Meet the project members

  • Project Lead
  • Senior Lecturer in Translation and Cross-Cultural Studies

Dr Saihong Li

Dr Saihong Li, PhD, FCIL Chartered Linguist, is a Senior Lecturer in Translation and Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Stirling. Her interdisciplinary research brings together translation, food and cultural studies, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and corpus linguistics, drawing on methods from the digital humanities and social sciences. She specialises in food translation and cross-cultural communication and collaborates internationally with researchers in nutrition, aquaculture, psychology, political science, and computer science. Her current work examines how emerging scientific ideas, including quantum food technologies, can be communicated responsibly across disciplines, cultures, industries, and communities.

 

Dr Li has published widely through monographs, edited volumes, and journal articles. She is Associate Editor of Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice(https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rmps20), and the general editor for the Routledge Studies in Global Food Translation book series (https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Global-Food-Translation/book-series/RSGFT). Her previous experience as a pharmaceutical business consultant and freelance interpreter in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and China informs her commitment to ensuring that cross-cultural communication delivers meaningful benefits for industry, policy, and society.

  • Quantum technology Section Lead
  • Chancellor’s Fellow in Quantum Computing and HPC at EPCC

Dr Oliver Thomson Brown

Dr Oliver Thomson Brown is a Chancellor’s Fellow in Quantum Computing and HPC at EPCC, the UK’s National Supercomputing Centre. His background is in many-body quantum theory, and he now leads EPCC’s Quantum Group, which seeks to answer where, when, and how quantum computing will one-day integrate with HPC and scientific computing, as well as developing powerful classical emulation tools to support quantum software research. He is also a member of the University of Edinburgh’s Quantum Software Lab, and the QCi3 Hub. Most recently he’s been developing CQ, a C-like API for tightly-coupled quantum HPC. 

 

  • Food system Section Lead
  • Professor of Human Nutrition

 

Professor Emilie Combet

Emilie Combet is a professor of human nutrition at the University of Glasgow, where she leads a research team investigating the impact of diet on health and disease. Her research focuses on the nutritional and environmental quality of foods and their impact on human health, with a particular interest in obesity and weight management, and how diet and dietary choices influence healthspan. 

Prof Combet is also interested in exploring how the food industry can contribute to reducing the risk of chronic diseases through food reformulation. In addition to her research, she is actively involved in teaching and supervising students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 

Combet is a member of several scientific societies and serves as a trustee of the Association for the Study of Obesity, and is the director of the European Nutrition Leadership Platform. She is passionate about translating research findings into recommendations and products; with colleagues across Scotland, she is currently exploring how transdisciplinary research can address the complex challenges faced by our food system through the newly established Scottish Alliance for Food, which she leads. 

  • Arts and Humanities Section Lead 
  • Multi- and inter-disciplinary researcher and occasional curator, and Associate Professor

Dr Jen Clarke

Dr. Jennifer (Jen) Clarke is a multi- and inter-disciplinary researcher and occasional curator, and Associate Professor at Gray’s School of Art. Her research, teaching, and artworks combine and explore the borders of contemporary art and anthropology. Often working in and leading highly collaborative projects, her research takes a feminist perspective to address all-too-urgent social and ecological issues, especially forest-related ones in the UK. She has also worked in Japan since 2003, where she recently held a Visiting Professorial Research Fellowship at the University of Tohoku (2022). Clarke’s background and training is in the arts, anthropology, and artistic research: with an MA in the arts from University of Glasgow, an MA in Visual Anthropology from Goldsmiths College, University of London, an MRes. And PhD in Social Anthropology from University of Aberdeen, and an Advanced Masters in Artistic Research from Sint Lucas School of the Arts, Antwerp, Belgium. She has been the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Scottish Sculpture Workshop since 2018, and co-Chair of ANTART, EASA’s ‘Anthropology and the Arts’ Network, 2020-22. 

  • Scottish Alliance for Food Project Manager

Dr Laura Haag

Dr Laura Haag is SCAF's project manager, overseeing the planning and coordination of the Alliance's work. Drawing on a background in nutrition research with a focus on plant-based diets and chronic diseases, she is committed to supporting collaborative action towards a resilient food system that delivers better outcomes for people and the planet. 

  • Chair in Food Security & Sustainability

Professor Rachel Norman

Professor Norman graduated with a first-class honours degree in Mathematics from the University of Liverpool in 1991. She subsequently undertook a PhD jointly supervised by Roger Bowers in the Mathematics department and Mike Begon in the Ecology department, funded by a Wellcome Trust prize studentship. She spent a year in the Oxford Zoology department modelling the dynamics and control of lymphatic filariasis. She began her career as a lecturer in the Mathematics and Statistics group at the University of Stirling in 1996, moving to a half-time position in 2001. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003 and to Reader in 2010. In January 2013, she took up a new role as Professor of Aquatic Food Security. She established the Centre for Aquatic Food Security, a virtual interdisciplinary centre examining the role of seafood within the broader food security landscape. She subsequently led the University Research Programme on Global Food Security, which brought together colleagues from across the university applying their research to food security challenges. From April 2019 to 2024, she served as Institutional Dean of Research Engagement and Performance and as academic lead on research culture. In this institutional dean role, she was particularly committed to fostering a positive and collaborative research environment that enables all individuals to reach their full potential. Since the conclusion of that role, she has continued this work and served on the REF PCE pilot panel for B11 in 2025. She is currently a member of the leadership team for the Scotland-wide Scottish Alliance for Food network and serves as Food Theme Lead for the Scotland Beyond Net Zero network. 

