Meet the team
The Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences is staffed by a faculty of world-leading experts from disciplines spanning every aspect of the field. At the forefront of research in their fields, our team are dedicated to a healthier future.
Head of Department
Executive Support Administrator
Academic staff
| Name | Position and responsibilities | Research interests |
| Dr Emma Bennett | Lecturer in Food and Nutritional Sciences | Food security, food sustainability, plant yield, plant physiology, education |
|
Professor in Food Biotechnology; Research Division Lead |
Valorisation of food processing waste, industrial biotechnology, production of functional foods, encapsulation of probiotic bacteria | |
| Dr Afroditi Chatzifragkou | Lecturer in Food Processing; Programme Director, MSc Food Science and MSc Food Technology - Quality Assurance | Bioprocessing, food waste, microbial fermentations, biotechnology |
| Dr Qiaofen Cheng | International Student Tutor; International Partnerships Manager; Study Abroad Coordinator | Meat processing technology, carcinogen formation in meat products, salt and fat reduction |
| Dr Miriam Clegg | Lecturer in Nutritional Sciences |
Appetite and food intake, energy expenditure, dietary fats |
| Dr Stephen Elmore | Senior Research Fellow, Flavour Centre | Flavour chemistry, analysis of small organic molecules |
| Dr Colette Fagan | Associate Professor in Food Processing; Head of the Food Processing Centre | Food processing, dairy science and technology, process analytical technology |
| Professor Richard Frazier | Professor of Food Science; Head of Department |
Food protein biochemistry: the functional role of proteins at interfaces in food and biological systems; the role of protein-polyphenol interactions in the bioactivity of plant polyphenols. Food science applications of neutron reflectometry |
| Professor Glenn Gibson |
Professor of Food Microbiology; Head of Food Microbial Sciences Unit | Gut microbiology, prebiotics, probiotics |
| Dr Kim Jackson | Senior Research Fellow, Human Nutrition; Chair of the Hugh Sinclair Clinical Unit Management Committee | Impact of diet on body composition and cardiometabolic disease, effects of meal fatty acids on triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein metabolism and insulin resistance, influence of genotype on lipid metabolism and vascular function, acute effects of dietary fats and phytochemicals on vascular reactivity, development of mathematical models of postprandial lipoprotein metabolism |
| Dr Paula Jauregi | Associate Professor | Production of bioproducts that can be used as functional food ingredients and non-food bioproducts (including biosurfactants), development of novel separation methods and/or processes and the investigation of the mechanisms underpinning the separations, nanoencapsulation of food bioactives |
| Dr Vimal Karani | Lecturer in Nutrigenetics; Programme Director, BSc Nutrition and Food Science and BSc Nutrition with Food Consumer Sciences | Gene-nutrient interactions on metabolic- and cardiovascular disease- related outcomes using combined approaches from genetic epidemiology, statistical genetics and molecular biology |
| Dr Andreas Karatzas | Associate Professor of Food Microbiology | Molecular mechanisms of stress resistance of bacterial foodborne pathogens and gut microorganisms; glutamate and amino acid decarboxylase systems |
| Professor Orla Kennedy | Professor in Public Health Nutrition; Teaching and Learning Dean | Food choice and appetite |
| Dr Gunter Kuhnle | Associate Professor in Nutrition and Health; Director of Teaching and Learning | Dietary assessment, nutritional biomarkers, public health |
| Dr Marie Lewis | Lecturer in Gut Immunology and Microbiology; Director of Postgraduate Research Studies; Head of Flow Cytometry Centre | Intestinal bacteria influence on the development of the immune system |
| Dr Stella Lignou | Lecturer in Sensory and Consumer Science | Flavour chemistry |
| Professor Julie Lovegrove |
Hugh Sinclair Professor of Human Nutrition; Head of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition; Deputy Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research (ICMR) | Dietary fats, carbohydrates, flavonoids, cardiometabolic risk, nutrient-gene interaction |
| Dr Nikos Mavroudis | Associate Professor in Food Quality and Regulation; Programme Director, BSc Food Science with Business | |
| Professor Lisa Methven |
