People at NICHE

Professor Helene McNulty

Professor of Nutritional Science

Helene McNulty is Director of the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE), a centre of excellence for nutrition research at Ulster University.

Having graduated from Trinity College Dublin (BSc and PhD in Nutrition) and the Dublin Institute of Technology (Diploma in Dietetics), followed by 2 years in the food industry, Helene joined Ulster University in 1992 and was promoted to her current academic post, Professor of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, in 2001.

Helene’s research programme is aimed at providing greater understanding of nutrition-related health issues and achieving impact through facilitating food and health policy. She has particular expertise in folate and related B vitamins through the lifecycle and has published extensively in this field (to date, over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and 12 book chapters), building impacts in both early life and ageing research. She frequently delivers keynote presentations at international scientific conferences throughout the world.

Helene has generated grant income for nutrition research at Ulster University to date amounting to over £13 million from 70 grant awards, and as Principal Investigator (PI) for 34 awards. She has supervised a total of 27 PhD students to successful completion to date, and has mentored numerous members of research staff.

Helene is an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy (since 2008) and Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (since 2017). She is co-Chair of the Executive Committee, 13th FENS European Nutrition Conference, Dublin [October 2019].

Apart from leading nutrition research at Ulster, Helene is actively involved in teaching at BSc and MSc levels and related programme administration in the area of Food, Nutrition & Dietetics.

Research Interests

• Nutrition
• Folate/folic acid and related B-vitamins
• One-carbon metabolism
• Health impacts through the lifespan
• Food fortification and micronutrient status

Teaching Interests

• Human Nutrition: Nutrition and metabolism; Nutrition through the lifecycle
• Dietetics: Diet therapy; Diet and disease

Administrative Roles

• Research: Director, Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE)
• Teaching: Module Coordinator, MSc Nutrition Research Project

Dr Philip Allsopp

Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition

Dr Catherine Hughes

Senior Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition

Catherine is currently a lecturer in Public Health Nutrition within the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health at Ulster University. She was awarded her PhD in Human Nutrition from Ulster University in 2010 having previously graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a degree in Biomedical Science and PGCE in Secondary Teaching (Science).

Catherine is the Associate Research Group leader of the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) and lead of the Centre for Excellence in Nutrition and Ageing (CENA). Her research focuses on B-vitamins and one-carbon metabolism throughout the lifecycle with a particular interest in nutrition and the ageing brain. She has published 40 papers in a range of scientific papers in high quality peer-reviewed journals. She is also principal investigator and/or co-applicant on numerous grant proposals and have generated over £1.9 million in research funding.

Research Interests

• Nutrition and Health Ageing
• Nutrition and Mental Health
• B-vitamin and related genetic factor in health & disease (CVD, cognitive health, bone health, pregnancy)

Teaching Interests

• Nutrition across the lifecycle
• Research methodology and biostatistics
• Social Inequalities and health

Administrative Roles

• Course Director BSc (Hons) Human Nutrition
• Member of the NICHE PR and social media team
• Member of the School of Biomedical Science Civic Engagement, Outreach and Marketing Team

Professional Activities

• Journal Editor Nutrition Research Reviews
• Assistant Journal Editor Frontiers in Nutrition
• Associate Research Group Leader NICHE
• Lead for the Centre for Excellence in Nutrition and Ageing (CENA)
• NICHE PhD Postgraduate Tutor
• Member of NNEdPro Global Institute for Food and Health

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Member of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP) Network
• Member of the Nutrition Society (UK & Irish Section)

Dr Kirsty Pourshahidi

Associate Head Of School of Biomedical Science

Kirsty graduated from Ulster University with a BSc Hons (first class) Human Nutrition, followed by a PhD in Nutrition.  She worked as a Research Associate within the Nutrition team at Ulster on a range of externally funded research projects (2011-2014), before being promoted to Research Fellow in July 2014.  Kirsty also acted as Lecturer in Food Science within the School of Biomedical Sciences (maternity cover, 2015).

Her research at the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) is focused on agri-food nutrition and consumer innovation, and she also has a particular interest in vitamin D requirements for health. She has supervised a number of PhDs to successful completion across these research areas.

Kirsty has experience of conducting controlled human intervention studies in different population and clinical groups Kirsty is author on more than 30 peer-reviewed publications investigating various aspects of agri-food nutrition and consumer innovation, food choice, vitamin D and health.  In 2014, Kirsty was the inaugural recipient of the Julie Wallace Medal Lecture awarded by the Nutrition Society in recognition of early stage scientific excellence in the field of nutrition.

Research Interests

• Agri-food nutrition & consumer innovation
• Vitamin D requirements for health
• Appropriate food portion sizes for adults & children
• Obesity as an inflammatory condition
• Assessment of body composition

Teaching Interests

• Food and Nutrition
• Research Methodologies

Administrative Roles

• Member of the School of Biomedical Sciences Ethics Filter Committee
• Contract Research Staff Representative on Faculty Board and Faculty Health & Safety Committee (Life & Health Sciences)
• Member of the NICHE PR and social media team

Professional Activities

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Member of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP) Network
• Secretariat of the ENLP Board
• Member of the Nutrition Society (UK & Irish Section)
• Associate Member of the British Nutrition Foundation
• NICHE representative on Healthy Eating Liaison Group

Professor James Dooley

Professor of Microbiology

Professor James Dooley holds a BSc in Microbiology from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) in 1982 and a PhD in Biochemistry  from the University of Victoria, Canada in 1988.

