Master in Food Systems
Cohort 2023-2025
Master in Food Systems programme is developing top talent for the food sector, by training the leaders of the future.
The programme is delivered by Lund University, University of Hohenheim, University of Reading, University of Turin, University of Warsaw & Aarhus University in collaboration with EIT Food & University of Cambridge.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 25 JUNE 2023
Course information
The programme develops a combination of:
- Entrepreneurial skills to help you become an effective innovator and,
- Key technical skills tailored to your career ambitions in the sector.
The Master’s in Food Systems programme is developing top talent for the food sector, by training the leaders of the future. Organised by leading academic institutions and industrial partners from across our Partner network, this programme encourages you to drive a future transformation of the food system and increase the competitiveness of the companies you choose to work for.
By working alongside colleagues from a wide variety of different academic backgrounds, you will become creative leaders and team builders capable of bringing distinctive points of view along with novel solutions for tomorrow’s consumers and citizens.
You will embark on a ‘learning and experimental’ journey through our network of industrial, academic and entrepreneurial partners.
Advantages
By the end of the programme, you will be able to:
- Critically assess the short and long-term consequences of decisions from an integrated scientific, ethical and inter-generational perspective.
- Collaborate in a team environment using a solution-based approach.
- Translate innovations into feasible business solutions for the food sector.
- ‘Think outside the box’, and systematically explore and generate new ideas, responding to current and future challenges within the food system.
- Use knowledge, ideas and technology to create new or significantly improved products, services, processes, new business models or jobs in the food sector.
- Use cutting-edge research techniques for new venture creation and growth, and apply these in cross-disciplinary teams and contexts.
- Create novel solutions to research problems and challenges through practical experiences in different areas of the food sector.
- Develop decision-making and leadership competencies.
Level: Graduate/Master
Audience: Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Sciences, Biological/Life Sciences, Food Science, Chemistry, Food Safety and/or Nutrition
Course duration: 2 academic years
- Language: English
Master Degree
Chat with our students
What you learn?
You will learn the following competencies:
- Food Systems:
- Develop strategies to address current and future sustainability challenges using systems approaches
- Design innovative responses to address sustainability challenges in the food system
- Entrepeneurship:
- Create opportunities for value creation
- Mobilise resources to create sustainable value for others
- Design and implement effective actions to deliver impact
- Problem Solving:
- Appraise the problem space to identify current and future needs
- Mobilise effective methodologies to generate new ideas
- Appraise the validity of new ideas and co-create sustainable solutions
- Critical Thinking:
- Collect, analyse, interpret and report information to develop sustainable solutions to current and future challenges
- Appraise unintended consequences of any course of action to devise ethical goals
- Leadership:
- Implement a food system innovation project in a particular work or study context
- Communication:
- Identify, engage with and respond to stakeholder needs
- Develop strategies to deliver effective communications approaches
- Translate complex ideas for different audiences
- Technology Management:
- Educate and support others to use emerging technologies in (radical or breakthrough) innovation processes
- Challenge others to apply technologies to different problem spaces
Structure
The duration of this programme is 2 years.
All students will follow the online module “Introduction to the Food System” as the first module of the first semester. You then will go through a semester-long study block at your home university (the institution in which you enrol).
The second semester is spent at a second university of the consortium (your first host institution). You will also take part in a Summer School on entrepreneurship with all other students enrolled on the programme.
You start at your third university (the second host institution) during the third semester, where you take part in a semester-long Market Feasibility Study along with further food systems modules.
For the final semester, you return to your home institution to complete your Master’s thesis. The thesis will be mentored by a team of EIT Food Partners (including players from industry, academia and research institutes).
Each university offers a specific block of courses based on their expertise, and by combining three of these study tracks you will gain integrated knowledge of the food system (e.g. primary production + food processing + consumer sciences, or food production + logistics + digitisation).
In addition, pan-European activities at industrial partner sites will ensure you bond with the rest of the students enrolled on the programme.
Participation Fees and Scholarships
EU: €9000/academic year
Non-EU: €18000/academic year
Scholarships
For Colombian students:
Collaborative Agreement between EIT Food and Fundación para el Futuro de Colombia (Colfuturo)
EIT Food has entered into a collaboration agreement with COLFUTURO to support Columbian student in their professional development by offering a joint offering for students accepted in EIT Food Master in Food Systems.
EIT Food will provide a scholarship of minimum of 50% of the participation fee per academic year (for a period of two academic years) to a maximum of five Colombian students, while Columbian students can apply for a loan at COLFUTURO which can be converted into a scholarship as well (based on a certain conditions).
COLFUTURO’s financing system consists of a Loan-Scholarship of up to USD50,000 for a maximum financing period of two years.
COLFUTURO is a Colombian non-profit foundation that was established in 1991 with the support of the National Government and some of the most important companies of the private sector in the country at that time. Its main objective is to provide financial support and increase the possibilities of Colombian citizens to access high-quality postgraduate study programs abroad.
