Role
Professor Orla Kennedy is a Teaching and Learning Dean with responsibility for Student Achievement, working with the Schools of Biological Sciences; Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy; and Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences.
Orla co-chairs the Committee on Student Experience and Development, and is the teaching and learning lead for the University’s work on Academic Tutoring, Health Education and Employability.
As a graduate of the University of Ulster and Queen’s University Belfast, Orla has a BSc in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, MSc in Food Science and PhD on the subject of meat quality in chickens. She previously lectured at the University of Westminster and held various research positions in Ulster looking into heart disease and smoking.
Orla joined the University of Reading in 2005, as Programme Director for Nutrition and Food Science courses. She also served as Faculty Director (Teaching and Learning) from 2010 to 2012, Associate Dean for the Faculty of Science from 2012 to 2014 and Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Life Sciences from 2014 to 2015.
She was appointed as the University’s Teaching and Learning Dean for Student Achievement in 2015 and a Personal Chair in Public Health Nutrition in 2017.
Orla has an active research group in Food and Nutritional Sciences investigating food choice and appetite regulation.
She has served as a Council Member of the UK Nutrition Society and various committees of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), alongside editorial board membership of the British Journal of Nutrition, British Nutrition Foundation’s Nutrition Bulletin and Biosciences Horizons.
Orla was elected academic representative of the University of Reading’s Council from 2014 to 2017. Additionally, in 2017, she was elected to the Association for Nutrition Council, where she is also a member of the Registration Committee. Orla is a Registered Nutritionist and Registered Dietitian and holds Fellowship of the IFST and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.
“I am proud to be part of Reading’s vibrant and dynamic teaching and learning community, where students, academics and professional services colleagues actively work together, both within and outside of the curriculum, to continue to enhance our approaches to teaching and learning, with the aim of maximising all our students’ outcomes and experiences, whilst supporting and valuing our staff.”