He undertook postdoctoral research at the Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh from 1988-1990 prior to taking up a lectureship in medical microbiology at Ulster University. He was appointed Professor of Microbiology in 2007.

James has over 25 years experience of research and teaching in microbiology with a focus on infectious diseases of man and animals.

He has published over 85 primary research papers along with numerous reviews, book chapters, editorials and meeting abstracts (H-index 25).

James has successfully supervised over 20 PhD students and eight MRes students.

He is a member of the editorial board for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology and regular reviewer for five other journals in the field of microbiology and infectious disease. He provides reviews of grant applications for Welcome Trust, EU Horizon 2020, BBSRC and a variety of other research funding agencies and charities.

Research Interests

• Virulence mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria
• Improved molecular diagnostic systems for difficult to culture pathogens
• Ecology of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment
• Biofilm production by human pathogens
• Role of the gut microbiome in health and disease
• Teaching Interests
• Microbes as agents of human infection
• Microbes as contributors to human health and nutrition
• Microbes as monitors of environmental health.
• Actively involved with teaching from year 1 undergraduate to MSc level.

Administrative Roles

• Course director for the Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Sciences
• Module coordinator for four modules; Medical Microbiology, Diagnostics in Biotechnology, Current Advances in Biosciences, Microbiology and Infectious disease.

Pauline Douglas

Senior Lecturer/Clinical Dietetics Facilitator

Professor Alison Gallagher

Head of the Doctoral College

Alison Gallagher is currently Head of Doctoral College (Coleraine/Magee) at Ulster University. With over 100 peer-reviewed publications, Alison contributes to the research conducted within the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) at Ulster. Her research interests resonate within the area of obesity and include development of risk factors for disease, low-energy/non-nutritive sweeteners and their potential impact on health, physical activity and health (including implementation of lifestyle interventions at key stages across the lifecycle).

After completing her BSc Hons Human Nutrition and PhD at Ulster, Alison worked as a Research Fellow (University of Strathclyde) then as Research Officer (Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project) before returning to Ulster as a Lecturer in 1999; being promoted to Senior Lecturer and subsequently Professor of Public Health Nutrition. A Registered Nutritionist (Public Health), she was the first Fellow of the Association of Nutrition (FAfN) on the island of Ireland. An active member of the Nutrition Society, she Chaired the Scientific Committee for the Federation of Nutritional Sciences (FENS) 13th European Nutrition Conference and is Editor-in-Chief for Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.

She is a passionate advocate for the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP), having participated in the ENLP seminar in 1997 and being involved with this international leadership programme ever since, and is the current Chair/President of the ENLP Board. She is also a member/Vice-chair of Northern Ireland Chest Heart Stroke Scientific (NICHS) Research Committee, expert member on the Scientific Advisory Panel on Sweeteners supported by the International Sweeteners Association (ISA), member/Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Nutrition Bulletin and a member of the UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) established post-Brexit.

Professor Chris Gill

Professor of Digestive Health

Dr Chris Gill holds a PhD from Ulster University (2000). He is Senior lecturer (2014) in nutrition at Ulster University and thematic leader for “Phytochemicals and gut microflora in health and diseases” within the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health (NICHE).

His research focuses on the influence of diet on cancer risk investigated through in vitro, animal and human models.

Dr Gill has published 30+ research papers, five book chapters and one patent.

He is Co-investigator and work-package leader on two EU projects focusing on diet and health properties seaweed. HYFFI (2008-2011). Hydrocolloid derivatives as functional food ingredients (FP 7-SME-2007-1- 222470. and SWAFAX (2010-2013). Seaweed derived anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants. (FP7-SME-2010-1- 262519).

Dr Gill has acted as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Nordforsk National Centres of Excellence programme (2008-2013) and is a member of the Danish Peer Review College since 2008. He is also an editor for the European Journal of Nutrition (2014) and a recent recipient of the Ulster University Distinguished Research Fellowship (2015).

Research Interests

• Human digestion
• dietary phytochemicals (Terrestrial/Marine)
• pre/probiotics
• the role of colonic microbiota on gut health.

Teaching Interests

• Gastrointestinal tract
• Epidemiology
• Research methodologies

Administrative Roles

• Course Director (MSc) Food & Nutrition Programme
• Module co-ordinator for a range of nutrition modules.

Dr Alyson Hill

Senior Lecturer

Dr Leane Hoey

Lecturer in Human Nutrition

Dr Maeve Kerr

Senior Lecturer in Food & Human Nutrition

Dr Caomhan Logue

Senior Lecturer in Dietetics

Caomhan is a Lecturer in Dietetics within the School of Biomedical Sciences (SoBMS) at the Coleraine campus of Ulster University. He was awarded a PhD in Human Nutrition in 2016 having previously graduated from Ulster University with a BSc (Hons) Dietetics (2012) and BA (Hons) Irish History and Politics (2001).

