The members of the FSAI Scientific Committee are:
Dr Geraldine Duffy (Chair)
Dr Geraldine Duffy is Head of Enterprise at Teagasc Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin, and is a Senior Principal Research Officer. She previously served for over 10 years as Head of Food Safety at Teagasc. Her area of research interest is microbial food safety including assessing the risk, transmission, behaviour and control of microbial pathogens and spoilage micro-organisms along the farm to fork chain. She has co-ordinated many national and EU Commission funded research programmes and is widely published in the field of microbial food safety. She has served as a food safety expert for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Biohazard panel and is alternate member of the EFSA Management Board, representing Ireland since 2023. She serves as an expert for the Joint FAO/WHO Expert group on microbiological risk assessment (JEMRA).
Dr Andrew Flanagan
Andrew Flanagan, B.Sc. (Biotechnology, DCU), Ph.D. (Biochemistry, NUI), LL.B. (NUI) is the Regional Public Analyst based in Dublin with responsibility for the HSE Dublin mid-Leinster and HSE Dublin North areas. Andrew has 25 years’ experience in food analysis, in food law enforcement and food law matters in Ireland and abroad and is a recognised expert (national, EU and beyond) in food allergen and intolerance issues as well as food labelling and bottled water. He worked for both public and private bodies in food analysis also in medical science and research. He is a member of the FSAI Legislation committee and was a member of the food allergy and intolerance, food information to consumers and bottled water expert working groups as well as chairing the HSE-FSAI Laboratory Information Management System working group. He consults as an expert with the NSAI on the drafting of Irish Standards for water and food./p>
Ms Ann Marie Part
Ann Marie Part holds a Diploma in Environmental Health DIT, BSc (Hons) Trinity College, MSc Agriculture and Food Science, UCD and Graduate Award in Executive Leadership, Irish Management Institute (IMI). She is a Life Fellow and former Chair of the Environmental Health Association of Ireland (EHAI), and Honorary Vice President of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS). A career Environmental Health Officer, Ann Marie is currently HSE Assistant National Director for Environmental Health with responsibility for the overall strategic and operational management of the HSE National Environmental Health Service (NEHS). The primary role of the NEHS is as a regulatory inspectorate responsible for enforcing a range of statutory functions enacted to protect and promote the health of the population. Her expertise particularly lies in the protection of public health from environmental risks through education, communication, research and policy development; coupled with the implementation of regulatory frameworks through surveillance, monitoring, inspection, audit, sampling and enforcement.
Dr Avril Hobson
Dr. Avril Hobson, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is the Head of the National Disease Control Centre, Surveillance and Imports Controls Policy Division. She is a Veterinary Surgeon with a Postgraduate certificate in Veterinary Public Health. Prior to joining DAFM, she worked as a veterinary practitioner in Ireland, UK and New Zealand. She started her career in the Department in Veterinary Public Health before moving to a policy leadership role in Veterinary Public Health, Food Safety and Pig and Poultry Health Division, which included investigation and surveillance of food borne related hazards.
She works extensively with external stakeholders, including FSAI, Animal Health Ireland, farming organisations, the agrifood industry, advisory bodies as well as participating in a variety of European working groups. Her current role includes leading on management of exotic disease incursions, animal health surveillance and import control policy, in support of animal health, animal welfare and public health and food safety.
Dr Craig Slattery
Craig Slattery is Assistant Professor of Regulatory Affairs and Toxicology at University College Dublin and a Research Lead at the UCD Centre for Toxicology. As a Registered Toxicologist (IRT/ERT) he brings a wealth of expertise in public safety and chemical risk assessment. His research focuses on novel alternative methods for regulatory safety testing, toxicogenomic screening approaches for carcinogens, and development of advanced toxicity screening assays to enhance public health protection. With extensive experience in regulatory toxicology, Craig’s work emphasises the application of rigorous scientific methods to evaluate chemical safety and promotes evidence-based policy development. As an experienced public science communications specialist, he has a deep interest in improving how complex scientific and medical data is communicated to public audiences.
Professor Declan Bolton
Dr. Declan Bolton is a Principal Research Officer in the Food Safety Department at the Teagasc Food Research Centre (Ashtown) and Adjunct Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin. He has served on numerous national and international expert committees including for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and was a member of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Biohazard Panel from 2012 to 2024.
