Deirdre O'Carroll - Blender, Irish Distillers

Deirdre a UCC Food Science and Technology graduate started her Irish Distillers journey in August 2012. Deirdre was an integral member of the commissioning team that installed and operated the Pot stills and Distillation Columns that were a part of the 100-million-euro expansion.

In September 2014 Deirdre was appointed the role of Process Technologist. In this role, she aided the everyday running of the Brewhouse. After a year in the Brewhouse she moved to the Feeds Recovery where she was involved with process optimisation and every day running of the plant.

Deirdre was appointed Bond Supervisor in September 2016. In the Bond area, Deirdre oversees the filling of new make spirit before entering the array of barrels before maturation. Along with this, she is involved with mature spirit disgorging from the barrels. There are currently 1.3 million casks maturing on site.

From March 2021 Deirdre has worked with Master Blender Billy Leighton in Midleton Distillery, and is responsible for the development of new and existing blends, marrying together specific and intricate flavours and aromas, ultimately, creating a palette of tastes that make up Irish Distillers’ portfolio of Irish whiskeys. She is also be responsible for the management of stock, including cask profile and age profile, as well as laying down stock for future generations.

http://www.irishdistillers.ie/

https://www.irishdistillers.ie/deirdre-ocarroll-appointed-as-blender-at-midleton-distillery/ 

Dr. Tom O'Callaghan, College Lecturer, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, UCC

Tom graduated from UCC with a B.Sc. in Food Science in 2014. Following this, he took up the position of assistant production manager with Carbery Food Ingredients, having conducted his 6 months college placement with Carbery Group in 2013. In 2015, Tom began his Ph.D. in Science based in Teagasc Moorepark examining the impact of pasture based feeding systems on the composition and quality of milk and dairy products. During his Ph.D. Tom was the recipient of a Teagasc Overseas Training Award, with which he travelled to The Metabolomics Innovation Centre in University of Alberta for three and half months. Tom Graduated with his Ph.D. in Science from UCC in 2018.

In March 2017, Tom took up the role of Permanent Research Officer in Teagasc Dept. of Food Chemistry and Technology. Tom’s research program currently focuses on dairy chemistry and processing across the supply chain, with particular emphasis on the effects of farming practices, cow feeding systems and dairy processing technologies on the quality and functional characteristics of milk and dairy products. In 2018 Tom became a Principal Investigator and Pilar lead with the Food for Health Ireland research program.

In May 2020 Tom was appointed as College Lecturer in the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, UCC.

 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tom_Ocallaghan

Rachel O’Brien, RDA Technologist II- Primary Dairy, Kerry Europe & Russia

Rachel is currently an RDA Technologist with Kerry Group, based in the Primary Dairy sites, Listowel, Charleville and Newmarket.

Rachel graduated from UCC in 2016 with a BSc Hons in Food Science and started the Kerry Graduate programme. She has worked in many roles within RDA between Naas, Listowel, Charleville and Newmarket over the past 3 years, some being applications focused and some being plant focused. "There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t learned something new! The fast-paced nature of Kerry is a great place for a graduate as you have the time and drive to embrace the busy day to day."

Anne Parle MPH BSc, Nutritionist & Site Leader, Food Choice

Anne graduated with a BSc in Nutritional Sciences from UCC in 2013. Following this she went on to complete a Masters in Public Health & Health Promotion. While completing work placement with the Health Promotion Department in the HSE and working as a fieldwork assistant for the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative after graduating, Anne discovered her passion for promoting easy to understand evidence-based nutrition messages. Anne began working with safefood in 2016, supporting the Human Health & Nutrition Team in the development of campaign messages, publishing research reports and managing the All-island Obesity Action Forum.

Anne has now married her two degrees working as a Nutritionist and Site Leader for Food Choice, managing the implementation of the programme across different workplaces. Day to day Anne works with employers and caterers to create a healthy eating environment that supports employees to make healthier food choices. Alongside this Anne carries out a range of educational activities with employees, from group nutrition sessions to one-on-one nutrition consultations.