All the information on how to apply to COLFUTURO Scholarship is here: https://www.colfuturo.org/programas/credito-beca/informacion-general 
Application deadlines:
- International students: 30th March 2023
- EEA students: 25th June 2023
Career Opportunities
With their expertise in consumer-oriented development of novel food products, technologies and services, and their uniquely integrative understanding of the entire food value chain in its socio-economic embedding, Master in Food Systems graduates provide a key human resource for food sector companies seeking to maintain a competitive edge by following vertical integration strategies. Other career paths include:
- Academic
- Research institutes
- Entrepreneurial ventures
- Policy
- Food Safety Agencies
Frequently Asked Questions
Find below the most frequent questions on the Master in Food Systems application process. If you have a question that is not included here, do not hesitate to contact us at mfs@eitfood.eu, or attend one of our Meet the MFS events (you will find the dates on mfs-apply.eitfood.eu).
If you did not submit your application before the deadline of the intake that you originally applied to, the system will not let you submit this application. However, if there is a new intake open, all you need to do is delete the study paths you added for the original intake in the section “priorities” of your application, and then re-add them for the running intake (but note that it’s possible that not all study paths are available in the new intake). The video below shows you how to do this.
If the intake deadline has not passed yet, you will be able to re-open your application after you have clicked submit, and you can fill empty fields and add documents, but you will not be able to change existing entries. If you need to change entries (e. g. if they contain an error), contact mfs@eitfood.com.
In any case, we encourage you to submit your application early, and not to wait until the deadline. This makes it easier on our end, as it leaves us time to give you feedback in case something is missing, and to coordinate among the partnership to take your preferences into account.
The following criteria are used for evaluating applications:
- Final grade of Bachelor’s degree
- Entrepreneurial potential
- Outcome of the selection interview
In the selection process, all applications are screened on the first two criteria. The best candidates are invited for interviews. All three criteria are then used to determine the top candidates, who will receive an offer for enrolment in one of the paths indicated as a preference. Depending on availability of places, the consortium may offer alternative choices based on the preferences given.
The goal of the selection interview is to assess your fit with the programme. Every invited candidate will be evaluated on their knowledge in relation to the food system, a deeper exploration of their entrepreneurial potential, and their English communicative competence. The interview is conducted online through an online meeting tool (e. g. Zoom).
Entrepreneurial potential
The aspects below are important indicators of entrepreneurial potential:
- Creativity: solving problems in creative ways
- Resilience: staying focused and resilient under pressure, adversity, and temporary failure
- Ambiguity: making decisions when the result is uncertain, the information available is partial or ambiguous, or when there is a risk of unintended outcomes
- Think critically: assessing the consequences of entrepreneurial ideas and action in terms of value, as well as the effect on the target community, the market, society and the environment
In the application form, you are asked to give personal examples for each. The interviewers will seek to discuss your examples, ask follow-up questions and challenge you on your responses.
Food System knowledge
The interviewer will ask a number of questions relevant to the food system. In your responses, it can be a good idea to link back to your own field of expertise, but you should always try to include a perspective on the food system as a whole, and how it is linked to markets, individuals and society, and ecology.
Technical preparation
Please ensure that your computer setup (microphone, internet connection, camera, meeting software) is up to the task and configured correctly. Test your setup prior to the meeting, e. g. by visiting https://zoom.us/test and check both the audio and video settings. If you are using a mobile device, make sure you select a suitable location (avoid environments with background noise, distractions, traffic etc.).
You do not need to apply separately for a scholarship. All scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit, as determined by your score in the application process.
See the page “Scholarship” for info on the different levels of scholarships available.
No, the participation fee is in principle the same regardless of your study path. However, there are two participation fee levels, and the level that applies to you depends on your citizenship, and whether you would be considered an “international” student at your prospective home university (the first university in a study path). See the table below.
| Your Citizenship | Home university | Participation fee level (per academic year) |
|---|---|---|
| EU/EEA | EU/EEA | 9.000€ |
| EU/EEA | UK | 18.000€ |
| non-EU/EEA | EU/EEA | 18.000€ |
| non-EU/EEA | UK | 18.000€ |
| UK | UK | 9.000€ |
| UK | EU/EEA | 18.000€ |
Note that EIT Food offers various fee waiver scholarships – find more info here.
We’ve identified a number of focus areas that specifically address food system challenges. All study paths are categorized to allow study with a focus on at least one of those areas by combining expertise from three different partner universities – the “home university” and two other universities where students spend their 2nd and 3rd semester. Select paths in the focus area that best matches your area of interest. For a comparison of the options in different paths, use our path advisory tool (here).
In your application, we advise you to select your preferred path and at least 2 alternatives (ranked from 1st preference to descending preferences). We will try to make you the best possible study offer in relation to this list, depending on the availability of places in each path and your applicant score.
