Teagasc Appoints New Head of Food Research
Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland, has appointed Dr Mark Fenelon as Head of Food Research. Dr Fenelon will have responsibility for providing overall leadership for the Teagasc food research programme which is delivered at the two research centres – Moorepark in Cork and Ashtown in Dublin. The food research programme in Teagasc has 130 staff and 70 Walsh Fellows (PhD) students located at its two sites, and a budget of €17 million. It covers areas of food safety, food bioscience food chemistry and technology and food industry development. The programme is designed to meet the research and innovation needs of the Irish food industry.
Dr Mark Fenelon, Head of Food Research, Teagasc.
Dr Fenelon will be based in Moorepark and will have responsibility for the day-to-day management of the Food Research Centre. He will lead Teagasc’s research input in the recently announced Dairy Processing Technology Centre, which involves numerous industry and academic partners. He will be involved in the development of Moorepark Technology Ltd, a joint venture pilot plant, which offers facilities and services to companies in the food industry to scale up research and new product testing. He will build on Teagasc’s Food Research Alliance with UCC, and close collaborations with other Irish and International Universities, Institutes of Technology and Research Institutions.
Teagasc Director, Professor Gerry Boyle, says: “We have ambitious plans to build on the existing successful Teagasc food programme. Mark’s strong connections with the food industry will ensure we work closely with food companies to generate new knowledge and apply it to develop the Irish processing sector.”
Dr Fenelon graduated with a degree in food science and technology from University College Cork. He completed a PhD in UCC in 2000 and went on to complete a Diploma in Processing and Chemical Engineering in UCC in 2007.
He worked for Wyeth Nutritionals as a food scientist in liquid and powered infant formula from 2000 to 2004. He joined Teagasc in 2005 as a senior research officer in Moorepark, before being promoted to principal research officer and Head of the Food Chemistry and Technology Department in Teagasc. Since joining Teagasc he has formed a number of large collaborative projects with the Irish dairy and infant formula sector.
