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Biography
Ruth Price is a Food Innovation Technologist at the University of Nottingham's Food Innovation Centre (FIC). This commercial team supports SMEs locally and nationally across a wide range of product categories. The FIC provides tailored consultancy and hands-on development support to help businesses progress their ideas, optimise formulations and processes, and overcome technical challenges. The team's expertise spans new and existing product development, application studies, shelf-life testing, HACCP and food safety guidance, and scale-up support. The Centre also acts as a gateway to the broader University, connecting industry partners with academic specialists to facilitate longer-term research collaborations and knowledge exchange. In addition, the team contributes to teaching and student engagement in the BSc Food Science and Nutrition and MSc Food Production Management programmes by connecting students with industry partners for the New Product Development module and then supporting the teams during the course. Ruth also supports academics by supervising final-year Food Science students on their research projects.
Her expertise spans food physics, soft-matter characterisation and the development of new food products, drawing on extensive experience across academic, SME and multinational R&D environments. Her doctoral research (PhD in Food Science, 2021) at the University of Nottingham explored natural alternatives to PGPR emulsifiers in chocolate. It developed her expertise in rheology, lipid analysis, surface tension measurement, microscopy, and structural characterisation techniques. As a Research Fellow, she contributed to the development of plant-based meat analogues, including a minimally processed adipose-tissue mimic now under patent application. She has also worked on projects to improve texture and moisture resistance in ice-cream wafers and to explore sustainable ingredient innovation using by-products from the whisky industry.
Ruth has worked closely with major industry partners, including Nestlé, Unilever and Heura Foods, providing formulation expertise, processing insight and data-driven development support to address real-world food product challenges. She also has substantial experience delivering innovation and technical consultancy to SMEs, helping them resolve practical development issues and implement robust testing methodologies.
Her research has been presented at international scientific conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. She is an Associate Member of both the Institute of Food Science and Technology and the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a Full Member of the British Society of Rheology.
Before embarking on her PhD, Ruth worked in the pharmaceutical industry in the logistics and project management of clinical trials, following an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Surrey.
Outside of work, Ruth is married to Ben and has two teenage boys. She enjoys taking on new challenges: she is currently learning to ride a motorcycle with the goal of touring Europe with her husband in the coming years. They also spend time sailing their small boat on the Norfolk Broads and enjoy weekends away on the water.
Recent Publications