Sheffield Hallam food and nutrition students collaborate with drinks company AG Barr

As part of the final year module, the Food and Nutrition Consultancy Challenge, students were given a real life brief from AG Barr, which allowed students to engage and collaborate with key industry clients by solving real life industry problems.

The Food and Nutrition Consultancy Challenge provides students with the opportunity to build on previous work experience such as placements or other work completions and is a module that brings together all the learning throughout the degree.

This year, students have been developing healthy oat milk drinks, no caffeine energy drinks and improving food labels for a mango juice drink. Over three months the students have worked with AG Barr and the academic team to develop new products in the state-of-the-art kitchens at Sheffield Hallam. This concluded with a presentation day where invited guests could try the new drinks.

Jess, Felicia, Rosa and Kira, winners of the challenge, said: "It’s been both fun and interesting to work on a real life brief in which AG Barr representatives have tried our drink and given us feedback, the module has been engaging and insightful. We worked really hard on the brief and are proud to have been awarded 1st place for our energy drink.”

Ruth Whiteside, senior lecturer and module leader, said: ‘This module is the culmination of the skills and knowledge students have gained over the three years of studying Food and Nutrition degrees. The added advantage of working with the client brings a real-life aspect that develops students' skills ready for the world of work. This has been a valuable opportunity for the students to work in a real-life scenario’.

The briefs are provided by the client to the students, which are topical and give students an opportunity to impress and create positive change. The client provided feedback to support student employability, and where the solutions are potential ‘game-changers’, will implement into their business.

Rachel Fairless, Product Development Manager, AG Barr, said: ‘We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the students on their development. It is such a good opportunity for Hallam students in development of their employability skills’.

To find out more about the Food and Nutrition courses at Sheffield Hallam, visit the course pages here.