Having worked in various roles within the Northern Ireland Civil Service (2001 – 2007), a passion for nutrition and health led to a change of career in 2008 and Caomhan graduated with a BSc Hons Dietetics (1st Class Honours) in 2012, winning the prestigious Complete Nutrition Student of the Year award in his final year. He has been registered as a dietitian with the Health and Care Professions Council since 2012 and worked as a clinical dietitian at the South West Acute Hospital within the Western Health and Social Care Trust before returning to undertake a PhD at Ulster.

Combining his expertise in dietetics with analytical biochemistry, Caomhan completed his PhD as part of an international collaboration between Ulster University and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands. His PhD project focused on developing a novel biomarker approach to assessing exposure to low-calorie sweeteners leading to numerous opportunities to disseminate his findings and present on the topic of sweeteners and health to fellow researchers, clinical practitioners, and policymakers nationally and internationally.

Caomhan, who is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, became Course Director of the BSc (Hons) Dietetics programme at the Coleraine campus in 2018.

His teaching interests include:

• Assessment of Nutrition Status
• Nutrition support
• Inter-professional education

Caomhan’s research interests primarily lie in the wider area of obesity and related metabolic disorders with specific interests within this that include:

• Low-calorie sweeteners (exposure and impact on health)
• Health inequalities
• Portion control
• Technology-enhanced health interventions

Professional activities/Leadership roles

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Member of the British Dietetic Association (BDA)
• Member of the Higher Education Institute sub-group of BDA
• Committee member of the Northern Ireland Branch of BDA
• Member of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP) Network
• Committee member of the Nutrition Society Irish Section
• Committee member of the Nutrition Society (UK) Strategic Communications group
• Athena Swan Champion for the SoBMS
• Co-Chair of the Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum
• Member of the SoBMS Research Ethics Filter Committee
• SoBMS representative on the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences Student Wellbeing, Belonging and Resilience group
• Associate member of the Association for Learning Technology
• Reviewer for the George Moore Scholarship Programme

Dr Colm Lowery

Lecturer in Medical Microbiology

Dr Liadhan McAnena

Regulatory Research Officer

Dr Mary McCann

Associate Dean Partnerships & Student Recruitment

Dr Mary McCann graduated from Ulster University with BSc Hons Human Nutrition, MSc Research and PhD in Nutrition. Mary currently holds the position of Lecturer in Human Nutrition and is Course Director on the BSc Hons Food and Nutrition programme. Her research at the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) has focused on the impact of food portion size on food and energy intake; the influence of nutrition labelling on food intake and behaviour in overweight and obese adults; maternal obesity, gestational weight gain and body composition in pregnancy; vitamin D requirements and recommendations. Her teaching specialisms include the assessment of nutritional status, nutritional controversies, health promotion and nutrition through the lifecycle.

Dr Pamela Magee

Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition

Dr Pamela Magee obtained a BSc Hons and PhD from Ulster University in 1996 and 2000.

She then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at University College Dublin (2000-2001) following which she took up a Research Associate position within the Nutrition Innovation Centre for food & Health (NICHE) at Ulster University (2001-2005) investigating the effects of phytoestrogens (including soya isoflavones) in breast and prostate cancer.

Dr Magee took up her position as Lecturer in Human Nutrition in 2006 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2015 having served as Course Director of the BSc Hons Human Nutrition (2007-2011) and BSc Hons Food & Nutrition (2013-2014) programmes. She is currently Academic Division Head for Food, Nutrition and Dietetics.

Her teaching focus is on Sports Nutrition at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Dr Magee has published more than 30 full scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals in the area of soya isoflavones and health, vitamin D, sports nutrition and phytochemicals and cancer.

Professor Emeir McSorley

Professor

Dr Emeir McSorley is currently a Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition within the School of Biomedical Sciences and is a registered nutritionist. She received her PhD from Ulster University in the area of nutrition, biochemistry and immunology specialising in omega 3 fatty acids and the autoimmune condition systemic lupus erythematosus.

Dr McSorley has a BSc in Biomedical Sciences and is a registered Medical Laboratory Scientist.  She is a core member of both the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute (BMSRI) and the Northern Ireland Centre for Food & Health (NICHE).

She currently leads the research subgroup ‘Nutritional immunology in health and disease’ and contributes significantly to the ‘Marine bioactives in health and disease’ and ‘Nutrition, toxicology and child development’ subgroups. Emeir is also a recipient of the Ulster University Distinguished Research Fellowship (2014) and the Ulster University Students Union Inspirational Teacher Award (2015).

Research Interests

Dr McSorley's research interests are focused on understanding the influence of diet on aspects on cell function and human health, in particular the effects of vitamin D, n-3 PUFAs, calcium and iron in relation to inflammation and immunity, sports performance, bone health, cancer and pregnancy.

Dr McSorley is actively involved in marine functional food research focused on the development of marine bioactives for incorporation into functional foods. She is also a core member of the Seychelles Child Development Study investigating the risk benefits of consuming fish during pregnancy.

