Meet The Team
Teagasc
Teagasc is the lead organisation and project coordinator of the AIMBIO initiative, providing overall scientific, strategic, and operational leadership. Teagasc leads the development and demonstration of integrated, zero-waste marine biorefineries, converting macroalgae and seafood side-streams into high-value, sustainable bio-based ingredients and products.
Within AIMBIO, Teagasc leads Task1 (Knowledge Transfer, Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation) , Task 3 (Optimisation and Scale-up of Seaweed Biorefineries), Task 6 (Demonstration, Validation and Sustainability Assessment) and Task 7 (AIMBio management). Through its latest pilot-scale demonstration facility at its Ashtown, Dublin, Ireland campus, Teagasc ensures that AIMBio delivers scalable solutions with lasting impact for Ireland’s circular blue bioeconomy.
Teagasc also contributes to Task 4 (Optimisation and scale-up of seafood side-streams).
Brijesh K. Tiwari
Position/Role: Project Co-ordinator Principial Research Officer in Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown
Professor Brijesh K. Tiwari is a Principal Research Officer at Teagasc -Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, and adjunct Professor at UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering. His area of research focuses on using green, energy efficient technologies to valorise a wide range of renewable biomasses and developing sustainable, zero-waste biorefinery models.
Shay Hannon
Position/Role: WP 6 leader National Prepared Consumer Food Centre Manager in Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown
Shay Hannon is an experienced Senior Research Officer with a strong background in the consumer goods and agri-food sectors. He provides expert technological and innovation support to Irish food companies, with a focus on new product development, sustainable food manufacturing, and the commercialisation of novel technologies
Ciara Mc Donagh
Position/Role: Head of Food Industry Development at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown
Ciara McDonagh is a senior food science professional with over 20 years of experience in providing technical advice and consultancy services to Irish food companies. She currently heads a team of skilled scientists and technologists who work with businesses of all scales across the Irish food sector, supporting innovation in products and processes while helping industry adapt to changing market and regulatory landscapes.
Siobhan Jordan
Position/Role: Head of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation at Teagasc Oak Park, Carlow
Siobhán Jordan is Head of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation at Teagasc, where she leads the organisation’s efforts to translate research and innovation into tangible economic, environmental, and societal impact. With an academic background spanning biotechnology and process engineering from Dublin City University and a PhD in human genetics from Trinity College Dublin, she brings strong scientific insight combined with strategic leadership in innovation systems.
Meet The Team
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI)
AFBI is the AIMBIO lead for Task 4 and assists in Tasks 2 and 3. In Task 4, the optimisation and scale-up of seafood streams, AFBI leads the valorisation of crustacean shells (Task 4.4) and assists in the analysis of processed fish and fish by-products (Tasks 4.1, 4.2, and 4.5). AFBI is also involved in the seasonal analysis of seaweed harvested from Rathlin Island (subtask 2.3) under Task 2, and the analysis of seaweed product streams (Tasks 3.2, 3.4, and 3.5) under Task 3. AFBI also contributes to Task 1 in Knowledge Transfer, Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of developed solutions.
Matt Service
Position/Role: Principal Scientific Officer
Research Area: Shellfish Aquaculture, Benthic Ecology, Coastal Catchment Ecosystems
Heather Moore
Position/Role: Senior Scientific Officer
Heather’s research area is providing scientific evidence to support the sustainable development of the Northern Ireland Shellfish Industry. She has several work areas investigating barriers to development. She has recently completed a short desk-top project focusing on valorisation of bivalve shell waste. NI shellfish producers are keen to close the gap to improve the sustainability of the industry.
Jonathan Ellis
Position/Role: Research Assistant/Project Lead
Background in Fisheries Science and Water Quality Monitoring. Managing AFBI’s contributions to AIMBIO.
Xianjiang Chen
Position/Role: Higher Scientific Officer
Background in Ruminant Nutrition and Greenhouse Gases mitigation.
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Atlantic Technological University
The ATU team will lead to establish logistics and supply chain protocols and models as part of Task 2.4 under Task 2, contribute to the optimisation and scale-up of seafood side streams within Task 4. They will also lead the development of a valorisation strategy for end-of-life left over biomass in Task 4.5 under Task 4
ATU also contributes to Task 1 in Knowledge Transfer, Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of developed solutions.
Dr. Deirdre Brophy
Position/Role: Strategic Lead, Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Atlantic
Dr Deirdre Brophy is a lecturer and researcher at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and the Strategic Lead of ATU’s Marine and Freshwater Research Centre. Her background is in fish ecology and sustainable fisheries.
Dr. Colin Hannon
Position/Role: Senior Researcher & Commercial Engagement Lead for the MFRC
Dr Colin Hannon is a senior researcher at the Marine & Freshwater Research Centre (MFRC) at the Atlantic Technological University, Galway, and is the commercial engagement lead for the MFRC supporting the links between research and industry in the blue bioeconomy. He has a background in aquaculture research and development including the valorisation of side streams stemming from processing in aquaculture and fisheries.
Leo Murray
Position/Role: RD&I Engineer, Contract Research Unit (CRU)
Leo Murray is an RD&I Engineer at ATU’s Contract Research Unit (CRU), specialising in industry-academic collaborations and Industry engagement support services that upscale awareness and dissemination of the value of sustainability and circular economy solutions in enterprise operations.
