5 October – Nutrition sciences and their ultimate applicability to daily life should always go hand in hand, according to Dr Peter van Dael, Senior President Nutrition Science & Advocacy at DSM Nutritional Products, who joined the TiFN board in August 2018. “The challenge is to find the optimum balance between research with short-term benefits and long-term fundamental science.”

Van Dael had only been at DSM for a few months when TiFN invited him to take up the position from his (DSM) colleague Krijn Rietveld, who passed away earlier this year. “Selecting and bringing together companies, research organizations and goals, to meet societal needs, is a challenge I welcome and value”, he says. “I did not have to think for very long before accepting the offer.”

The Senior President, who spent ten years of his career at Mead Johnson Nutrition in the USA (see text box for biography), was not that familiar with TiFN, but already knew a number of experts in the field. “I worked as a medical director with the (originally Dutch) company Royal Numico, in France, and collaborated with several research organizations in the Netherlands, including Wageningen University & Research, NIZO food research, TNO Nutrition and RIVO, the Dutch organization for Fisheries Research”, he illustrates.

Collaboration spirit
Van Dael’s first impressions of TiFN are very positive. “This initiative is a beautiful example of the entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit abundant in this country”, he explains. “Working together has always been a Dutch strength; now ‘we’ have taken it to the global level.”

Collaboration is essential to achieving the quality and applicability this research demands, according to Van Dael. “It allows you to work with top researchers around the world, bringing together the best talent, state-of-the-art research facilities and the latest insights in the field. It also increases the social and industrial relevance of the work”, he explains. Collaboration within the TiFN collaboration is just as important. “Insights, values and approaches should be shared – and carried – by all our industry and research partners, in order to create a strong and solid basis for the future.”

From insight to application
Strengthening and extending the TiFN network is an important focus for the new board member, though not the only one. “I want to identify even more opportunities to translate TiFN insights into daily life applications”, he stresses. “The challenge is to find the optimum balance between long-term fundamental research – enabling radical industrial and societal innovations – and short-term benefits.” This will require a more-pragmatic approach, with realistic expectations of research time-frames and budgets.

Van Dael, who has already invited TiFN’s Managing Director Ronald Visschers to meet his DSM colleagues in Basel, is looking forward to the next board meeting in October 2018. “Together we will make great strides, strengthening and extending TiFN’s global influence.”

Biography
Dr Peter van Dael is Senior President Nutrition Science & Advocacy at the DSM Nutritional Products, based in Basel, Switzerland. He is responsible for developing, translating and executing DSM’s global nutrition science strategy. Prior to joining DSM, in August 2017, he worked for Mead Johnson Nutrition (Evansville, Indiana, USA), Nestlé Nutrition (Vevey, Switzerland) and Royal Numico (Rueil-Malmaison, France). Van Dael obtained an MSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Lausanne and successfully completed PhDs in Philosophy, and Food Chemistry at the University of Antwerp, where he also obtained his MBA.