Teaching Interests

• Immunology
• Biochemistry
• Nutrition
• Through the Lifecycle; Research Design and Statistics

Administrative Roles

• Placement tutor for BSc Human Nutrition
• Member of the Faculty Committee for Employment and Engagement
• Edge Champion for School of Biomedical Science

Dr Maria Mulhern

Senior Lecturer in Food Science

Dr Patrick Naughton

Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology

Dr Patrick Naughton gained his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Aberdeen in 1998. He completed a post-doctoral position at the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen before moving to the Foulum Research Centre, Denmark in 1999.

He took up his first academic post within Ulster University in 2001 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology in 2008.

Patrick was appointed Subject Head (Biomedical Sciences) in 2006 a role in which he continued until 2013. Currently, he is Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science, Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

With over 15 years’ experience in research and teaching he has more than 70 research outputs. He is a regular reviewer for journals in the field of Microbiology (Pathogenicity and Infection) and provides grant reviews for a number of research funders including the MRC and ANR.

Research Interests

• Bacterial dietary interactions
• Salmonella pathogenicity
• Probiotics and Prebiotics
• Surface Active Molecules
• Antibiotic Resistance.

Teaching interests

• Medical Microbiology
• General Microbiology
• Pathophysiology
• Biomedical Professional Practice
• Study Skills.

Administrative roles

Course Director for the MSc Biomedical Science

Module coordinator for four modules; Pathophysiology, Biomedical Professional Practice, Professional Practice in Healthcare Science, Quality Management.

Dr Violetta Naughton

Senior Lecturer

Violetta Naughton joined Ulster University in 2002 as a Marie Curie Research Fellow. In 2005, she was appointed the role of Teaching Fellow in Physiology and Anatomy and then appointed Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at Ulster in 2007.

She graduated from Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland with BSc (Hons) Animal Sciences (First Class) and was awarded PhD (Veterinary Medicine) from Warsaw University of Life Sciences WULS-SGGW, Poland, where she took up her first academic post (in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine).

She has also held visiting scientist positions at Lund University, Sweden (1997) and at Research Centre Foulum, (Aarhus University), Denmark (1998-2000), while on secondment from WULS-SGGW.

Currently, Dr Naughton is a Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (UK), Fellow of Institute of Biomedical Sciences (UK), Fellow of Higher Education Academy (UK) and Associate Editor for Animal Physiology section of Veterinary and Animal Science international journal (Elsevier). She is also the Academic Coordinator for Biomedical and Behavioural Research Unit within Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Ulster University and a member of Northern Ireland Licensee Training Group.

Dr Naughton has published over 65 scientific research publications and a number of pedagogic outputs. She is the recipient of research awards including Domestic Individual Research Award from Foundation for Polish Science (1997), Individual Marie Curie Research Fellowship (2002) and Individual Research Award from the Rector of Warsaw University of Life Sciences WULS-SGGW (2006).

Research interest

• Digestive physiology
• metabolism and host-microbial interactions
• drug-nutrient interaction with a focus on musculoskeletal health.

Teaching interest

Animal and human physiology

Dr Ruth Price

Research Fellow

Ruth graduated from Ulster University with a BSc Hons (first class) in Food Science and Technology with a Diploma in Industrial studies, followed by a PhD in Nutrition.  She was appointed to her current role as Clinical Trials Manager in 2012 where she is responsible for supporting the design, approvals, implementation and monitoring of highly controlled human trials in various population groups, and the governance, legal and ethical issues associated with this work. The application of this work has provided Ruth with extensive experience in a wide range of research areas including dementia and technologies and devices to support health, such as wearables, point-of-care devices and clean water technology.

Her own main research area focuses on obesity, both prevention and treatment, and in measuring body composition, food choice and intake, and related eating behaviours. Ruth works closely with the School of Medicine at Ulster University in conducting first-in-human trials testing novel treatments for obesity.

In addition, Ruth works with a wide range of food companies to perform rigorous scientific testing of the potential health benefits associated with food products and dietary supplements, as well as in the discovery of new health benefits.

Research Interests

• Obesity and nutrition
• Food choice and eating behaviour
• Agri-food nutrition & consumer innovation
• Global nutrition and health
• Assessment of body composition
• Research Methodologies

Administrative Roles

Member of the:

• School of Biomedical Sciences Ethics Filter Committee
• Life & Health Science Faculty Research Funding Strategy Committee
• Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food & Health (NICHE) PR and social media team
• DXA Monitoring Group
• Human Tissue Act Working Group
• Research Governance Steering Committee
• Biomedical Science Health and Safety Committee
• Biomedical Athens Swan committee

Professional Activities

• Member of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), co-chair of the NI IFST branch and Chair of IFST UK Volunteers Network
• Member of the Association for the Study of Obesity
• Member of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP) Network
• Member of the Nutrition Society (UK & Irish Section)
• Northern Ireland Clinical Research Facility (NICRF) steering group committee member
• Northern Ireland Clinical Trial Unit (NICTU) steering group committee member
• NICHE representative on Healthy Eating Liaison Group
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
• Founding Member of NNEdPro Mexico Regional Network

Dr Poonam Singh - Nee Nigam

Senior Lecturer in Biotechnology

Dr Poonam Singh Nigam was awarded Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in 2020 by  Ulster University, UK; her DSc thesis included her Post-doctoral Research outputs  (1985-2019), from Supervision of Doctoral, Postdoctoral  & Visiting overseas researchers, funded-projects, and several global-collaborations. She holds a PhD in Industrial Microbiology (1985) funded with the award of Junior & Senior Research Fellowships from the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research of India.