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BeoBio Teoranta
BeoBio Teoranta acts as one of the Leads in Task 2 for growing and supplying seaweeds for valorisation, and supports Task 2.4 to establish logistics and supply chain protocols. BeoBio’s Burtonport facility in Donegal is one of the 4 demonstration sites responsible for seaweed aquaculture. BeoBio also supports Task 3 by contributing and leading the extraction and fractionation of valuable bioactives ingredients from seaweeds. BeoBio also contributes to Task 1 in Knowledge Transfer, Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of developed solutions.
Alan O’ Sullivan
Position/Role: Managing Director
Managing Director of BeoBio Teoranta where he leads the development and commercialisation of sustainable seaweed based biostimulants and agricultural inputs. He has extensive experience in marine biomass sourcing, product development, and regulatory compliance for agri-input markets. Under his leadership, the company has established traceable, sustainable supply chains and brought multiple seaweed-derived products to market in Ireland and internationally.
Shannon Heapes
Position/Role: QA & Regulatory Manager
Shannon Heapes is a Food Safety and Microbiology PhD researcher with professional experience in quality and regulatory management within the seaweed biostimulant sector. Her work integrates microbial risk assessment, seaweed processing, and EU regulatory compliance to support the development of safe, sustainable marine-based products.
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Islander Kelp
As a seaweed grower, Island Kelp will be mainly liaising with and supplying the partners with the seaweed they need throughout the project.
Kate Burns
Position/Role: CEO
Elisabeth Vogel
Position/Role: Assistant Manager
Elisabeth has been a member of the Islander team since 2017 and is currently assistant manager. For the AIMBIO project, she has taken on the role of project lead, making sure deadlines are met and project requirements fulfilled. This means primarily the increased production of different species of kelp and researching new growing methods.
Sarah Barry
Position/Role: Cultivation Co-ordinator
Sarah’s responsibilities are based around lab work, spore release, deployment of ropes, harvesting, and succession planting for continuous harvest.
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Indigo Rock Marine Research Centre
Indigo Rock Marine Research Centre will produce and preserve A. armata, A. esculenta, S. latissima for the AIMBIO project. A. armata will be harvested weekly, preserved and send to several project partners. A. esculenta and S. latissima will be harvested yearly in April or May, preserved on site and send to several project partners. The be able to preserve large quantities of seaweed, Indigo Rock Marine Research Centre will acquire a dryer which is mainly funded by the AIMBIO project. Indigo Rock Marine Research Centre is mainly involved in Task 2 and leads Task 2.1 “Technical design of aquaculture site, construction and preparation of production site”. We will also be involved in Task 1 by supplying data, Task 3 and 5 for which we will supply biomass and Task 7 as part of the project management.
Dr. Julie Maguire
Position/Role: Manager
As manager of Indigo Rock since its inception (2008) Dr Maguire has managed all the Stations research projects and disseminated the outputs from them. Her main interests lie in climate change mitigation particularly by using seaweed. She has coordinated 6 European projects and been a PI in 25 more international projects. She has 44 peer reviewed publications and 2 best practice guidelines for seaweed harvesting in Europe and mussel fisheries management.
Roderick van Roosmalen
Position/Role: Postdoctoral researcher
With a background in biotechnology, microbiology, and molecular biology, along with experience in project management and programming. Lately, Roderick’s focus has been on using seaweeds as a renewable feedstock for creating bio-based products like bioplastics, biochemicals, and bio-fertilizers — all with circularity and sustainability at the core.
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Trinity College Dublin
TCD will work closely with Teagasc to optimize and scale up the extraction and fractionation of alginates, proteins, and fibers as part of Task 3. The team will also focus on producing proteins, peptides, and lipids from both solid and liquid side streams as part of Task 4, while supporting process integration and the design and construction of the biorefinery in Task 6. TCD also contributes to Task 1 in Knowledge Transfer, Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of developed solutions.
Prof. Ramesh Babu
Position/Role: Research Associate Professor
Prof. Ramesh Babu earned his degree in Chemistry from the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT) in 1998. He currently leads the Polymeric Materials and Nanocomposites (PMNC) group at the School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin. His current research in advanced polymeric materials focuses on addressing global challenges related to functional polymeric materials specialises in polymer processing, characterisation.
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Technological University of the Shannon
TUS plays a lead role in multi-actor model design in Task 1.2 under Task 1. TUS leads optimisation and scaleup of the end-stage biorefinery processes in Task 5, and also contributes to scaling up processes through modelling and eco-design in Task 6.
Lena Madden
Position/Role: Senior Research Fellow
Lena is a Principal Investigator and Lead of the research group Circular Agriculture and Biotechnology Research Group (CircAB) at Technological University of the Shannon. Dr Madden’s expertise in is the research project development, funding acquisition and delivery. Specialising in the research projects that bridge the gap between idea development and technology transfer and with a scientific specialisation in analytical chemistry and industrial biotechnology, her expertise encompasses not only technical management of the projects but ensuring continuous excellence, operations safety, and outputs quality.
Dr. Catherine Collins
Position/Role: Research Scientist
Dr. Catherine Collins is a Research Scientist in TUS. Catherine holds a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Fungal Biotechnology. She has led and contributed to several research projects at TUS, including serving as both researcher and Principal Investigator. This includes the CirCoVal project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine which aims to improve sustainability in Irish agriculture by valorising low-value red meat co-products and treating abattoir wastewater.