Prof PLH McSweeney MA PhD DSc

Paul McSweeney is Professor of Food Chemistry in the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College, Cork, Ireland (UCC). He graduated with a BSc in Food Science and Technology in 1990 and a PhD in Food Chemistry from UCC in 1993 and also has an MA in Ancient Classics and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2012). He has also served as Vice-Head and Interim Head of the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science in UCC.  He worked for a year in the University of Wisconsin (1991-2) as part of PhD and as a post-doctoral research scientist in UCC (1993-4). He was appointed to the academic staff of UCC in 1995. Overall theme of his research is Dairy Biochemistry with particular reference to factors affecting cheese flavour and texture, proteolysis during cheese maturation including the role of non-starter lactic acid bacteria and smear microorganisms, the ripening of hybrid and non-Cheddar varieties, the specificity of proteinases on the caseins, proteolysis and lipolysis in cheese during ripening and characterization of enzymes important to cheese ripening (proteinases, peptidases, amino acid catabolic enzymes). He is the co-author or co-editor of 12 books, including the 3rd edition of Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology (Amsterdam, 2004), the third and fourth editions of Advanced Dairy Chemistry (New York, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2015), the second edition of Encyclopedia of Dairy Sciences (Amsterdam, 2011) and in addition to numerous research papers and reviews; his H-index (March, 2015; Google Scholar) is 48. Prof McSweeney is an experienced lecturer and researcher and has successfully managed research projects funded through the Food Industry Research Measure and its predecessors administered by the Irish Department of Agriculture and Food, the EU Framework programmes, the US-Ireland Co-operative Programme in Agriculture/Food Science and Technology, Bioresearch Ireland and industry. He was awarded the Marschall Danisco International Dairy Science Award of the American Dairy Science Association in 2004 and in 2009 a higher doctorate (DSc) on published work by the National University of Ireland.