Dr Liam Ryan and Professor Elke Arendt, University College Cork

University College Cork team led by Stuttgarter Professor Elke Arendt discover new ways to make bread last longer

Stuttgart native Professor Elke Arendt and her research team in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University College, Cork (UCC) have been looking for natural ways to improve the shelf-life of cereal products for the past ten years.  The team has now developed a natural method to increase the shelf-life of bread by up to 14 days.  This research has now been patented and licensed to a multinational food ingredients company.

The shelf-life of bread is only a few days before mould appears. The challenge for bakers has been to extend this while responding to consumer demand to reduce the amount of additives in bread products.  Twenty per cent of all bread is thrown out due to shelf-life issues which is a major problem in this era of reduced wheat production and increased demand worldwide. There has been a need for new and innovative solutions to reduce wheat wastage while continuing to meet global food demands.

Professor Arendt and her team have now focused on the use of lactic acid bacteria in bread products.  This lead not only to an improved shelf-life of the product but it had other benefits as well including a better flavour and increasing the nutritional value of the bread.  

Commenting on the breakthrough by Professor Arendt and her team and the sale of this technology, Dr Michael Murphy, President of UCC  said “Our research income is consistently one of the highest in the country and we are proud to be ranked in the top three per cent of universities worldwide (Times Higher Education Supplement, 2008) based to a large extent on the quality of our research output.”   

The UCC research was funded by Ireland’s Department of Agriculture and Food  under the FIRM programme as well as Commercialisation Technology Development Fund of  Enterprise Ireland.

For more information please contact:
Frau Ruth McDonnell, Research Information Officer
Office of Media & Communications
University College Cork
T: +353 21 4902758 

 Award of Honourary Degree of Doctorate in Celtic Studies to Prof. Hildegard Tristram.

On the 3rd of December 2008 in Dublin Castle, Professor Dr. Hildegard Tristram, (Professor Emerita, University of Potsdam, Honorary Professor, University of Freiburg, and Associated Member of Hermann-Paul-Centrum für Linguistik (HPCL), University of Freiburg) was awarded with the honorary Degree of Doctorate of Celtic Studies from the National University of Ireland, Galway, for her wide ranging and innovative contribution to the field of Celtic Studies down through the years. The degree was conferred onto Professor Tristram by Professor James Browne, president of the National University of Ireland, Galway.

During his speech, Professor Browne commended her work on the great Irish epic, Táin Bó Cuailnge, as “the high point of an ambitious project on orality and literacy in early Irish literature, which she oversaw for ten very productive years.” He further praised her encouragement of young scholars through her inspiring example and judicious advice, “but above all by her generous, scholarly friendship”. 

Professor Tristram began her academic career studying English and Romance linguistics at Münster, London, Grenoble and Freiburg. In the early seventies, she through a research fellowship, she spent an extended period studying Early Irish and Celtic in Dublin. In the mid nineties Professor Tristram moved from her professorship in  Freiburg to a position as chair of English Historical Linguistics and Medieval English Literature at the University of Potsdam, where she was instrumental in the organisation of a series of ground-breaking international symposia on ‘Celtic Englishes’.

Most recently, with the aid of the Ciste na Gaeilge grant from the Department for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, she has created an opportunity for students at the University of Freiberg to study Modern Irish, enabling another generation of young students to explore the field of Celtic Studies.

The Embassy of Ireland wishes to warmly congratulate Professor Tristram on this honour.

Professor Hildegard Tristram, Honourary Doctorate, National University of Ireland. 

President McAleese will depart on Sunday 24th February on a three-day State Visit to Germany which will include Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt.

On Monday 25th, President McAleese will receive a ceremonial welcome to Germany by President Horst Köhler, lay a wreath at the Neue Wache War Memorial and visit the Brandenburg Gate. The President will be guest of honour at a lunch hosted by Mr Klaus Wowereit, Governing Mayor of Berlin, meet the Irish community in Berlin and attend a State Dinner hosted by President Köhler. She will also visit the Bundestag, the German Parliament, meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and deliver an address at Humboldt University on Tuesday 26th February.

Arriving in Munich on Tuesday afternoon, President McAleese will meet with Minister-President of Bavaria, Dr Guenter Beckstein and the Irish community in the region. On Wednesday 27th, the President will visit the towns of Würzburg, Stromberg and Wiesbaden before arriving in Frankfurt where she will meet with Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank.

President McAleese will return to Dublin on the evening of Wednesday 27th February. The President will be accompanied by Dr Martin McAleese and Mr Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources for the first phase of the visit and later by Mr Dick Roche TD, Minister for European Affairs.

Federal President Köhler and President McAleese, Bellevue Castle Berlin. 25th February 2008.

For further information please contact the Embassy of Ireland in Berlin at Tel: 030 2207 20