Pictured left to right: Dr. Enda Cummins, UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine and FoodSim2008 General Conference Chair; Ilias Soumpasis, UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Graeme Horley, Scientific Programme Officer, Science Foundation Ireland.
Ilias Soumpasis, a researcher at the UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine has received the award for Best Student Paper at the Biannual International Food and Nutrition Simulation Conference, ‘FoodSim 2008’. The winning paper entitled ‘A comparison of deterministic and stochastic epidemic models for the risk assessment of salmonella at the pre-harvest level of pork production’, was presented at the conference in Dublin last month which was organised by UCD in cooperation with The European Technology Institute with sponsorship provided by Science Foundation Ireland.
The aim of the work presented by Ilias Soumpasis and his supervisor Professor Francis Butler was to show an alternative method of simulating the propagation of the salmonella pathogen at the farm level, which more accurately predicts how Salmonella develops on pig farms, compared to previous models in existence.
Understanding the epidemiology of salmonella through accurate modelling can help scientists reduce the levels of this pathogen in pigs, and most importantly in pork products. Intervention strategies at national level can be tested using these accurate computer models prior to implementation on a farm, thereby saving money and time.
Commenting on the award, Ilias Soumpasis said: ‘I am delighted that this early part of my work has been widely recognised by the international research community of food modelling and simulation. I am pleased that my paper has been acknowledged as a significant contribution to salmonella modelling on farms and, ultimately, will go towards improving the safety of pork products”.
Ilias Soumpasis is a PhD Scholar, currently working as part of Q-Porkchains, a Europe-wide project, funded by the EU Commission on Risk Assessment of Salmonella from 'farm-to-fork'. His main interests are epidemiology of salmonella on farms, modelling and simulation.