  • Artist - Ceramicist, Researcher, and Educator

Dr Désirée Coral

Dr Désirée Coral is an artist based in Scotland, she received her Doctoral degree from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee in Scotland in 2024, and her MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018.  

Désirée's artistic exploration and research delve into the realm of early global exchanges, spanning from the Americas to the rest of the world and vice versa. She employs a decolonial lens to examine the relationships between humans, interspecies, and the environment, as well as the relationships and hierarchies evident in our food, foodscapes, and foodways systems. 

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr Andrea Ciribuco

As a lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Galway, Dr Andrea Ciribuco leads the discipline of Italian and co-directs the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism (CALM), and the MSc in Applied Multilingualism. His research interests include translation, migration, and the sociolinguistics of migration. He has worked in contexts of migration and asylum in Italy and Ireland, working in settings such as language classrooms and creative arts projects for migrants and refugees. Currently he is the Principal Investigator of a Research Ireland Laureate project, called "Rural Villages, Migration and Intercultural Communication" (2022-2026).

  • Lecturer in Resilient Food Systems

Dr Richard Newton

Dr Richard Newton is a research fellow in the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling. He has worked in the industry for 20 years in academic and commercial roles but now works on promoting circular economy initiatives in aquaculture value chains, linking environmental and socio-economic gains through comprehensive sustainability assessments. His main focus is to improve the resource efficiency of aquaculture production through various means to "eco-intensify" food production. He has worked across Europe and Asia's main centres of aquaculture production investigating many of the species that underpin food security and contribute to rural economies. 

  • CEO - Quantcore
  • Project manager - Quantum ARC (before 2026)

Dr Jack Brennan

Dr Jack Brennan is the project manager at Quantum ARC, and his research interests now mainly concern superconducting quantum circuits. After obtaining a PhD in condensed matter physics from the University of Glasgow in 2020, Jack joined the Quantum Circuits Group working on qubit measurements and interfaces for quantum computers. Jack joined the Quantum ARC as project manager in March 2024, and is keen to support and grow the already impressive quantum technology sector here in Scotland.

Quancore was founded in August 2025 by Dr Jack Brennan, Dr Valentino Seferai, Wridhdhisom Karar, and Prof Martin Weides, Quantcore is a University of Glasgow spin-out and is the only company in the UK manufacturing niobium-based superconducting quantum components. Operating from the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, Quantcore designs, manufactures and tests the superconducting processors, resonators and sensors that form the core of quantum computers and advanced sensing systems. Quantcore is backed by PXN Ventures, Blackfinch Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, Quantum Exponential, and STAC. Website

 

  • Research Fellow in Food Systems Transformation (Policy and Governance)

Dr Claire Périer

Dr Claire Périer is a Research Fellow in Food Policy and Governance at the Living Good Food Nation Lab, housed at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Her background is in food science and innovation, and she spent several years working in new product development across various industrial settings, from chocolate to meat extracts. Since her return to academia, she has been focusing on the people and processes of food policy, using a Systems Thinking lens to explore the many meanders of food systems governance across time and the global-local scale. She holds a deep interest for Scotland, and has developed an in-depth knowledge of the multiple facets of food policy within her adoptive country.

  • Postdoc, Department of Food Science, Design and Consumer Behavior

Dr Mausam Budhathoki

Dr Mausam Budhathoki is a researcher specializing in sustainable food systems, with a particular focus on aquatic foods. His interdisciplinary research integrates environmental, social, and economic perspectives to address sustainability challenges across food systems. He works at the intersection of life cycle assessment, consumer behaviour, food trade and markets, evidence synthesis, and sustainability transitions to generate evidence that supports sustainable production, consumption, and policy. He has extensive experience leading international collaborations, multidisciplinary research projects, and publishing high-impact research that informs both science and practice. 

  • Postdoc, Department of Food Science, Design and Consumer Behavior

Dr Sujita Pandey

Dr Sujita Pandey is a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen (KU), specializing in environmental sustainability assessment of food systems. Her work centers on life cycle assessment (LCA), including nutritional LCA, to evaluate environmental impacts in relation to nutritional quality and dietary function. By integrating environmental indicators with nutrient profiling and functional units relevant to food systems, she aims to support more holistic sustainability evaluations. Her research areas include primary production, institutional meals, food waste prevention, and emerging biomass sources, such as marine and alternative protein systems. She uses empirically grounded data and systems-level modeling to assess environmental trade-offs across production, processing, and supply chains. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, she contributes to evidence-based strategies that align climate mitigation, resource efficiency, and nutritional adequacy. Her broader objective is to advance robust assessment frameworks that can inform policy, guide industry decision-making, and support the transition toward healthy, low-impact, and resilient food systems within planetary boundaries. 

  • committee member of BCS SGAI

Dr Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro

Dr Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro has a PhD in Physics and is an elected committee member of BCS SGAI (the Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence of the British Computer Society). She is interested in Neuro-Symbolic AI and currently investigating the benefits and drawbacks of low-code/no-code AI with open-source LLMs and re-using specialised datasets of unstructured data (e.g. written narratives and biomedical images). She has worked lecturer at the University of Buckingham (medical UG), University of Southampton and University of Manchester (computer science UG/MSc). She has also carried out research as part of the Bio-Health Informatics Group at the University of Manchester.

  • Research Assistant

 

Tinglan Liu

Tinglan is a master's graduate in Biomedical Sciences from Newcastle University, with further Data Science training at Durham University. She brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to the project, combining scientific rigour with data-driven analytical skills. 

In this project, she supports the delivery of an initiative exploring how quantum technologies in food systems can be translated into accessible and culturally meaningful communication. Her work focuses on research support, workshop coordination, and the co-development of the Translation Toolkit. 

 

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