Faculty

The following distinguished Speakers have accepted our invitation to give a Keynote Lecture at the Congress:

Development of Active and Fully Compostable
Multilayer Packaging Films

Rafael Auras
Professor
Amcor Endowed Chair in Packaging Sustainability
School of Packaging, Michigan State University, USA

 

Rafael Auras is a professor and the Amcor Endowed Chair in Packaging Sustainability at the School of Packaging at Michigan State University. He leads a research group of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students interested in mass transfer in polymers, biodegradable polymers, life cycle assessment, and designing packaging systems for sustainable development. He has conducted research projects for Fortune 500 companies and government-sponsored research projects. He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences. He has co-authored more than 200 publications, including four books.

Coating technology as a key enabling technology
for sustainable packaging solutions

Stefano Farris
Full Professor
Department of Food, Nutrition and Environmental Sciences,
University of Milan, Italy 

 

My academic journey began at the University of Sassari, where I received a Master’s degree in Agricultural Science and Technology (Summa cum Laude) in 2003. Part of my studies was conducted at UPC Barcelona Tech University through the Erasmus program.

In 2007, I completed a PhD in Food and Microbial Biotechnology at the University of Sassari, focusing on packaging strategies to extend food shelf life. I also worked in the Food Packaging Lab at the University of Milan with Prof. Luciano Piergiovanni. From 2007 to 2008, I was a postdoctoral scientist at Rutgers University, developing renewable films and coatings in Prof. Kit Yam’s Food Packaging Lab, collaborating with USDA scientists.

In 2011, I joined KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm as a visiting scientist, working on hybrid materials based on wheat gluten and silica.

Currently, I am a Full Professor at the University of Milan’s Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), where my research focuses on developing high-performance materials for food packaging, collaborating closely with industry partners.

Leading the change in flexible packaging:
Introducing LCA guidelines and paving the path forward

Patricia Granados
Senior Expert, Footprinting
Quantis,
Germany

 

Patricia Granados is a Senior Expert at Quantis, a BCG company, where she designs and delivers impactful sustainability projects that address pressing environmental challenges and empower businesses to thrive within Planetary Boundaries. With a strong academic foundation in Production Engineering and a Master’s degree in Project Management for Environmental and Energy Engineering, Patricia has extensive experience in driving sustainable transformation across the food, chemical, pharmaceutical, and flexible packaging sectors. Her expertise encompasses life cycle assessment (LCA), corporate footprinting, and the development of climate strategies aligned with the Paris Agreement and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

What future for bioplastic in Europe?
Advancing sustainable packaging solutions

Andrea Lazzeri
Full Professor
Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering,
University of Pisa, Italy

Prof. Andrea Lazzeri is Full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pisa.

He started as Chemical Engineer (University of Pisa). Then in 1991, he obtained his PhD in Advanced Materials (Cranfield University). In 1984, he became researcher at the University of Pisa. In 1999 he was visiting scientist at MIT, Boston. In 2002, he became an Associate Professor at the University of Pisa and later, in 2008 became Full Professor in the same university, where he currently teaches Materials Science and Technology (at the Naval Academy in Livorno), Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, Composite Materials Science and Engineering, and Fundamentals of Polymer Processing.

During the last two decades, his major research projects have dealt with processing and mechanical properties of polymer-matrix and ceramic-matrix composites and biobased and/or biodegradable polymers for environmental applications. He has been coordinator of four European projects: Forbioplast, Helm, NanoCathedral and Cem-Wave.

He has been Head of the Master of Science degree program in Materials and Nanotechnology at the University of Pisa and Director of the Interdepartmental Center in Material Science and Engineering of the University of Pisa.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of both AIMAT, the Italian Association of Materials Engineering and of INSTM, the Italian Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology.

He has published over 220 scientific communications with around 2000 citations (H-Index = 49).

New Trends in risk assessment
and safety regulation on FCM

Maria Rosaria Milana
Former Research Director,
Responsible National Reference Laboratory for FCM,
National Institute of Health (ISS), Italy

Maria Rosaria MILANA,  graduated ( cum laude)  in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology  at  University La Sapienza in  Rome ( Italy).  Since 1985, after some years of grantship , she worked at  ISS, the National Institute for Health in Italy and retired in 2022 in the position of Research Director.   Along these decades, her main activity was on Food Contact Materials and she  was also Responsible of the National Reference Laboratory for FCM. In this frame she acquired sounded experience in analytical chemistry of both  materials and migration from FCM to foods and food simulants,  applying GC/MS and ATR FTRIR techniques. This experience was also applied to other materials/articles for consumers such as toys, consumer products, medical devices. She is  still in the group that  developes and validates  diffusional models to estimate migration from plastics.  She was tutor at EU Courses Better Training for Safer Food  for Public Officers  involved in FCM enforcement. She was Leader for several Research Projects on FCM and on Toys.   Currently she is Member of the EFSA Panel on FCM and of the EFSA  Working Group on FCM and plastic Recycling. She published about 200 scientific  papers and opinions on National and International Journals.