Dr Cecilia Hegarty
Dr Cecilia Hegarty is a lecturer in Entrepreneurship and works at the Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship (NICENT). NICENT is a partnership between the University of Ulster, Queen's University Belfast and the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE). NICENT is committed to leading the development of entrepreneurship education in higher education in Northern Ireland. NICENT was established in 2000, and funded by the Office of Science and Technology (OST) and Invest Northern Ireland. It is one of 13 Science Enterprise Centres across the UK.
Mr Jaap de Jonge works for Jongia (UK) Ltd. After studying food technology in the Netherlands, Jaap de Jonge worked at two dairies in the Middle-East in the mid eighties. Following his experience in production he worked in sales positions selling ingredients in the Middle-East with sales offices in Istanbul, Turkey and Birmingham, UK. In 2000 he launched Jongia (UK) Ltd. as a representative office, promoting European suppliers who supply equipment and ingredients to the UK and Irish dairy industry. Products include cheese making equipment, soft cheese wrapping, cheese cultures, natural rennet and much more. In addition Jongia (UK) Ltd organise regular tours to German farm house cheese makers and more recently Dairy Seminars.
The Dairy Science and Food Technology site was designed and created by Dr Michael Mullan. Originally the site was intended as a project aimed at exploring the use of the Internet as a means of communicating with students. Over the years the site has grown and contributions are now invited from the wider scientific community and industry.
The Dairy Science and Food Technology site gets around 1,500,000 'hits' a year (based on the hits for July 2008) and there are many links back to the site.
Michael Mullan was Head of the Food Technology Education Branch at Loughry College for many years and was a Lecturer in Food Technology in the School of Agriculture and Food Science (SAFS) at Queen's University Belfast until the closure of SAFS in 2007. This was followed by an appointment as an honorary lecturer in Food Technology at Queens University until July 2008. Currently Michael Mullan is Head of the Higher Education Branch of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise's Greenmount Campus near Antrim in Northern Ireland.
Claire Towler is employed as a marketing executive with Chr. Hansen in England, UK.
Chr. Hansen is a global biotechnology company that provides natural ingredients to the food, dairy, human health and nutrition, and animal health industries. The company is a leading supplier of cultures, probiotics, enzymes, colours and flavours which are applied in foods and beverages, pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, and agricultural products.
Giuseppe Zeppa is a researcher in the Food Technology Sector of Di.Va.P.R.A. (Department of Exploitation and Protection of theAgricultural and Forestry Resources) at the Agricultural Faculty of Turin University (Italy). He is a professor of Sensory Analysis and Milk and Dairy Technology at Turin University.
Professor Zeppa has worked at Turin University since 1984.
Research Interests and Current Research Projects
Professor Zeppa's research is devoted to the study of chemical and sensory characteristics of foods. The main topics are the study of wine and cheese flavours, the study of relationships between technology and chemical/sensorial characteristics of foods, the use of gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry for food analysis, the food characterisation between the sensory analysis, the consumer science.
Ian McCluggage is married with five children. The son of a Co. Antrim dairy farmer, and growing up and working on the farm, he gained a practical knowledge and understanding of milking cows and the many challenges facing dairy farming.
In 1984 Ian commenced work with the Department of Agriculture Northern Ireland (DANI) initially as a general adviser, then dairy specialist and progressing to senior business consultant. He gained additional experience and viewed life from the commercial world's perspective, spending several years in the private sector before returning to DARD in 1998.
In 1999 he became head of advisory / development work in the beef and sheep sector before taking up his current role in 2000 as Head of Dairying & Pigs Development Branch at the Greenmount Campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE)Greenmount Campus, CAFRE.
Dr. Chand is a Principal Scientist in Dairy Microbiology at the N.D.R.I., Karnal, India. He is engaged in research, teaching, guidance of postgraduate students and consultancy to the dairy industry.
Research experience
Dr Chand has 35 years of research experience and has guided 11 postgraduate and 5 Ph.D. students. He is co-advisor of various inter-disciplinary committees in the areas of fermented dairy products, bacteriophages, bacterial toxin, mycotoxin, bio-oils, bio-remediation and bioactive peptides and their applications. Rattan Chand has published more than 100 papers in international and national journals. Dr Chand has visited the USA as a visiting professor under the AHRD programme. Major achievements in the field of dairy science and technology include :
Emily Haque is a PhD student at the National Dairy Research Institute, India. This research is being supervised by Dr. Rattan Chand.
Research area
Bioactive peptides derived from milk fermented with Lactobacillus helveticus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae: biochemical and functional characterisation.
Nupur Goyal is a faculty member in the Biotechnology Department, Institute of science and Technology, ICFAI Tech University, Dehradun, India.
Research Area
Development of probiotic whey based oral rehydrating solution and assessment of its therapeutic efficacy in a murine model.
Selected Publications
• Nupur Goyal and D.N. Gandhi.(2008). Metabolic properties of lactobacilli strains in Indian paneer whey and their inhibitory effects on Salmonella enteritidis. Milchwissenschaft. Accepted for publication.
Alan Mullan is a Research Fellow at Queen's University Environmental Science and Technology Research Centre, Invest Northern Ireland - Centres of Excellence (QUESTOR Tools).
Research areas
The biochemical and molecular basis of polyphosphate accumulation by environmental microorganisms during growth at low pH.
Selected Publications
• Aprea, G., Mullan, W.M.A., Mullan, A., Murru, N., Tozzi, M., Cortesi., M.L. (2005). Isolation of polyphosphate-accumulating lactic acid bacteria from natural whey starters. Milchwissenshaft 60, 256-258.
Dr. Gandhi is a Principal Scientist in Dairy Microbiology at the N.D.R.I., Karnal, India. He is engaged in research, teaching, guidance of postgraduate students and consultancy to the dairy industry. He has obtained additional training in Patents and Trademarks, Research Management, Advanced training in Fermentation Technology from the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln (USA) and training in Leadership and Personality Development.
Research area
Dr. Gandhi has more than than 30 years experience of research and development in the areas of fermented milk products and bioprocessing of whey into value added products.
Kalpana Dixit is a PhD student at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, India. This research is being supervised by Dr. D. N. Gandhi.
Research area
Biotherapeutic properties of new emerging probiotic yeast Saccharomyces spp and its survival in acidophilus milk.
Research experience
