Prof. Lisa Connolly

Prof. Lisa Connolly

Queen’s University Belfast

Lisa Connolly is a Professor in Toxin Food Safety within the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast.  She is currently leading a vital research programme focusing on endocrine disrupting environmental and food based toxins resulting from modern day industrial, agricultural or natural sources and assessing the effects that these contaminants may have on health.  Prof. Connolly and her team primarily develop and utilise in vitro bioassays for the screening of endocrine disruptors and assessing their adverse biological effects.  This work also covers horizon scanning for emerging endocrine disruptors, assessing their mode of action and mixture effects.

Prof. Connolly is coordinator of the PROTECTED ITN, a €4.1 million international project that aims to develop specialized knowledge and protection capabilities against endocrine disruptors.  The project is funded through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), specifically within the “Innovative Training Networks” (ITN) program, an initiative of the European Commission (EC) to promote academic-industrial collaboration and the training and mobility of PhD students.  The project involves principal investigators form 10 countries (Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Chile, India, Canada) and 2 SMEs.  This global network facilitates the innovative research and training of 15 early stage researchers on this worldwide issue.