About Us
Dr Lisa Ryan has an extensive background in working with the sports industry and providing training and education in sport and nutrition. She has a first-class honours degree in Nutritional Science and a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from University College Cork.
Following her studies at UCC Dr Ryan took up a Senior Lecturing post at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, before moving on to another Senior Lectureship at Oxford Brookes University in 2008. Here she joined the Functional Food Centre (FFC) and established the University's Phytochemical Research Group. In 2010 she took over the FFC as Operations Director and turned the centre into one of the few profit-generating organisations within the University.
While in the UK, Dr Ryan also worked with the GB Olympic team and the English rugby development squad. Subsequently, she was invited to Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, to help establish the BASE (Be Active Sleep & Eat) Research Facility and lead the Functional Food research stream.
Dr Ryan has attracted considerable research income in the areas of functional foods, sport and health. To date, she has worked with over 50 food industry partners and has attracted research funding from agencies such as the UK's Medical Research Council, The Nuffield Trust and The Wellcome Trust.
In 2015, Dr Ryan was awarded the prestigious Agrifood Fellowship in Australia to investigate the potential of marine polyphenols as anti-diabetic agents. She is widely published in the area of functional foods and has given many invited national and international presentations.
Dr Ryan is also a Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) with the Association for Nutrition.
Contact Details
Dr Lisa Ryan
Tel: +353 (0)91 742556
Email: lisa.ryan@gmit.ie
Sarah O’Donovan graduated with a MSc in Human Nutrition in 2019, with specialisation in Public Health Nutrition, from University of Glasgow. Sarah is a Registered Associate Nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition (AfN) and has been working this past year as a Research Assistant and Project Manager on the NutriPD project alongside Dr Ryan at ATU Galway.
The main aims of this project are to grow the nutrition profession in Ireland by (i) developing a framework for competency-based assessment development in nutrition education and (ii) creating a Community of Practice to bring together nutritionists in Ireland to advocate for AfN registration and regulation of the profession. Sarah is passionate about growing the nutrition profession in Ireland and advocating for recognition of the profession.
Community of Practice
The NutriPD Community of Practice (CoP) brings together registered nutritionists (RNutr, ANutr and those completing the registration process) around Ireland from across all sectors including academia, research and industry. It was established in May 2020 to share best practice and learnings between nutritionists, advocate for recognition of registered nutritionists (Association for Nutrition (AfN)) as well as regulation of the title, and to discuss the challenges nutritionists are currently facing in Ireland. We are always welcoming new members to the group. Please reach out to Sarah O Donovan.
Contact Details:
Sarah O’Donovan
Email: sarah.odonovan@gmit.ie