She was a Postdoctoral Researcher in Germany (1985-1988), before joining as a senior research officer in Biotechnology at Ulster University in Jan1990. She joined as  a full-time Lecturer in Biotechnology in 1996 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2001.

Affiliations

Poonam received Chartered Biologist status in 1992 from Institute of Biology (currently known as Royal Society of Biology).

She is Alumna of Ulster University N.Ireland, with two degrees:  Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching in 1998; and  Doctor of Science (DSc) in 2020.

Poonam is affiliated with several scientific societies & Academies; She is a Senior Fellow in  The Higher Education Academy UK,  a Fellow of Centre of Higher Education Research & Practice,  Royal Society of Biology,  International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses,  Academy of Microbiological Sciences, and  of  Biotechnology Research Society.

Research interests

Microbial-Biotechnology: industrial & applied microbiology, fermentation technology, in the area of Environmental, Food and pharmaceutical.

Research Outputs

One EU Patent, four biotechnology reference books, more than 300 peer reviewed papers, Biotechnology-books chapters and research-informed review articles.

Global Collaborations

Poonam has several active research collaborations with international Research Institutes in Brazil, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Italy and India.   PhD students supervised by her now working in US, Canada, Europe and India.

Research Awards

Poonam has a sustained track record of FUNDS £1,065,278,  through 16 awards from prestigious sources, Royal society, British Council, UNESCO, HEA, ACU, CEC/ERDF, IRTU-START, CEC-IRTU Networking Prog, Department of Environment CEC/ERDF-Env Protec, European Social Fund, Randox, Government bodies.

She was a key contributor in several other research projects:  £416,279 funded by International Fund for Ireland, and Randox Pharmaceutical company; £92,100 from EU INCO-DC program for International Co-operation with a Developing country.

UK Academy of Science (Royal Society) nominated her twice under bilateral International-Exchange as a British scientist visiting Indian National Science Academy and its affiliated institutes. Royal society also funded her four visits to delegate in International conferences.

Teaching Experience

Industrial and applied microbiology and biotechnology.

Administrative Roles

• Course Director Biotechnology Postgraduate program (2000-present)
• Course Director Food Biotechnology, a  Postgraduate joint dual-degree program with two Greek Universities (2000-2013)
• Module coordinator - over 12  modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level (1996-present)

Dr Julie Sittlington

Core Technologies Officer (Clinical Trials)

Professor Sean Strain

Professor of Human Nutrition

Dr Nigel Ternan

Senior Lecturer

Dr Nigel Ternan is a Senior Lecturer in molecular microbiology in the School of Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University. After graduating with a BSc Hons (2.1) in Microbiology from The Queen’s University of Belfast he commenced his PhD studies in the School of Biology and Biochemistry at Queen’s University, completing his thesis entitled ‘Biodegradation of minoalkylphosphonates by Environmental Bacteria’ in June 1997.

Dr Ternan has more than 20 years research experience in the areas of microbial biochemistry and physiology, biotechnology, and infectious disease research.

He has previously characterised novel microbial enzymes for industrial use, developed novel microbial biosensors and bioreactors for water treatment, and established a strong track record in systems biology analysis of microbial pathogens.

Successful completion of programmes of research by Dr Ternan across biotechnology and engineering fields has resulted in competitively awarded research funding of over £700,000 (e.g, from UK EPSRC, Invest Northern Ireland proof of concept scheme and the European Union)

He has published over 30 research articles in high impact peer-reviewed journals, and over 500 citations of his work to date (H index = 14). As well as having both UK and EU patents granted in the area of microbial diagnostics.

Dr Ternan currently leads research at Ulster into the gut pathogen Clostridium difficile, and has developed a well-funded and high impact programme of systems biology research into this pathogen.  An integrated proteomic and transcriptomic approach, coupled with modern reverse genetics techniques has yielded new insights into the pathogen’s physiology, with the potential for the identification of novel therapeutic targets, therapeutic methods, and detection strategies.

The Ternan lab has also developed strong collaborative links with local healthcare trusts and SMEs in the arena of healthcare acquired infections, resulting in successful delivery of several programmes of work in other areas, for example in assessing the efficacy of novel biocides for the healthcare sector, developing high yield bioreactors for the food industry and applying a cross disciplinary approach to novel pathogen detection methods.

Research Interests

• Infectious disease physiology
• bacterial stress responses
• proteomics
• transcriptomics.

Teaching Interests

• Delivery of high quality, well received teaching in disciplines of Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular biology, Proteomics & Genomics.
• Placement/employability tutor for Biology and Biomedical sciences DPP students
• member of faculty study abroad working group.

Administrative Roles

• Module coordinator for BIO316, BMS307, BIO350, BIO351, BMS504, BIO523, BMS508, BIO824.
• Faculty study abroad working group
• Faculty Employability Framework Review committee.

