Cesarettin Alaşalvar (PhD, FIFT, FISNFF, FIAFoST, FRSC) is a Principal Chief Researcher at the Food Technologies Research Group of TÜBİTAK-Marmara Research Center (MRC) and is also an Associate Professor of Food Science and Engineering. Having spent 14 years in the UK (completing his MPhil and PhD, and working as a Post-Doctorate, Research Fellow, and Lecturer at the University of Lincoln) and one year in Japan (as the recipient of a Fellowship Award from the Japanese Science and Technology Agency), he returned to his home country in 2006. Since then, he has held various positions (Chief Researcher, Deputy Director, Director, Advisor, and Principal Chief Researcher) at the Food Technologies Research Group (formerly the Food Institute) of TÜBİTAK MRC.

His research interests focus mainly on the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals. This work addresses life-threatening diseases, the nutritional and functional properties of foods (particularly nuts, dried fruits, tea, seafood, and medicinal plants), and the bioactive properties of phytochemicals. His expertise also includes the separation and identification of bioactive compounds, as well as evaluating their bioavailability and human clinical trials.

Besides his role at TÜBİTAK MRC, Alaşalvar has served as the past chair of the Nutraceuticals and  Functional Foods Division of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the International Society for Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (ISNFF). Additionally, he holds the position of Councillor for the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) for a two-term period (2024–2028). Alaşalvar has been actively involved in the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe Programs. He served as the Turkish Delegate for Cluster 2 (2016-2020) and has been serving in the same capacity for Cluster 6 since 2021. He has also been serving on the Academic Committee and as a member of the World Forum for Nutrition Research and Dissemination Committee of the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC) since 2015. 

Alaşalvar has successfully coordinated two EU-funded projects (FP7-NutraHEALTH – €1.8 million and IPA-INNOFOOD – €27 million) and served as a deputy coordinator for another project (H2020-PhenolAcTwin – €0.9 million).  He was the principal founder of the Food Innovation Platform of Türkiye (TÜGİP; as part of the IPA-INNOFOOD project). He serves as Senior Editor of the journal Food Chemistry (a top journal in the field of food science) and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Food Bioactives. Alaşalvar has received numerous international awards from different scientific societies, including IFT, ISNFF, and INC, in recognition of his pioneering achievements and his role as a leader in food science and technology, with an emphasis on functional foods and nutraceuticals. He was also the recipient of the Sabri Ülker Future Science Leader Award in 2015 and the Most Successful Researcher Award from TÜBİTAK MRC in 2012. In addition, Alaşalvar is the editor of nine international books and holds 15 patents. His work has led to the publication of over 110 research articles in the form of peer-reviewed journal papers (h-index of 50) and book chapters. He has been listed continuously (from 2000 to 2025) on the World’s Top 2% Scientists List by Stanford University/Elsevier.