Founded in 1845, NUI Galway has earned international recognition as a research-led university with a commitment to top quality teaching. Prof. Cathal O’Donoghue is primarily involved in Task 3 – Rural Economy and Sustainable Development. The NUI Galway team will use their expertise to produce an Economic, Spatial, Social, and Environmental (ESSE) impact assessment using the Simulation Model of the Irish Local Economy (SMILE) spatial microsimulation model and the Bio-economy Input Output (BIO) model.

UCC is a world-class university which combines a rich tradition of teaching, research & scholarship. Dr. Seamus O’Reilly will be involved in Task 3 with Teagasc and NUIG. Dr. O’Reilly’s particular expertise on rural enterprise and supply chain management will be essential to co-design pathways that will support the realization of the proposed value chains to benefit rural communities. In addition, Cork University Business School has experienced staff on rural enterprise and supply chain management.

UU is a university in Northern Ireland with a national and international reputation for excellence, innovation, and research. Task 7 is led by Dr. Trevor Cadden, Dr. Joseph Rafferty & Prof. Ronan McIvor. This is a cross faculty project involving the School of Computing and the Ulster Business School. Combined expertise in the areas of stakeholder engagement, gathering requirements, needs analysis, value chain with experience in developing secure supply chains, predictive analytics and digital platforms will be essential in realising the supply chain work tasks in Protein-I.

Member of the Russell Group of the UK's 24 top research-intensive universities, QUB is an international centre of innovation and excellence, providing world-class education underpinned by world-class research. Task 5 will be led by Dr. Anne Nugent and Prof. Moira Dean from the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) and at the Centre for Public Health (CPH) It will combine experts in population nutrition, data science and consumer psychology and food security, to yield a high quality multi-disciplinary research programme.

UCD is ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide and has become Ireland’s global university. UCD is leading the overall project. Prof. Fiona Doohan leads Task 2 in collaboration with Teagasc and will investigate smart, sustainable and diversified plant production. Tasks 4 & 6 are Nutrition & Health Tasks led by Prof. Lorraine Brennan and Prof. Helen Roche respectively and partnered with Dr. Breige McNulty & Dr. Martina Wallace. Combined expertise in the development of sustainable methods for crop production, human intervention trials and personalised nutrition will be at the forefront of these tasks.

Teagasc - the Agriculture and Food Development Authority – is the national body providing integrated research, advisory and training services to the agriculture and food industry and rural communities. Prof. Maeve Henchion is the Task lead on Task 3 – Rural Economy and Sustainable Development, alongside UCC and NUIG. Prof. Henchion’s expertise in supply chain and consumer behaviour will be essential to the success of Task 3. Teagasc are also partners in Task 2 with UCD. Dr. Susanne Barth and Dr. Fiona Thorne whose expertise in crop production and sustainability will be vital for the task’s success.