Ir. Sofie De Man holds a degree in Bioscience Engineering with a specialization in Agriculture from Ghent University. In 2011, she joined the Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries, and Food Research (ILVO), where she works as a Research Associate. Initially, she was active in the field of product quality and innovation, conducting research on various topics, including the reduction of fat and sugar in dairy products, the visualization of food structures using tomography, and the impact of processing on food components.

In recent years, Sofie has been actively involved in protein transition research, with expertise in the techno-functionality of mycoproteins and plant-based proteins. Additionally, she has gained extensive experience with semi-industrial food processing in the Food Pilot, a joint venture between ILVO and Flanders' Food. Over the past year, her work has also included efforts to reduce food waste and explore synergies between different research areas.