His research focuses on controlling bacterial pathogens along the food chain, microbial food spoilage/shelf-life and risk management of agricultural manures/food waste, as part of climate change mitigation. To date he has over 600 scientific publications including 364 peer reviewed papers. He is also a past recipient of the Clarivate Web of Science ‘Highly Cited Researcher’ award in recognition of exceptional research performance demonstrated by the publication of multiple highly cited research papers that rank in the top 1% for field and year in Agricultural Sciences.
Professor Eileen Gibney
Eileen Gibney is a Prof of Nutrition at University College Dublin, and Director of the UCD Institute of Food and Health. Her personal research interests are broad, covering much of the food system. In the area of personalised nutrition she develops strategies and innovative technologies for personalised dietary and lifestyle feedback, including supporting the transition to healthy and sustainable diets. She has led many intervention studies including those within Food for Health Ireland, examining the impact of dairy foods on health. She also considers the impact of the food environment, examining the provision of healthy foods in retail environments, and the delivery of population nutrition guidance. Eileen has been a principal investigator on many national and international projects. Most recently Eileen has been appointed as Co-Director for a, 35M Euro Research Ireland Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems with 17 partners across Ireland and UK. She is a Trustee of the Nutrition Society and is Chair of the EU collaborative research initiative JPI Healthy Diet Healthy Life.
Mr Eoin O’Brien
Eoin O’Brien is the Head of Dairy Controls and Certification Division in the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine. He holds a degree in Food Science and Technology from UCC and worked from several years in the food sector before joining DAFM in 1997. He has occupied various roles in DAFM including Head of Dairy Science Laboratories and his current role in the official controls area. The main focus of the Dairy Controls and Certification Division is the development and implementation of official controls aimed at the verification of compliance with a wide range of EU regulatory requirements along the food chain from primary production to manufacture and distribution. He is part of the Irish National Committee of the International Dairy Federation (IDF) that represents the Irish Dairy Industry within the International Dairy Federation.
Professor Fiona Regan
Fiona Regan is Full professor in Chemistry at the School of Chemical Sciences in Dublin City University and Director of the DCU Water Institute.
Fiona obtained her PhD in Analytical Chemistry in 1994 at DCU after which she took up her first academic position at Limerick Institute of Technology. In 2006 she joined the School of Chemical Sciences in DCU and took on the award of Beaufort PI in Sensors and Communications Technology and coordinator of SmartBay Ireland (2009-2016) – Ireland’s marine test and demonstration platform.
Fiona has served as a scientific and technical advisor with the WaterJPI for 6 years and she is the chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Board of the Water4All Partnership. Fiona is the current chair of the Royal Irish Academy’s Climate Change and Environmental Science Committee, a role she took up in 2023. Fiona served as a member of the Chemical Safety subcommittee of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Fiona’s research interests include water monitoring using new bio-and chemical sensing technologies, eDNA, marine and freshwater contaminants of concern and climate-related water quality impacts.
She has >200 published works including journal articles, abstracts, books and book chapters and has an h-index of 47 (Google Scholar).
Professor Gillian Gardiner
Professor Gillian Gardiner has a BSc and a PhD in Microbiology from University College Cork and more than 25 years of research and teaching experience. She has previously held positions in Teagasc and at the Lawson Heath Research Institute in Canada and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at South East Technological University (SETU), Waterford. Here, she leads a successful multi-disciplinary agri-food research group. Prof. Gardiner has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is an inventor on two patent applications. She has supervised 16 PhD students to completion. Prof. Gardiner has secured substantial research funding to date and has been Principal Investigator/Co-Investigator on numerous national and EU research projects, many with industrial partners. Her research interests span areas such as alternatives to antibiotics for animals and humans (probiotics, prebiotics, novel antimicrobials, etc); microbiome (pig gut, animal feed, anaerobic digesters); foodborne pathogens (Salmonella carriage in pigs); and biosafety of manure recycling.
