A solid technical background with an MSc in dairy technology, strong project management skills and an experienced fund-raiser. These are some of the qualities that 38-year-old Grith Mortensen can offer as newly appointed head of research of the Milk and Egg Science unit at the Department of Food Science.

Ms Mortensen's most recent job was at the Danish Dairy Research Foundation, where she was responsible for the day-to-day management. She has also previously worked for Arla Foods, where she took an industrial PhD on the effect of light on pre-packaged cheese and at KU Life where she also worked on packaging of foods. She took an MSc in Dairy Technology from KU Life in 1996.

In her new job, Ms Mortensen will be responsible for 26 employees, whose work areas include food quality and dairy technology.

She said: "I will be working with staff management, research management, fund-raising, industrial collaboration, research communication and teaching in the MSc programme 'Molecular Nutrition and Food Technology' that the faculty offers."

One of her ambitions is to preserve the research unit’s position among the best in the world in a number of research areas. This will be through targeted fund-raising and increased awareness of project opportunities at the EU level.

Jacob Holm Nielsen, research director at the Department of Food Science, is pleased about Ms Mortensen's appointment.

He commented: "Grith has the ideal qualities for the position and has become quite a well-known person in the dairy and food sector. We look forward to the department being strengthened by her skills and experience."