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Chris is the founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast and is an Honorary Professor there. He is also Professor of Food Security at Thamassat University in Thailand.
He has published more than 580 peer reviewed articles relating to the detection and control of agriculture, food and environmental related contaminants. Chris led the independent review of Britain’s food system following the 2013 horsemeat scandal. He now acts as a Scientific Advisor for a range of United Nations Agencies, governments and industries on a range of food security topics.
Over the years Chris has developed a high level network of collaborators across Europe, the United States , the Middle East and Asia. He is a recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Biology. Chris has received numerous prizes and awards for his work such as the Royal Society of Chemistry Theophilus Redwood Prize and an OBE in 2017. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2020 and became Honorary President of the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology in 2023.
Peter Littleton, UK Technical Director, has been involved in a variety of food safety related roles for over 35 years working in direct food production, regulatory support and for the last 24 years hygiene support.
This work covers all aspects of food contaminant control including microbiological and allergen management where he sits on many national, and international, panels advising on the effective application of cleaning & disinfection to achieve food safety.
He has been involved in the creation of training courses, publications and papers relating to the management of food contaminants and leads the UK’s innovation team to identify and develop new technologies to assist our customers in maintaining their food safety management systems.
Karin Goodburn specialises in chilled food science, technology and regulatory affairs, as Director General of the Chilled Food Association and as a consultant, advising government on policy, safety and supply chain issues, providing technical guidance to manufacturers and representing industry in the UK and around the world.
She has overseen development of numerous industry and other guidelines and standards with regulators, industry and researchers, and works with the EU/EC, UN FAO/WHO, GFSI, UK Government, its agencies, European federations and food professionals’ organisations’ steering groups.
Karin chairs the Industry Listeria Group and the Food & Biocides Industry Group, and is involved in the negotiation, interpretation and implementation of European law including the Microbiological Criteria for Foodstuffs Regulation 2073/2005, being one of the authors of a range of industry guidance thereon. She is an enforcer trainer including on 2073/2005 and high risk foods.
She also chairs the SPS Certification WG representing food and feed trade associations and professional organisations working together to minimise trade friction in EHC/SPS products between GB and the EU/NI by identifying issues and proposing solutions to Government and its Agencies.
Nik is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence in Food in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds. His research is focused on developing digital technologies and solutions to address environmental sustainability, food safety and health challenges in food production systems. His particular expertise lies within combining low costs sensors (e.g. acoustic and optical) with machine learning models to monitor and optimise production processes and predict food properties. Nik is a Chartered Engineer with a MEng in Mechanical Engineering (University of Hull, 2006) and PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Leeds, 2010). From 2010 - 2014 Nik worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the Food Physics Lab at the University of Leeds and from 2014 - 2023 Nik was an Assistant/Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham.
Professional membership: Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
Personal Website: Professor Nicholas Watson | Faculty of Environment | University of Leeds
Current Circular Bioeconomy Projects:
Enhancing Agri-Food Transparent Sustainability (EATS): EATS
Connecting producers and consumers to enable more sustainable consumption: communicating the environmental impact of food through packaging: Connecting producers and consumers to enable more sustainable consumption: communicating the environmental impact of food through packaging | Horizon CDT Research Highlights
Emma Barton is Head of Regulatory Reform, Innovation and Engagement at the Food Standards Agency, leading the FSA’s work to modernise the market authorisation process for regulated food and feed products. She has worked at the FSA since March 2024, having joined following 6 years in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), where she led on the delivery of border controls for imports of animals and animal products and latterly, the authorisation and restriction of chemicals. Prior to working at Defra, Emma spent 4 years as a sustainability manager in a national sports governing body and worked for the Environment Agency for 8 years in various scientific, regulatory and advisory roles.
Cheryl Lockett graduated from NCFT(Reading University) in 1980 with a BSc. Hons in Food Technology, was a Student member of the IFST and found her niche in the Food Ingredients & Flavour Industry. With expertise in spray drying, blending, agglomeration, extraction, and spray crystallization, she excelled in NPD, technical, and commercial roles. Over 22 years, Cheryl worked for blue-chip companies Unigate/St. Ivel, Griffiths, Firmenich and Sensient. In 2001, she founded C.C. Sales Sipport Ltd, an independent, technical, sales and marketing consultancy supporting all aspects for long term growth in SME Functional Food Ingredient companies. Passionate about taste, texture and innovation, Cheryl has driven award-winning projects, holds a patent (in conjunction with colleagues at Arthur Branwell & Co. Ltd) for creating specialist lipid crystals to replace commercial emulsifiers in bakery products and is proud to be a Fellow of IFST.
Professor Gleb Yakubov holds the Chair in Food Biopolymers at the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds. He completed his postgraduate research at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany, where he earned his PhD in physical chemistry, focusing on investigations of biopolymer systems using colloidal probe AFM force spectroscopy. Before taking up the chair position at the University of Leeds, Gleb served as an Associate Professor in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham and as a Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland, Australia. Prior to his academic career, he gained eight years of experience in industrial R&D at a UK-based global fast-moving consumer goods company.
His primary expertise lies in applying principles of colloidal, soft matter, and polymer science to tackle challenges in food research, digestive health, and biomolecular technology. Gleb leads the Food Biopolymer Research Team, which focuses on applying these scientific principles to improve the nutritional value of foods. His team specifically explores how processing of grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables can influence the nutritional quality of everyday foods. Recently, his team also pioneered machine learning and computer vision-based approaches for modelling oral processing for improving health and wellbeing.