Dr. Iris Joye is an associate professor Grain Science and Technology at the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph. Iris obtained her Ph.D. degree at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium) in 2010. Her doctoral research encompassed an in-depth study of enzyme systems in wheat that affect the redox state of bread dough and the quality of the final bread loaf. After her Ph.D., she focused on chemical redox agents which are commonly used to improve dough and bread quality, on fortification of breakfast cereals, quality improvement of gluten-free bakery products, and encapsulation technology with special emphasis on biopolymer-based systems. More recently, her research team in Guelph has also centered their research efforts on pulses and pseudocereals, and their nutritional and techno-functional properties. The research lines she and the students in her team are working on combine different disciplines spanning grain science, colloidal chemistry, and – through collaborations with other research institutions in Ontario – market analysis and, lifecycle analysis and costing. Iris is the (co-)author of 85 peer reviewed publications, 3 book chapters and contributed to over 50 presentations at scientific meetings.
Besides graduate student advising and undergraduate teaching, Iris and researchers in her team have been actively involved in a multitude of outreach activities such as development and delivery of science activities for high school students and the annual organization of cereal outreach activities for knowledge translation and transfer to partners in the grain industry and researchers at governmental research institutions. She is also a member of the professional advisory board of Celiac Canada.