Teresa Daly, Business Development Manager (Kerry Group- Enzymes Europe)

Teresa Daly is Business Development Manager at Kerry, based in the Naas, Co. Kildare. She graduated from  BSc. Hons Food Science in 2013.

In her final year at UCC, Teresa was part of a team who were awarded UCC ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ and also Enterprise Ireland's ‘Dynamic and Emerging Company of the Year’ that developed a unique and novel fat free, high protein vegetable snack called ‘Rooties Crisps’.

Having completed her four year degree she joined the Kerry European Graduate Program in conjunction with the Irish Management Institute.

Teresa has held many positions within Kerry Group ranging from R&D to Technical Sales to Business Development across three Kerry facilities in two global regions and now manages the Kerry Enzymes Business for Europe.

https://www.kerrygroup.com/  

Dr. Eve Mulcahy - Product Manager for Glanbia

Dr. Eve Mulcahy is a Product Manager for Glanbia Ireland’s protein range of ingredients based in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. She graduated from UCC with a BSc in Food Science and a PhD in Food Science in 2010 and 2017, respectively. She conducted her PhD studies at the Food Ingredients Research Group, UCC in the area of whey protein-carbohydrate interactions for new ingredient development. During her PhD, Eve was awarded 1^st place for oral presentations at the International Whey Conference (2014) and American Dairy Science Association (2015). Eve published 5 papers and a book chapter during the course of her PhD. She has also worked in a number of industrial research and development positions including Kerry Group and Wyeth Nutrition. Most recently, Eve has joined Glanbia Ireland’s commercial team as Product Manager for proteins ingredients, where she is responsible for the end-to-end management of new product innovations as part of the value-creation strategy.

Shonagh Harpur - The Nutrisho, Emmett Place, Kinsale, Co. Cork.

The NutriSho simply reflects who I am and what I do. I am a practicing Nutrition Consultant with a particular interest in nutrition for sports performance and health. My mission is to provide a superlative food first, nutrition consulting service that is underpinned by evidenced based research, centered around optimizing athletic performance and health. One body, one mind and one sport at a time."

http://thenutrisho.com/

Dr. Ursula Kenny, Lecturer and Senior Researcher, Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition University of Chester

Ursula first embarked upon her academic journey at University College Cork (UCC), where she completed a BSc. (Hons) degree in Nutritional Science, in 2012. During her time at UCC, Ursula became invested in research and published the findings of her final year dissertation project, under the supervision of Dr Aoife Ryan. Following her Undergraduate degree, Ursula undertook her PhD in 2013, with the Discipline of Health Promotion, NUI Galway, under the supervision of Drs Colette Kelly and Michal Molcho. Her doctoral research explored the mechanisms of and extent to which peers influence adolescent body image in Ireland.

Upon completing her Doctorate in 2017, Ursula pursued a lecturing position with the Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition, at the University of Chester, in the United Kingdom, for 18 months. During her role as a Lecturer, Ursula was actively involved in the delivery of the MSc. in Public Health Nutrition and Human Nutrition programmes, and supervised a number of both Undergraduate and Postgraduate research dissertations within the Department. Ursula has remained working with the University of Chester, as a Visiting Lecturer and Senior Researcher.

Following her lecturing position in Chester, Ursula returned to her primary passion - a career in research. Ursula is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher, within the Health Promotion Research Centre, at NUI Galway. As part of her postdoctoral role, Ursula is working on a European Commissioned project, HEPCOM, which aims to tackle overweight and obesity in children and young people via community-based initiatives. Ursula is also working on a WHO-collaborative research project pertaining to young peoples’ health and health behaviours (The Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Study, HBSC study). Ursula hopes to continue working in the arenas of Nutrition, Body image, Health Promotion, and Adolescent Health and well-being.

https://www.chester.ac.uk/departments/centre-for-exercise-and-nutrition-science/ursula-kenny 

Jia Hou – Product Development Specialist, Nestlé Development Centre, Askeaton, Ireland

Jia studied Bio-engineering in Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU) and started her BSc (Honours) in Food Science and Technology at University College Cork in 2007 as a ‘2+2’ programme student. 

