News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
| IAPRI Members Elect New Directors The membership has elected three new Institutional Director filling the positions of retiring directors; Greg Batt, Silvia Dantas, Maria Josee Galotto and Changfeng Ga after six years of service on the board. New Institutional Board Members: 2022-2025  Mieke BUNTINXAssociate professor, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Hasselt University, Belgium Staff member of Materials and Packaging Research & Services, Institute for Materials Research IMO-IMOMEC Mieke is bio-engineer in chemistry with a strong interest in R&D of sustainable, smart and safe packaging. As professor, she motivates young engineers of UHasselt, KU Leuven and UGhent to study and tackle current and future packaging challenges. The MPR&S team has built expertise in gas permeability, physical-mechanical material characterization, impact of environmental variables, seal technologies, etc. Mieke is promotor of PhD research on functional barriers such as EVOH that can protect against migration, and on modeling process, structure, property and migration relationships in functionalized biopolymer nanocomposites, which are produced by extrusion and injection molding, centrifugal fiber spinning, ultrasonic spray coating, compression molding. She’s very open to collaboration with the industry and other research institutes including Pack4Food, Fraunhofer IIV, ... in applied research projects, e.g. intelligent fiber-based packaging. On the board, Mieke wants to continue to promote international networking and student exchange. She wants IAPRI to motivate engineers and scientists to help solve packaging challenges in a circular economy.  Laszlo HorvathAssociate Professor, Director - Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design Virginia Tech, USA Laszlo has a Ph.D. in Forest Biomaterials Science from North Carolina State University, two Master of Science degrees and a BS from the University of West Hungary. He leads the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design which is a research and testing center focusing on developing innovative technologies and information to optimize the global distribution of goods. Laszlo is an expert in pallet and unit load design and the industrial design sector. As an Associate Professor, his teaching focuses on protective and industrial packaging to undergraduate level students and advanced packaging dynamics for graduate students. His research is focused on the investigation of the physical interactions between the components of unit load and increasing the sustainability of the packaging supply chain through more efficient distribution packaging design. He participates in ISO, ASTM, and ANSI working groups and committees and as a US delegate to the ISO. Laszlo is one of the few Packaging Laboratory Professionals that hold the Professional level certificates. Laszlo was also awarded the Best Scientific Presentation Award in 2017 at the 28th IAPRI Symposium on Packaging.  Eric MartineHead of Packaging Laboratory, School of Engineering and Management Vaud (HEIG-VD), Switzerland Eric had a BSc in Instrumentation & Measurement from Sheffield Hallam University in England and a Packaging Engineering Degree (ESIEC) from Rheims University in France. As Head of the Packaging Laboratory, managers all activities of the lab including strategy development, budgeting, research, and the staff. He brings to the board a strong scientific knowledge and skills (especially in the field of the performances and choice of packaging) as well as a global overview of the field of packaging. He has attended most IAPRI events since 2006. He was a co-organizer of the 28th IAPRI Member Conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2017 with Nestle Research Center. Eric is involved with many other packaging organizations, including Cluster Food and Nutrition, Swiss Plastics Cluster, Schweizer Verpackung Institute, and Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry Association. Eric wants to actively promote and develop IAPRI more globally. He wants to assist IAPRI to new opportunities to organize (new types of) international events to promote the field of packaging in relation to current and future challenges.
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