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From Vienna to the Future: The first EHEDG Summer School
It's a wrap!
Five days in Vienna. Fifteen students from three universities. Experts from academia and industry. And one shared challenge: how do we prepare the next generation to design and operate safer, smarter food production systems? BOKU University hosted the pilot edition of the EHEDG Summer School on Food Safety & Hygienic Design, designed as the first step towards a broader ambition: creating an international network of EHEDG Summer Schools that connects universities, students and industry around the principles and practice of hygienic design.
Taking hygienic design beyond the classroom
Throughout the week, participants from BOKU, University of Limerick and University of Pretoria explored hygienic design not simply as a set of principles to learn, but as an approach to apply.
Working alongside lecturers and EHEDG experts, they examined equipment, assessed potential contamination risks, tackled engineering challenges and explored how design decisions can influence food safety, cleanability and the performance of production environments.
Practical exercises and real-life examples gave students the opportunity to put theory into practice, while multidisciplinary teamwork encouraged them to approach the same challenge from different perspectives.
This interaction was particularly important. The participants arrived with different academic backgrounds, experiences and levels of technical knowledge. Bringing those perspectives together demonstrated something that is equally true in industry: designing safe food production systems requires collaboration across disciplines.
Connecting academia and industry
The Summer School was also designed to bridge a gap that can sometimes exist between university education and industrial practice.
By bringing students into direct contact with EHEDG specialists, academics and industry professionals, the programme created an environment where technical knowledge could be connected to the realities of food production.
The result was not only an opportunity to develop knowledge of hygienic design, but also to ask questions, exchange perspectives, build professional networks and better understand how the principles learned at university translate into real facilities and future careers.
A pilot designed to grow
As the first edition, Vienna was also an opportunity to learn. The experience and feedback gathered throughout the week will now help EHEDG refine the format and develop a model that can be replicated with other universities internationally.
The ambition is not to create an identical Summer School everywhere. Rather, the goal is to establish a strong common framework that future host universities can adapt to their own expertise, facilities and local industry networks while maintaining the core elements of the EHEDG learning experience: technical excellence, practical application, multidisciplinary collaboration and connection with industry.
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As Food Science students, we discovered how much small equipment design details can influence food safety and cleaning.
Hands-on exercises and the factory visit helped us understand hygienic design beyond the classroom and connect theory with industry practice.
We return to our studies, research and future careers with new knowledge—and a completely different way of looking at food processing equipment.
Raquel Ezcurra, Yasmin O’Brien & Princess Daniel
Participants from the University of Limerick
Could your university host the next EHEDG Summer School?
Are you an EHEDG University Member interested in bringing the programme to your students and becoming part of this growing international initiative?
For further information about hosting an EHEDG Summer School, contact office@ehedg.org.