Jia completed her PhD in Food Science at Teagasc Moorepark Food Research Centre under the supervision of Professor Paul McSweeney, Professor Tim Guinee and Dr Tom Beresford. Her research focus was on optimisation of Cheddar cheese manufacture process. As an international student, Jia got great support from both UCC and Teagasc academically and personally. During her PhD journey, her lovely daughter Laia was born in Cork.

Jia then worked as a Cheese Technologist at Irish Dairy Board (now called Ornua) to develop a new type of cheese to be sold under the Kerrygold brand in Germany. After that she was employed as Senior Scientist in PLC Ingredients working on fermented dairy products and dairy flavours.

In end of 2017, Jia joined Nestlé Development Centre, Askeaton as Product Development Specialist where she works on the development and production of Wyeth brand infant formula for markets world-wide. Nestlé invested €25M to build a brand new R&D Centre for more that forty research team members in 2016.

http://www.wyethnutrition.com/

https://www.nestle.com/

Sarah Browner - BSc (Hons) Nutritional Sciences, MSc Innovation in European Business

Sarah Browner graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork in 2015. She then went on to complete an International UCC MSc in Innovation in European Business where she got the chance to live in three European cities.

Sarah is now living in Utrecht, The Netherlands where she works as an Analyst in Food and Nutrition at the management and consultancy firm FutureBridge. Before this she worked as a Market Analyst in food trends and innovation at the market research company Innova Market Insights. Sarah’s educational background has provided her with the perfect basis to become an industry expert and deliver insights into key trends that are shaping the Food and Beverage industry. She delivers these insights as a guest speaker at conferences and trade shows across Europe.

Valerie Kingston - Glenilen Foods, BSc Food Science (1991)

Valerie Kingston and her husband Alan, are the founders of Glenilen Farm, an artisan, dairy-based food company located in West Cork. Valerie’s entrepreneurial journey began when she started selling home-produced cheesecakes at the local farmer’s market over 20 years ago. What originated as a cottage industry is now an award-winning commercial enterprise supplying dairy-based chilled products to major retailers in Ireland and the UK, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. The company is a verified member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green sustainability programme, with all milk used in its produce sourced from Glenilen and neighbouring farms.  We chat with Valerie about her memories of UCC.

For Valerie Kingston, the skills and connections she gained while studying for a BSc in Food Science and Technology gave her a head-start when embarking on the daunting prospect of setting up a dairy business.

“Cowpunchers, as we were called, were well-grounded on graduation with a wide spread of basic core knowledge, microbiology, nutrition, food chemistry, processing and engineering etc. Also, knowing I could pick up the phone for support was a huge bonus, even though I had already left college several years beforehand.”

She acknowledges the high calibre of tuition she received from the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences as it is now known, which has a longstanding international reputation for excellence in food research. 

“We had a great team of professors and lecturers. I suppose it was later on, I realised how well-renowned and respected the faculty was worldwide. Professor Fox sticks in my memory, he insisted on calling me Virginia Woolf after the writer (my name then was Valerie Wolfe)!“

Valerie's time at UCC was memorable for many reasons and to this day she has vivid recollections of that period in her life, remembering “sitting in the sun with friends in the beautiful grounds, the European tour with the class after final year exams”, and the emergence of a new political landscape in the late eighties.

“I distinctly remember us being in the microbiology lab for an afternoon practical and hearing the Berlin wall had come down, we couldn’t believe it.”

Indeed, she witnessed this new Europe first-hand on a trip she took with the university’s Christian Union (CU).  “We used to meet up with other CU’s around the country regularly and went to a European conference in Germany once, by bus, picking others up as we went in Ireland and the UK. It took about a week of travelling; it was a great experience”.

UCC opened up a world of opportunities for Valerie and she embraced all that college life had to offer. Happily, her enthusiasm for her alma mater has been passed down to the next generation, who are now beginning their own third-level journey.

“UCC was so formative, my own kids are at that stage now, one doing occupational therapy and another doing leaving cert and possibly embarking onto UCC also”.

And her advice to today’s students? “Milk the experience to the max, get to know lots of people from different cultures and experiences. Travel and work in the summers, you’ll never have as much free time again”.