Dr Paul Thompson

Senior Lecturer

Dr Thompson’s lab is interested in deciphering how vitamin D and retinoid derived compounds govern the expression of transcriptional networks important for metabolic function and maintenance of healthy aging and how such effects are mediated through nuclear receptors such as vitamin D receptor (VDR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR)

Dr Thompson obtained his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Medical College of Ohio in 1993 after which he joined the laboratory of Prof Mark Haussler (University of Arizona) where he first developed an interest in vitamin D and retinoid biology.

From 2002-2003, he worked at LION Bioscience AG (Heidelberg, Germany) where he continued to explore nuclear receptor mechanistic functionality before returning to academia at Ulster.

As a Senior Lecturer at Ulster, Dr Thompson is interested in how the vitamin D and retinoid pathways regulate the expression of metabolic gene products and their relevance to endobiotic/drug bioavailability in addition to such diseases as prostate cancer and melanoma.

In recent years his lab has been investigating how a process known as SUMOylation may modulate the vitamin D response during periods of chronic disease or in response to inflammatory challenges.

At Ulster, Dr Thompson has attracted project funding from Prostate Cancer UK, Prostate Research Campaign UK and the European Union CEC Framework 7.

Research Interests

• Molecular nutrition and pharmacology of vitamin D and its signal pathway.
• Nuclear receptor mediated signalling.

The Thompson laboratory are keen to hear from motivated students who are interested in PhD studies in this area.

Teaching Interests

Dr Thompson teaches final year Human Molecular Biology and Genetics as part of the undergraduate degree programmes in Biomedical Sciences and Biology.

Administrative Roles

Dr Thompson is the Postgraduate Tutor for Biomedical Sciences Research Institute at Ulster.

Professor Mary Ward

Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics

Mary Ward graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BSc Hons Human Nutrition and Dietetics and from Ulster University with a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry where she is currently a Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Her research at the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) is focused on B-vitamins involved in 1-C metabolism. She has vast experience of conducting highly controlled nutrition intervention studies in different population and clinical groups.

A particular interest of Mary's is the interaction between B-vitamins and a common polymorphism in the folate metabolising enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) which has led to the novel discovery (Patent EP2139488) that vitamin B2 (riboflavin) appears to be an important modulator of BP in individuals with a genetic pre-disposition for hypertension.

To date Mary has published more than 50 scientific papers in top-ranked journals across several disciplines. She has attracted significant external funding (over £4M) from government agencies in the UK and Ireland, the EU, Charities and Industry.

Mary is currently Deputy Director of the Wellcome Trust-Wolfson Northern Ireland Clinical Research Facility at the City Hospital Belfast and was Chair of the Nutrition Society (Irish Section) from 2009-13.

Research Interests

• B-vitamins and related genetic factors involved in one-carbon metabolism
• Gene-nutrient interactions
• B-vitamin requirements in health & disease (CVD, cognitive health, bone health, coeliac disease, pregnancy)
• Controlled dietary intervention studies in humans.

Teaching Interests

• Clinical Nutrition
• Nutrition and Metabolism
• Nutrition Research

Administrative Roles

• Course Director BSc Hons Dietetics

Professor David Armstrong

Professor Armstrong was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution before graduating in Medicine from Queen’s University Belfast where he developed an interest in musculo-skeletal diseases and won the undergraduate prize for epidemiology. Post-graduate training in rheumatology in Northern Ireland and England included time as a Research Associate at the ARC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Manchester, and an MD from Queen’s University Belfast on the control of neutrophil apoptosis in SLE. He was honorary secretary of the NI Lupus Research Group for four years.

His first consultant post was at the University Hospital of North Durham, but in 2008 he returned to Northern Ireland where he was appointed to the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT). As well as his role as a consultant rheumatologist, he was commissioned to set up a new Fracture Liaison and Osteoporosis Service in the Trust, and went on to establish research links with NICHE in the fields of lupus, bone health and vitamin D, including supervision of UU PhD candidates carrying out clinical research in WHSCT.

He currently sits on the Clinical Committee of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, the Effectiveness Working Group of the ROS Bone Research Academy and the Expert Advisory Group of the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group. He continues to publish in the fields of vitamin D, bone health and osteoporosis.

Professor Daniele Del Rio

Professor of Human Nutrition and the Vice-Rector for Research and Technology Transfer, University of Parma, Italy

Daniele is a Professor of Human Nutrition and the Vice-Rector for Research and Technology Transfer at the University of Parma. He is also the President of the OnFoods Foundation, the recently funded research and innovation network on food and nutrition sustainability, safety, and security, supported by the Italian Ministry of Research with 115M€. The OnFoods Foundation includes 26 partners among universities, research centres, and private companies working in the food sector and has been operational since December 2022.

Professor Albert Flynn

Emeritus Professor in Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork

Professor Flynn has a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the National University of Ireland. His research interests include: the role of diet and lifestyle on health of children and adults; risk-benefit assessment of micronutrients; public health impact of food fortification; food safety risk assessment.

He has extensive national and international experience in risk assessment and preparing scientific opinions on public health issues related to human nutrition and food safety.

