakers from across Europe to be part of the international community advancing fermented food biodiversity.

This was followed by a discussion in different groups on their experience with in-home tests and an interactive presentation on sourdough by Prof. Luc De Vuyst. While it was clear that home bakers understand their sourdough well, Luc offered many new insights. He explained which types of microorganisms are mostly present in sourdough and where they originate from. But also, how these microorganisms and process factors may have an impact on the taste, smell and texture of sourdough bread. However, it was interesting to see that there is no consensus whether sourdough bread is healthier than yeasted bread, both among bakers and scientists. The objective of HealthFerm to gain more insight into the effects of fermentation on health-related aspects was clearly of interest to all participants.

Insights provided by participants on sourdough bread

In the citizen science project, HealthFerm wants to engage home bakers in Europe to not only sample their sourdough, but also perform small experiments on their sourdough and sourdough bread. The co-creation workshop provided very valuable input to optimise the questionnaires, home experiments and the sampling kit that will be used. With the information collected in co-creation workshops in Switzerland, Belgium, Finland and Sweden, held during March and April 2023, the collection of sourdoughs from citizens will commence in May. Stay tuned for more information!

The organising team (left to right): Charlotte Boone (Alice down the rabbit hole), Kristof Brijs (KU Leuven), Veerle Rijckaert (Alice doen the rabbit hole), Stefan Weckx (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Yamina De Bondt (KU Leuven), Christophe Courtin (KU Leuven), Celine Verdonck (KU Leuven), Thomas Gettemans (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Luc De Vuyst (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

The organising team (left to right): Charlotte Boone (Alice down the rabbit hole), Kristof Brijs (KU Leuven), Veerle Rijckaert (Alice doen the rabbit hole), Stefan Weckx (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Yamina De Bondt (KU Leuven), Christophe Courtin (KU Leuven), Celine Verdonck (KU Leuven), Thomas Gettemans (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Luc De Vuyst (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

LFCB, KU Leuven (https://www.biw.kuleuven.be/m2s/clmt/lmcb)

IMDO, VUB (https://we.vub.ac.be/en/industrial-microbiology-and-food-biotechnology)

Alice down the rabbit hole (https://alicedowntherabbithole.be/)