Guest Lecturer in Postharvest Technology and Physiology
Technical and Business Development Manager at Landseer Ltd
Mehrdad completed his BSc in Horticulture in 1994 (University of Tabriz/ Iran) and worked in different sectors related to horticulture from landscaping to crop production. He started growing vegetables in his own greenhouse in 1998 and as a crop production advisor in different fields (soft & top fruit, vegetables and flowers) helped local growers in developing modern technologies in orchards, greenhouses and hydroponic culture. He also cooperated with State Agricultural Organization between 2004-7 by giving lectures and organising workshops for local growers.
Mehrdad moved to the UK in 2007 and continued his studies in MSc in Postharvest Technology at Writtle College (2007-8) and started working at Writtle in 2008 as “Project Officer/Research Assistant” for KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) postharvest project between Writtle College and Landseer Ltd. In 2009 Mehrdad joined Landseer Ltd as Horticulturist and continued his study in PhD in a collaboration between Landseer Ltd and University of Greenwich (2011-15). His current post at Landseer Ltd is Technical and Business Development Manager.Mehrdad was invited to Writtle for talks about postharvest industry in different events between 2012-17 and helped several MSc students by collaborating with industry during their projects for dissertations. Since 2018, Mehrdad has been participated as guest lecturer in teaching BSc and MSc students to transfer his experiences at postharvest industry.PhD in postharvest and plant physiology (University of Greenwich)
MSc in Postharvest Technology (Writtle College Validated by University of Essex)
BSc in Horticulture (University of Tabriz)
Mehrdad combined his academic knowledge and work experience in commercial sectors for conducting many applicable research projects for industry related to postharvest technology. The main areas of his research were related to application of different technologies for controlling ethylene and respiration to increase storage and shelf life of fruit and vegetables and application of chlorophyll fluorescence for identifying the internal disorders and maturity prediction.
Mehrdad has been involved in may research projects as local and international consortiums for AgroFresh projects between different countries specifically on effects of 1-MCP on different crops including different varieties of top fruit and vegetables (between 2009- present) and leading projects on increasing shelf life of bananas (2014-16) and AHDB project on storage and maturity of Gala apple (2016-present).