Professor Jesus Frias
Jesus Frias is Professor and Leader of the Sustainability and Health Research Hub (SHRH) at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). Jesus is responsible for supporting TU Dublin's research in the areas of environment, sustainability, and health. Since 2006, he has held academic management roles at TU Dublin, including Head of Food Science and Assistant Head of the School of Food Science and Environmental Health. He holds a PhD in Biotechnology (Food engineering and science) from Escola Superior de Biotecnologia at UCP (Porto) and a BSc (Hons) Food Science and Technology from the Facultad de Farmacia at the UPV/EHU (Vitoria-Gasteiz). Jesus has developed a research activity in food science focused in quality and safety of fresh produce, modified atmosphere packaging of horticultural products and formulation of nutraceutical products.
Professor Helene McNulty
Helene McNulty is Director of nutrition research (NICHE) and Professor of Human Nutrition and Dietetics at Ulster University, and is a registered dietitian by professional training. She is an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy (since 2008) and Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (since 2017). Helene’s research programme is aimed at providing greater understanding of nutrition-related health through the lifecycle and contributing to food and health policy internationally. She has particular expertise in micronutrients and has published extensively in the field of folate and metabolically-related B vitamins, building impacts from early to late life and frequently delivering keynote presentations at scientific and health professional conferences worldwide. In her academic role, Helene is actively involved in teaching and programme administration at undergraduate and masters levels in Food, Nutrition & Dietetics, and is fully committed to the integration of research and teaching. To date, she has supervised nearly 40 PhD students to successful completion.
Dr Montserrat Gutierrez
Dr Montserrat Gutierrez is the Head of Food Microbiology Laboratories with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. She is a Veterinary Surgeon with a PhD for studies on tuberculosis in goats and cattle. Her career in Ireland started at the Veterinary Services Division of Northern Ireland from where she moved to practice in Cork. After joining DAFM in 2001, she has occupied managerial positions in National Reference Laboratories for microbiology and veterinary residues, where she has participated in investigation, surveillance and applied research of chemical and biological foodborne related hazards, including the application of whole genome sequencing.
She has participated in national and EU Commission funded research programmes and has published in the field of microbial food safety. She has led projects on accreditation and merging of laboratory quality systems and she participates regularly as a national expert in EU Commission audits evaluating laboratory official controls and as a tutor in Better Training for Safer Food courses, which are EU funded.
Professor Neil Rowan
Professor Rowan (Technological University of the Shannon) has over 30 years expertise in applied microbiology and toxicology informing food processing and safety, decontamination and sterilization, risk modelling and sustainability including for circular economy. He has worked with stakeholders to co-create innovation from ideation to demonstration at scale embracing digital transformation and AI. He was awarded higher Doctorate of Science (D.Sc) by University of Strathclyde (Scotland) representing a lifetime of distinguished scholarly achievement in these domains. Prof Rowan is consistently recognised as an internationally leading expert, such as appearing in Standford list 2023-2025 (top 2% of scientists worldwide). Prof Rowan was appointed as member of new National Science Advice Forum to advise government on strategic policies. The United Nations appointed him onto Panel for Effects of Nuclear War where he also addresses food and marine security and supply chain. Neil has supervised 42 PhDs and his research informs over 100 strategic policies globally. He lectures in food processing, legislation, and HACCP. He is PI for first integrated multitrophic aquaculture bioeconomy demonstration site at scale in Irish peatlands.
Dr Sinéad McCarthy
Dr Sinéad McCarthy is a Senior Research Officer at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Dublin, where she leads research on consumer food and health behaviour. She holds a BSc in Physiology, an MSc in Nutrition and Food Science, and a PhD in Public Health Nutrition, all from University College Cork.
Dr McCarthy has worked in University College Cork and Trinity College Dublin prior to joining Teagasc and has 30 years of experience in nutrition and food research, spanning human nutritional physiology, public health nutrition and consumer food behaviour Her current research focuses on sustainable diets and dietary guidelines, healthy eating behaviours, senior nutrition and food fortification. Dr McCarthy has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and participated in national and European research programmes. She has secured funding from FIRM, the HRB, Research Ireland and Horizon 2020.
Dr McCarthy represents Ireland on the EU Expert Group on General Food Law and the Sustainability of Food Systems, and on the Codex Alimentarius electronic working group for the development of dietary guidelines. She previously served on the Public Health Nutrition Sub-Committee of FSAI (2003-2026), and she was a former board member of safefood (2020-2023).