Professor Flynn was Chairman of the Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Food Allergies and a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Food Safety Authority from 2003-2012. He is currently Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Dr Mary Flynn

Chief Specialist in Public Health Nutrition, Food Safety Authority (Ireland)

Dr Mary Flynn is a public health nutritionist and a Registered Dietitian (DI 011691). As the first Chief Specialist to be appointed in Public Health Nutrition at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, she established a team of nutritional scientists and pioneered the integration of nutrition with food safety for consumer protection.

Throughout her career she has led multidisciplinary teams in tackling some of the biggest challenges posed by obesity and related chronic diseases in Ireland, Canada and the Middle East. She has implemented innovative prevention and treatment programs reducing risk of heart disease and diabetes for people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds.

Currently Mary’s international work includes leading the development of nutrient reference standards for infants and young children at Codex Alimentarius (WHO and FAO of the UN). In addition, she leads Ireland’s work on reformulation of processed foods towards healthier options in Europe (EU funded Best ReMaP 2020 – 2023).

Mary was an Expert Advisor on the development of Health Canada’s new Food Guide in 2019 and in 2014, she was awarded the inaugural medal for excellence in Public Health Nutrition by the Nutrition Society in the UK.

Passionately interested in the positive effects food and nutrition have on health, Mary is a rigorous scientist who is regularly invited to present at national and international meetings.

She has over 100 scientific publications and her work on childhood obesity has been recognized by the WHO. Comfortable and enthusiastic when outlining the complexity of her work for scientific peer review, she also excels at presenting the simple ‘bottom line’ to inform consumers. She is a regular contributor to broadcast and print media – including consumer phone-ins, debates and news sound bites.

Professor Mike Johnston

Chief Executive Officer, Dairy Council for Northern Ireland & Northern Ireland Director of Dairy UK

Professor Johnston holds an MA and PhD in Marketing from Ulster University where he is a visiting Professor in the Ulster Business School. In 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by Ulster University.

He is a Board member of the European Milk Forum; Chair of the College Advisory Group of the College of Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise; Board member of the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health; and Chair of the International Dairy Federation’s Standing Committee on Marketing.

Gert Meijer

E Moore John

Professor John O'Brien

Founding Director, The Food Observatory, UK

John O'Brien is a Visiting Professor and Chair of the Advisory Board at the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food & Health (NICHE) at Ulster University.

He is Founder and Director of The Food Observatory, UK.  He is a former CEO of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and former Deputy Head of the Nestle Research Centre in Lausanne where he led the Food Safety and Integrity Research Programme.  His experience spans the international food industry from senior leadership positions in Groupe Danone (France) and Nestlé (Switzerland) to various consultancy and advisory projects in Ireland, Europe, Japan and USA.    He has held lectureships at University College, Cork and the University of Surrey.

John holds/has held non-executive directorships of several scientific and technical organisations including the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) (Washington), Institute for Food Safety & Health at Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago), ILSI Europe (Brussels, as Chair), Campden BRI (UK)(Deputy Chair), Feeding Tomorrow (USA), and the Institute of Food Science & Technology (UK).  His diverse current activities include:

• Member of the Science Council of the Food Standards Agency where he led a working group on horizon scanning and food system risks.
• Impact Assessor to the REF2021 Panel A Sub-Panel 6 on Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Sciences.
• Editor of Trends in Food Science & Technology, one of the world’s leading food science journals with an impact factor of 11.077.
• Contributor to several recent foresight and strategy reports in the areas of food and nutrition, and education:
  • Lloyds Register Foundation 2019 Foresight Review of Food Safety,
  • Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition Foresight 2.0 Report, 2020, ;
  • UK KTN 2021 Microbiome Strategic Roadmap
• He has a PhD in Food Chemistry (University College, Cork) and an MSc in Toxicology with Distinction (University of Surrey).

Professor Sumantra Ray

NNEdPro Founding Chair and Executive Director

Sumantra (Shumone) Ray is a Licensed Medical Doctor as well as a Registered Nutritionist (Public Health), with special interests in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Nutrition Education in Health Systems.

He is cross-appointed in Cambridge as a Director of Research at the University of Cambridge and Co-Lead for the Food, Nutrition and Education Work Package for the TIGR2ESS Programme in India (2017-21) led from Cambridge and supported by UK Research and Innovation's Global Challenges Research Fund.

Additionally, Shumone holds a fractional personal chair appointment as Professor of Global Nutrition, Health and Disease at Ulster University as well as a number of honorary/visiting professorial appointments more widely, including Imperial College London in the UK, and the University of Wollongong in Australia.

University affiliations:

• University of Cambridge
• Ulster University
• Imperial College London
• University of Wollongong

Professor Kieran Tuohy

Head of the Department of Food Quality and Nutrition, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Trento, Italy

Professor Tuohy graduated (BSc, Industrial Microbiology) from University College Dublin, Ireland in 1993. He received an MSc in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Aberdeen (UK) in 1995, and his PhD from the University of Surrey (UK) in 2000.

