This work contains the proceedings of a conference on gums and stabilisers for the food industry. Contributions are concerned with the structure-function relationships of various polysaccharides and protein systems, as well as progress on mixed biopolymer systems.

Peter A. Williams is Professor of Polymer and Colloid Chemistry and Director of the Centre for Water Soluble Polymers at Wrexham Glyndwr University. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Salford in 1982 and Doctor of Science in 2009. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Chartered Chemist. He has over 35 years research experience in the chemical modification, physicochemical characterisation, rheological properties and interfacial behaviour of hydrocolloids. He has published over 230 research papers and edited 42 books. He is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Food Hydrocolloids which was launched in 1986. He has been involved in the organisation of more than 40 international conferences on behalf of the Food Hydrocolloids Trust, the Cellucon Trust the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry. He is a past Chairman of the Society of Chemical Industry Surface and Colloids Group and past Treasurer of the Royal Society of Chemistry Colloid and Interface Science Group. He was awarded the SCI Distinguished Service award in 2007 and the Food Hydrocollloids Trust Medal in 2013.Professor Glyn O. Phillips was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Salford and appointed as Executive Principal of the North East Wales Institute (now Wrexham Glyndwr University) in 1976. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Benin in 1990 and an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Wales in 1999. He was awarded the A.G. Evans Medal by the University of Cardiff in 1991, the first Science and Technology Medal by the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2004 and the Food Hydrocolloids Trust Medal in 2007. He has a broad range of scientific interests and has published more than 600 research papers in areas including radiation and free radical chemistry, radiation sterilisation, photochemistry and carbohydrate and polysaccharide chemistry. He was technical adviser to the International Atomic Energy Agency and editor of the journals, Food Hydrocolloids, Advances in Tissue Banking and International Journal of Cell and Tissue banking. He initiated the Gums and Stabilisers for the Food industry series of Conferences in 1981 and established the Phillips Hydrocolloids Research Centre at Wrexham Glyndwr University in 2003.

Structural and functional properties of polysaccharides; Protein systems; Functional interactions in mixed biopolymer systems; Processing developments.