Transparency data: Science Council member biographies

Professor O’Brien is founder of the Food Observatory, UK and a visiting professor at Ulster University, Coleraine. In his previous career to 2018 he led the Nestlé global competence centre for Food Safety & Quality and the company’s Food Safety and Integrity Research Programme in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is also a former head of food safety for the Danone Group in Paris.

From 2004 to 2009 he was chief executive officer (CEO) of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.  His experience at senior level spans risk assessment, regulatory affairs and food production, both as a scientific practitioner and as a user of advice to translate scientific evidence into public policy and to communicate around high-profile and complex issues.

He is chair of the Advisory Board of the Nutrition Innovation Centre for Diet and Health (NICHE) at Ulster University.  He sits on several professional committees concerned with food safety and health and is a non-executive board member of Campden BRI.

Professor Borriello is a microbiology graduate and Fellow of University College London. His career history includes appointment as head of a Medical Research Council Unit, working on pathogenicity of bacterial infections; founding director of the Institute of Infections and Immunity, University of Nottingham; and was appointed in October 1995 director of the Public Health Laboratory Service Central Public Health Laboratory, which was the National Centre for Reference Microbiology.