His research focuses on how microbiomes both within the gut and along the food chain impact on human nutrition, health and disease risk His team has a particular interest in examining how different dietary components modulate the resident microbiota, their metabolic output, and their ability to impact on host health and chronic disease risk. He is an Associate Editor at the European Journal of Nutrition and the Journal of Functional Foods.

He is co-chair of the ILSI Europe task force on Health Benefits Assessment of Foods. He is also a scientific advisor to the Weston Family Microbiome Initiative, Canada.

His publication record includes over 150 international peer reviewed articles and book chapters in the areas of nutrition, gut microbiology and diet:microbiome interactions. My Researcher ID/Publons h-index is 47 (G-9142-2011). In 2019 he was recognised by Web of Science as a highly cited researcher.

Professor Ian Rowland

Emeritus Professor of Human Nutrition, University of Reading

Professor Rowland graduated with a BSc and PhD in microbiology from University College London. Prior to joining the University of Reading in 2007 as the Hugh Sinclair Professor of Human Nutrition, he was Head of Nutrition at the University of Ulster and Director of NICHE.

His main research areas include the impact of phytochemicals on health on cardiovascular disease and cancer and the role of gut microbiota in health. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Gent for his work on nutrition and cancer.

He has published over 400 papers and has been on the Thompson-Reuters List of most highly cited researchers.

Professor Colette Shortt

Professor Shortt is a science graduate of the National University of Ireland, Cork (Food Science, BSc; Nutrition, MSc, PhD) and a business graduate of the School of Business Management (MBA), Surrey, UK. Prior to joining industry, she has worked as a research nutritionist in Canada and at the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen and was one of the founding editorial board members of Trends in Food Science & Technology.

Colette has held European and global scientific and regulatory roles dealing with innovations and emerging science in McNeil Nutritionals, SmithKline Beecham Consumer, Yakult and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, member of the Nutrition Society, a registered Public Health Nutritionist, Fellow of the Association for Nutrition and a Fellow of Johnson & Johnson.

Professor Hugh Quigley

Professor Hans Verhagen

Senior Scientific Officer, European Food Safety Authority

Professor Verhagen studied chemistry at the Universities of Nijmegen, the Netherlands and Paris, France. He completed his PhD on food toxicology at the University of Maastricht in 1989.

He currently works as the Senior Scientific Officer at the Risk Assessment and Scientific Assistance Department at the European Food Safety Authority in Parma, Italy, where he has worked since 2011.

He has been a visiting professor at Ulster University since 2009.

Hans Verhagen is a board-certified toxicologist (since 1990) and a board-certified nutritionist (since 2005).

From 2006-2015 he was a member of the EFSA-NDA panel.

Other notable positions include:

• 2020 - date - founder of Food Safety & Nutrition Consultancy
• 1990-2000 -  TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Zeist, the Netherlands
• 2000-2005 - Unilever in Vlaardingen in 2005 he was appointed to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven in the Netherlands
• 2005-2012 - Head of the Centre for Nutrition and Health and from 2013-2015 as Senior Scientific Adviser ‘Nutrition and Food Safety’.
• 1999-2004- Chief Editor of Food & Chemical Toxicology
• 2011–2015 - Chief Editor of European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety

He has 820 publications listed on Web of Science (including EFSA Scientific Opinions. He has 164 full peer-reviewed papers. Other papers include 10 EFSA publications, 16 publications as Editor, 15 dutch language publications. Hirsch Index (by October 2020) lists Scopus: 42; Web of Science: 49; Google Scholar/Harzing's Publish or Perish: 49.

Ian Thomas

Food Lawyer

Ian Thomas is a dual-qualified food lawyer practising in England and Wales (barrister, 6 Pump Court, Temple, London) and in Ireland (Ian Thomas Associates, County Kildare).

He is very experienced in advising and appearing in court in relation to a wide range of EU and domestic food law matters including; safety and hygiene, food information, health and nutrition claims, supplements, borderline products, animal welfare, traceability, withdrawals and recalls, official controls and enforcement action. He assists food businesses and other lawyers requiring food law advice in the UK, Ireland, elsewhere in the EU and further afield.

Ian is the author of “A Practical Guide to the Law Relating to Food” and “Covid-19 and the Law Relating to Food in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (Law Brief Publishing).

He is an elected member of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology and holds memberships of the Food Law Group and the Food Safety Professionals Association.

Cliodhna McDonough-Stevens

Regulatory Lawyer

Cliodhna McDonough-Stevens is a legal director for a global biopharmaceutical company and holds over a decade of experience advising on life sciences, food and healthcare regulatory law.

In addition to her professional career as a regulatory lawyer, she also holds a BSc (hons) in human nutrition and clinical dietetics from Trinity College Dublin and an MSc (hons) in EU regulatory affairs from Ulster University.

Previously, she has worked in private practice and internationally for life sciences and food companies which has afforded her a wealth of insight into regulatory challenges which industry faces on a day-to-day basis.

Cliodhna also holds over a decade of experience as a hospital clinical dietician manager where she worked closely with both patients and healthcare staff to ensure best practice clinical standards were achieved in an intensive care unit setting. Her areas of clinical specialism were patient intravenous and enteral tube feeding. She has been previously appointed by the Irish Minister of Health to a Government state board that regulates healthcare professionals.