Professor in Food and Sensory Science; Head of Food Research Group | Sensory science, taste and flavour chemistry and perception, the effects of age on sensory perception, individual differences in sensory perception, the effects of plant phytochemicals on consumer acceptance |
| Dr Charlotte Mills | Hugh Sinclair Lecturer in Nutritional Sciences | Maximising the cardiometabolic health impact of plant bioactives |
| Professor Keshavan Niranjan |
Professor of Food Bioprocessing; Director of International Collaborations |
Food engineering, bubble containing foods, high pressure processing, food packaging for functionality and sustainability, frying, aqueous and enzymatic edible oil extraction |
| Dr Maria Oruna-Concha | Lecturer in Food Chemistry; Admissions Tutor (Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught); Social Networking Coordinator | Flavour formation (via Maillard reaction), analysis of food components contributing to taste (including umami & kokumi), analysis and characterization of phytochemicals, recovery of functional ingredients from waste streams, acrylamide |
| Dr Jane Parker | Associate Professor; Flavour Centre Manager | Flavour chemistry (particularly industry related projects), flavour analysis, GC-Olfactometry, reaction mechanisms for Maillard reaction, lipid degradation, acrylamide formation, optimisation of aroma, mathematical modelling of flavour formation pathways, interaction of aroma compounds with the food matrix, kinetics, smoke |
| Professor Bob Rastall |
Professor of Food Biotechnology; Head of Outreach and Enterprise |
Prebiotics, probiotics, gut microbial ecology, enzyme technology, carbohydrate bioengineering |
| Dr Julia Rodriguez Garcia | Lecturer in Food Science and Technology; Programme Director, BSc Food Science and BSc Food Technology with Bioprocessing | Structure, physical properties, microstructure, bakery science |
| Professor Jeremy Spencer | Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry and Medicine; Programme Director, MSc Nutrition and Food Science | Dietary phytochemicals and brain function; Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease; flavonoids and other (poly)phenols and their influence on brain health |
| Professor Carol Wagstaff |
Professor in Crop Quality for Health; Director of AgriFood Training Partnership; Impact Lead; Head of School of Chemistry, Food & Pharmacy |
Quality of food, including the nutritional value, appearance, flavour and shelf life, helping consumers make healthy dietary choices, phytochemicals and food matrices; gut health; crops and yield improvement |
| Dr Gemma Walton |
Lecturer in Metagenomics; Examinations Officer |
Gut health, microbiome, prebiotics and probiotics, iron metabolism, equine microbiota |
| Dr Anisha Wijeyesekera | Lecturer in Human Microbiome Studies |
Molecular phenotyping, gut microbiota-host interactions, diet and age associated health outcomes |
| Professor Parveen Yaqoob | Professor of Nutritional Physiology; Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation | Diet, immunity, inflammation, vascular function |
Centres, Networks and Partnerships
| Name | Position and Responsibilities | Location |
| Dr Dimitrios Balagiannis | Research Fellow | Flavour Centre |
| Dr Sameer Khalil Ghawi | Food Technologist |
Food Processing Centre |
| Sarah Hargreaves | Hugh Sinclair Unit Manager | Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition |
| Kelly Jarrett | Hugh Sinclair Unit Manager | Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition |
| Karen Jenkins | Research Nurse | Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition |
| Fiona Lee | Administrative Coordinator |
AgriFood Training Partnership |
| Dr Natalie Masento |
Postdoctoral Research Fellow - The Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, and EIT Food |
|
| Barbara Mason | Project Manager |
AgriFood Training Partnership |
| Rada Mihaylova | Research Nurse | Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition |
| Dr Carlos Poveda Turrado | Research Technician | Flow Cytometry Facility |
Research and Teaching
| Name | Position and Responsibilities | Research interests |
| Dr Keith Allen-Redpath | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Thrombosis and haemostasis, cardiovascular disease, vascular function and diet |
| Dr Martin Chadwick | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Sensory science, analytical chemistry, food security and sustainability |
| Giannoula Chatzidiakou | Research Technician | Human nutrition |
| Kate Currie | Research Technician | Human nutrition |
| Rui Ding | Postdoctoral Research Assistant |
Physical properties of foods system, emulsions and competitive adsorption, rheology, Theoretical Modelling: Self-Consistent-Field (SCF) calculations |
