26 June 2006 New Zealand exchange a winner for Swedish food science student

Scientific research on New Zealand honey has brought the sweet taste of success to Swedish exchange student Lisa Daginder.

Studying at Lincoln University on exchange from the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Skara, 300 kilometres south of Stockholm, Lisa investigated anti-oxidant levels in 10 different types of honey produced by Leeston’s Airborne Honey company.

It was the last assignment in Lisa’s Food Engineering degree and the research report she wrote about it has won her first prize among the final year reports submitted at her home university.

Her degree will pave the way for a career in product development in Sweden, where university students must spend some time in an English speaking country as a requirement before graduation. Lisa chose New Zealand because she had been here before and “loved it”.

The earlier visit was a “gap year” between school and university and Lisa worked on a dairy farm just south of Geraldine. This time she stayed with a family at Prebbleton, close to Lincoln University, and she continued exploring the New Zealand way of life including swimming with dolphins, something never contemplated in the chilly waters around Sweden.

Lisa is one of about 10 students from Sweden who have studied at Lincoln University in the food science area in recent years. It is a connection developed by Lincoln University’s Associate Professor Geoffrey Savage who is also a Visiting Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science where he teaches regularly.

Lisa’s skills extend well beyond honey research and as part of an initiation into the Food Science Group at Lincoln University she and other international students were invited to bake traditional dishes for a staff morning tea. 

“The typical Swedish dish is meat balls,” she said, “but I couldn’t cook meat balls for morning tea, could I!”

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand