CHAIR OF FOOD STUDIES

Prof. Jean-Pierre Poulain holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Paris VII, France. He has a long and established academic career together with international cooperation in different parts of the world, in the specialised field of food studies and hospitality education. Besides, he is a Full Professor, Dean of Department and Research Team Leader at University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France. He also holds the position of “Chair Food Studies: Food, Cultures & Health" at Taylor’s Toulouse University Centre (TTUC), Taylor’s University, Malaysia.

Prof. Poulain has published over 180 articles, books and book chapters, and has led several book series on food heritage. He has led the publication of the “Dictionnaire des cultures alimentaires”, a book involving more than 160 authors from different countries across the globe. He has been a keynote to several international conferences and scientific events sharing his life-time research experience in the areas of food studies, sociology of obesity and food heritage.

In 2010, Taylor’s University (Malaysia) and University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès (France) have set up a centre called: “Taylor’s Toulouse University Center” (TTUC);

The centre is co-presided by the two chancellors of respective universities and by a board of 14 members (7 members for each institution including representative of CERTOP UMR - CNRS 5044). The board meets once in a year alternatively in Kuala Lumpur and in Toulouse.

The management of TTUC is entrusted to the deans of School of Hospitality Management, Tourism & Culinary Arts (TCHT) and Toulouse School of Tourism, Hospitality management and Food Studies (ISTHIA).

In the last five years, as Taylor’s University has put research activities high up on its agenda, a great emphasis has been laid on research in TTUC.

In 2012, the creation of a chair position titled: “Chair Food Studies: Food, Cultures and Health” was proposed by TTUC Board and validated by the decision bodies of the two universities.

The chair develops the following programs:

• Malaysian Food Barometer (MFB), a follow up survey that study the evolution of Malaysian eating habits and its socio-cultural determinants.
• Hong-Kong Food Barometer (HKFB). Using the model of the MFB, this survey studies the transformation of the Hong-Kong people’s eating habits, in partnership with the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
• Studies related to Taste and Obesity, Sensorial and Sociological Analysis, Ethnicity and Food Pattern with Nutritional Education.
• Conceptualization of new generation of experimental platform to study eating behaviors.

The chair organizes international seminars:

• “Gastronomy as UNESCO World Intangible Heritage”, Kuala Lumpur (November, 2012);
• “Towards an International Network for Studying Food Habits”, Kuala Lumpur, (May, 2014);
• “Food Security, the Asian Perspective” (in partnership with Hong Kong Poly Technic University, Department of Applied Social Science), Hong Kong (July, 2015);
• “Gastronomy, Arts and Medias”, Toulouse (October, 2015);
• “Experimental Restaurant of the Future”, Kuala Lumpur (December, 2015);
• “Facing Obesity in a Multicultural Modernizing Society”, Kuala Lumpur, (in 2016).

• Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT)
• Cluster for Research Initiative in Food, Nutrition and Public Health (CRI-FNPH)
• Centre d’Etude et de Recherche, Travail, Organisation Pouvoir (CERTOP UMR-CNRS 5044)
• Institut Supérieur du Tourisme de l’Hôtellerie et de l’Alimentation (ISHTIA)
• Reseau Uni-Tiwin Chair Unesco “Alimentations du Monde / World Food Systems” Sup Agro Montpelier.
• Association Internationale des Sociologues de Langue Francaise/International Association of French Speaking Sociologists (AISLF-CR: 17)