The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance funds the Highly Qualified Personnel Scholarship (HQP) program. The program supports the development of highly skilled graduates at the University of Guelph who become future researchers, policy-makers, business leaders and innovators to meet the changing demands of the agri-food and rural sector.

Aarsha Surendren, a BDDC graduate student, was announced as one of the 2020/21 HQP Scholars. She quoted, "HQP course has given an opportunity to learn more about the Canadian Agriculture system and provided an insight into the importance of Food and Agriculture Government/NGO organizations".

Aarsha's HQP project includes research on the development of biopolymeric composites made with Ontario biomass for engineering multi-layer cast film in packaging applications.

Read more about the HQP Scholar here.