How can science and tech unlock the potential for food creation to meet the world's demands for food without hurting our environment?

Dr Ling Ka Yi, the co-founder and group chief technology officer of Shiok Meats, the world's first, using cellular agriculture technology to bring healthy, delicious and sustainable seafood to the dinner table will share the science and journey behind Shiok-Meats's tasty and sustainable crustacean meats and answer questions on how biotech research can improve the way we eat as we continue to face global food challenges in a VUCA world.

Hear from a sustainability champion ​Paul Fong from DOW Chemical ​how an idea between two persons became a reality and positively impacted the environment and community​. Through his sharing, you'll learn how a real case of where STEM has enabled waste to be recycled into functional materials of value. This is a local story about believing in possibilities​ and with his inspiration being ​' Everything begins with an idea' by American radio speaker and author Earl Nightingale.

As the world population and food demand increase, how can we ensure sufficient food and nutrition for all? In addition, food production poses a challenge to climate change. For example, cattle rearing for beef has one of the highest carbon footprint in food production. In this talk, we will explore alternative proteins, what lies in the future for our food options and how science and technology can help us tackle some of the current challenges.

A Clean and Green Nation

Starting with a brief review of domestic waste management and water treatment in Singapore, the talk will give everyone a general understanding on global warming, green house gas emission, as well as the carbon cycle. What is the impact of these mega trends on Singapore Green Plan 2030? What are expected to happen and what are we expected to contribute? These questions will be covered through this talk.

Monitoring plant health using wearable sensors

The fast-evolving electronic technology has spurred the development of wearable gadgets that monitor our health continuously, such as fitness trackers which analyse exercise efficacy and sleep quality. This improves our awareness of own health for better management. What if we could do the same on plants? In this talk, Dr Luo will introduce how wearable sensors on humans can be adapted to monitor plant health. She will start by reviewing the mechanism of health-indicating electrical signals in plants, based on which our sensors are developed. She will also highlight the sensor materials that are specially designed for better signal quality and plant-friendliness. Lastly, Dr Luo will give a picture of future farms using plant wearable sensors and how they could contribute to tackling food security in Singapore.

3D Food Printing

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology today has been utilised across various fields in environmental, medical and military materials. 3D food printing is still in its infancy; but it opens up a world of possibilities and immediate use cases. For example, to feed the elderly or those with chewing or swallowing difficulties, dieticians could make palatable and visually appealing pureed food to enable an affordable, dignified dining experience.

In addition, 3D food printing will contribute to global sustainability efforts by utilising food waste such as bread, fruits, and vegetables to create recipes that can be 3D printed and still be edible. Join Prof Chua to explore these possibilities!

Architecture, Design and Digital Fabrication

The presentation is comprised of two segments, namely (a) an introduction to the Architecture and Sustainable Design pillar of SUTD, aiming to inform prospective undergraduate students, and (b) presentation of research work on sustainable additive manufacturing, discussing the use of biological materials as a way to address the problem of plastic waste and improve the patterns of production and consumption, towards a more sustainable society.

Training with cadavers has been regarded as essential to medical education. However, with rising costs in preparation and maintenance, shortage in cadaver donations, and clinical limitations like the differences in appearance between the insides of cadavers and live patients, the use of technology is becoming increasingly important in the learning of human anatomy in medical schools. In this sharing, Dr. Mogali will share about how the use of new technological tools (Anatomage, 3D printing and others) contribute to the sustainability of medical and anatomical education.