On Friday, September 27, the XIV Conference for students of the Degree in Food Science and Technology and the VI Cycle of conferences for graduates: professionals at the Service of Society took place. This event is organized annually by the coordination of the Degree, thanks to the funding received from the Vice-Rectorate for Campus Community, Culture and Sports and the Sub-directorate for Communication, Promotion and Sustainable Development of ESCET. The morning began with a more formative first part for the students. On the one hand, the Coordinator of the Degree in CyTA, presented the degree and the most relevant aspects to the first-year students, while, in a parallel session, the exchange programs, external internships, TFG, collaboration scholarships, etc. were presented to the second to fourth-year students, with the presence of students and graduates who told their own experience firsthand.

Following this, in a session of presentations, the Learning-Service methodology was presented to all attendees as an ideal methodology to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, in which students of the degree have been participating for several years, and the new project “Food and Healthy Living: An ApS project for integration and awareness for a future free of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (TEAF)” was presented, with the presence of Mrs. Mercedes del Valle, president of the Visual TEAF Foundation. Also present at the event was Mrs. Ana Isabel Fuertes, responsible for Quality Control at Hermanos Maqueda González, who came to show how they work to guarantee Food Quality and Safety in the Meat Industry, and Mrs. Isabel Martínez, researcher at the URJC who told us about the progress of the EVALKALIM II project. To end the first part of the morning, the traditional “Effortless Learning” was held.Round table of graduates”, in which former students of the degree talked about their professional careers, to raise awareness of the different professional opportunities offered by the degree.

At the end of the day, a workshop-competition and a series of theoretical-practical conferences were held by CyTA graduates, with the aim of having the students work on different technical aspects of the degree, thus allowing them to complete their curricular training.

With nearly 90 attendees, the event was intended to be a meeting point between students and graduates that would serve to to make our students aware of the opportunities offered by their Degree, and the professional opportunities they can access when they finish, also taking into account their relationship with the fulfillment of the SDGs 2030.