| Dr Bogdan Dobraszczyk | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | |
| Dr Georgina Dodd | Postdoctoral Research Associate; Hugh Sinclair Unit Management Committee Member | Nutrition and cognition, polyphenols, cognition, neuroscience, ageing |
| Dr Rosalind Fallaize | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Human nutrition |
| Andrea Gacsalyi | Research Technician | Human nutrition |
| Dr Veronica Giacintucci | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Food product development, functional and physical properties of ingredients and their impact on structure, perception on flavour and sensory properties |
| Polyxeni Giannorou | Research Assistant | |
| Dr Nicola Gray | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Nutritional biomarker development, metabolomics, chromatography, mass spectrometry |
| Dr Vasiliki Kachrimanidou | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Gut microbiology, biotechnology, microbial bioconversions |
| Dr Konstantina Kourmentza | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Biological conversion of waste by-products to high value-added fuels (biohydrogen), biodegradable materials (polyhydroxyalkanoates, bioemulsifiers, bacterial cellulose), and chemicals (biosurfactants, bioplasticizers). Integration of new bio-active antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds into bio-based and compostable flexible plastic packages to extend shelf life |
| Dr Athanasios Koutsos | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Human nutrition |
| Angelica Kristek | Research Assistant | |
| Tiffany Lau | Postdoctoral Research Associate | |
| Dr Fei Lu | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Food chemistry, product development, functional food ingredients |
| Dr Giulia Mancano | Postdoctoral Research Associate | NMR metabolomics |
| Dr Plinio Minghin Freitas Ferreira | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Platelet biology, extracelullar vesicles, fatty acids |
| Dr Marina Mora Ortiz | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Interactions between host-gut microbiota and the development of diseases, with a special focus in Type 2 diabetes |
| Adel Omar | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Food processing, dairy science and technology, flavour chemistry, structure, physical properties, bakery, reformulation, food product development |
| Aikaterini Papadopoulou | Research Assistant | |
| Dr Parvathy Prabhakumari | Postdoctoral Research Associate | Functional food ingredients, development and applications of biodegradable polymers |
| Rose-Anna Pushpass | Research Assistant | |
| Bindukala Radha | Research Technician | |
| Dr Arvind Salunkhe | Postdoctoral Research Associate | |
| Dr Gessica Serra | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Human nutrition |
| Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Food product development, physical properties of bakery products, sensory science | |
| Erin Wallace | Research Assistant | Design research, participatory research methods, co-design and co-creation, creative methods and generative workshops |
| Dr Michelle Weech | Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Dietary fat and cardiovascular disease risk |
| Dr Xirui Zhou | Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Individual differences in sensory perception and influence of sensory perception on appetite |
Professor Emeritus & Visiting Professors and Fellows
| Name | Title |
|
Professor Paul Berryman |
Visiting Professor |
|
Professor Gordon Birch |
Professor Emeritus of Food Chemistry |
|
Professor Geoffrey Campbell-Platt |
Professor Emeritus of Food Technology |
|
Professor Julian Cooper |
Visiting Professor |
| Professor Mike Gordon | Professor Emeritus of Food Chemistry |
| Dr Alistair Grandison | Honorary Fellow |
| Professor Tony Hines | Visiting Professor |
| Professor Basil Jarvis | Visiting Professor |
| Dr David Jukes | Honorary Fellow |
| Professor David Ledward | Professor Emeritus of Food Science |
| Dr Mike Lewis | Honorary Fellow |
| Professor Hal MacFie | Visiting Professor |
| Dr Oonagh Markey | Visiting Fellow |
| Professor Don Mottram | Professor Emeritus of Food Chemistry |
| Professor David Richardson | Visiting Professor |
| Professor Ian Rowland | Professor Emeritus of Human Nutrition |
| Professor David Schofield | Professor Emeritus of Cereal Biochemistry |
| Dr Rebecca Smith | Visiting Fellow |
| Professor David Thomson | Visiting Professor |
| Andrew Wilbey | Honorary Fellow |