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Professor Bhesh Bhandari

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  • Bio/Profile
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  • Prof. Bhandari is associated with the University of Queensland since 1993. He obtained his PhD from ENSIA (France) in Food Process Engineering in 1992. He has a major research focus on food materials science/engineering including microencapsulation of food ingredients, glass transition-related issues in food processing and product systems and 3D printing of food materials. Professor Bhandari's current research area also includes relating the nanostructure of the food system to its bulk properties. Presently he is also exploring the application of nanobubbles in food processing. His past and current researches involve dairy, meat, rice, honey, probiotics, oils, fat etc. Professor Bhandari's research is not commodity-focused only. His primary approach to research is applying fundamental science and engineering principles to developing a relationship between process, structure, property and performance of food materials systems. Professor Bhandari has extensively investigated various micro and nano-encapsulation processes such as spray drying, molecular encapsulation, co-crystallisation, precipitation and gel entrapment. Prof. Bhandari has developed a patented continuous method to produce microgel particles that can be used to encapsulate various functional ingredients and pharmaceutical drugs. The process has been commercialised to encapsulate probiotics. The probiotic enriched drinks (named Perkii) are available in the Australian market. The process has also been used by a major dairy company in Australia to encapsulate lactoferrin. Prof Bhandari has done a number of pioneering works on stickiness issues of food powders encountered during drying and handling. Recently Professor Bhandari has developed a patented technique to produce ethylene powder which can be used for fruit ripening and other plants physiological control. Professor Bhandari has also developed a stickiness testing device that enables the measurement of the stickiness and glass transition temperature of food material by just using texture measuring instruments.
    International collaborations:
    Professor Bhandari has developed strong national and international research collaborations. Professor Bhandari successfully completed a collaborative research project with Nong Lam University, in Vietnam on control of rice cracking in Mekong Delta. Professor Bhandari also completed a joint research project with the National University of Singapore on glass transition mechanisms in starch. In addition, Professor Bhandari has also been collaborating his research activities in USA, Ireland, Vietnam, India, China and France. Prof Bhandari was awarded the Australia-India Council Research grant by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) to develop research collaboration with National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India. Professor Bhandari was also a Visiting Professor of UCSI University, Malaysia and UPM, Malaysia.
    Grants:
    Professor Bhandari has been awarded several ARC-Discovery, ARC-Linkage over the years and ARC-Industrial Transformation Research Hub grant recently. He also won grants from Horticulture Australia, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Dairy Australia, Cooperation for Agriculture and Research Development (CARD funded by AusAID) Program, National Meat Industry Training Advisory Council Limited (MINTRAC), Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), Commercialization Australia and UNIQUEST. He has received more than $10M grant over the years.
    Awards:
    Professor Bhandari has been listed as a top researcher 2021 and 2020 by "The Australian" in Australia in Food Science and Technology discipline. Professor Bhandari has been awarded as a "Highly Cited Researcher" in 2021, 2020 and 2019 by Clarivate. Thomson Reuter also listed Professor Bhandari as a Highly Cited Researcher 2015 in his subject field. According to Thomson Reuter and Clarivate (Web of Science Group) "Highly Cited Researcher" represents some of the world's most influential scientific minds (1% top talent in the sciences). Professor Bhandari received the Jiangsu Province International Science and Technology Cooperation award in 2020. Professor Bhandari was awarded Distinguished Alumni Award (2019) by the Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat, India. Professor Bhandari received the "Bolaike Outstanding Drying Research Award 2017" which is a top award in recognition of his drying research in Asia-Pacific. This was awarded during The 9th Asia-Pacific Drying Conference (Sept 24-26), Wuxi, China. Professor Bhandari received Bruce Chandler Book Award 2015 from Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST). Professor Bhandari is the recipient of international award for "Excellence on Drying- Applying Fundamentals to Practice" in 2012. Professor Bhandari also won the "Top 25 Q-index" award among more than 2500 researchers at the University of Queensland. He was also awarded Vice Chancellor's commendation award for the internationalisation of UQ. In 2015, Professor Bhandari was honoured with an award by PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE OF HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam for his contribution to the promotion of collaborative research and education at Nong Lam University, Vietnam. He has also been awarded several "Research Excellence" awards by the School at the University of Queensland.
    Professor Bhandari is a Fellow of International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST), the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) and the Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA).
    Publications:
    Prof Bhandari has authored more than 450 papers including 8 co-edited books and 40 book chapters. His co-edited book "Food Materials Science and Engineering" was published in 2012 and another co-edited book on "Handbook of Food Powders: Processes and Properties" was published in 2013. Another co-edited book "Non-Equilibrium States and Glass Transitions in Foods: Processing Effects and Product-Specific Implications" was published in Nov 2016. The new co-edited book "Handbook of Drying of Vegetables and Vegetable Products" has been published in 2017. In 2018 "Fundamentals of 3D Food Printing and Application" was published
    His publications are cited more than 36,000 times (Google Scholar H-index 98).