Associate Professor Cliona Ni Mhurchu
Programme Leader, Nutrition & Physical Activity

After graduating in Nutrition and Dietetics from Trinity College Dublin, Cliona worked as a Clinical Dietitian in the UK before undertaking a PhD in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Southampton. Cliona joined the Clinical Trials Research Unit in 1998 and her research since then has focussed on upstream determinants of nutrition and health, including food pricing, nutrition labelling, household food security and processed food formulation.

Cliona has led several large research projects, including the Supermarket Healthy Options Project (SHOP), which evaluated the effectiveness of price discounts and tailored nutrition education as strategies to promote healthier food purchases. She is currently Principal Investigator of the BISkIT trial evaluating the impact of breakfast programmes in low-decile schools on children’s school achievement and nutrition, and the SPEND project that will estimate the effects of a range of targeted food tax and subsidy regimens on population purchasing habits, nutritional risk factors, health and mortality.

Cliona is author of more than 75 peer-reviewed scientific publications and is involved in international research collaborations with a range of partners in Australia and the UK. She is Director of the Health Research Council of New Zealand six-year research programme, "Population Interventions to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity", and holds the Heart Foundation of New Zealand Senior Fellowship.