The doctorate places the Basque Country once again at the forefront of gastronomy by promoting growth and research in the sector.

The programme includes two research groups, Food Science and Management, Society and Culture.

NEIKER, AZTI y Basque Culinary Center present the first doctorate programme in gastronomy in the world and reaffirm their position as leaders in gastronomic research.

The Doctorate in Gastronomic Sciences programme starts with its first edition in January 2020 with the aim of training researchers in the field of gastronomic sciences, generating and transferring knowledge to the different actors that make up the food and gastronomy value chain. Its launch responds to the interest of the Basque Culinary Center in getting students to internalize and use tools for research, valid for advancing the sector in any of its aspects.

The Basque Government’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Policy, Bittor Oroz, stated: “Providing quality training in the food value chain is undoubtedly a fundamental objective for the Basque Government. To this end, the NEIKER and AZTI Technology Centres, respectively, have a fundamental role to play; NEIKER for its expert knowledge in the field of the agricultural sector and AZTI in the field of food. In this sense, they complement each other with the vision of the gastronomy of the Basque Culinary Center. All this with the final objective of achieving a generalised improvement in the competitiveness of all the agents in the food chain”.

For his part, the director of the Basque Culinary Center, Joxe Mari Aizega, “from the beginning, we have recognised ourselves as a driving project; as an active agent that drives development and innovation in the gastronomy sector and brings together food, cooking, service, business management and science to place us at the forefront of world gastronomy research. We believe that there are many opportunities for research in gastronomy. That is why we want to promote research, encourage doctoral theses and attract researchers from all over the world. The Basque Culinary Center and the other centres will be hosting the first doctoral students and doctoral students who will be developing their first doctoral theses on gastronomy, after researching any aspect related to gastronomy and food for at least three years.

Three-way agreement

The doctorate has materialised through a collaboration agreement reached between three Basque technology centres: AZTI, NEIKER and BCC Innovation, the Basque Culinary Center’s technology centre in gastronomy, which will host and direct doctoral theses within the framework of their lines of research. The programme is part of the Basque Government’s Strategic Plan for Gastronomy and Food (PEGA), and also has the participation of the University of Copenhagen.

The Doctorate in Gastronomic Sciences lasts three years if it is done on a full-time basis, a period that can be extended by up to two more years on an extraordinary basis, and five years if it is done on a part-time basis, a period that can be extended by up to three more years on an extraordinary basis.

Research groups

The programme includes two research teams, Food Science and Management, Society and Culture. The first is made up of the lines of research related to Sustainability, Sensory Analysis and Health (Personalised Gastronomy). The second one includes the lines of research related to Society and Culture and Management and Direction of Gastronomic Companies.

The doctor-researchers who are part of the research teams are specialized in the binomial science and cooking. They include profiles related to the most scientific fields, such as sensory analysis, to the most humanistic ones such as social sciences and aspects related to management.