About The BioCop Advisory Board

The Advisory Board (AB) consists of nine experts whom support the project. The AB is briefed on the project progress and asked to make recommendations to the TMG on the following:

- Advise on the appropriateness of the project planning to deliver key objectives;

- Advise of issues arising in food safety that may need to be reflected in any significant change of project direction;

- Advise on targeting of dissemination activities;

- Advise on path to implementation of project outcomes at international and European level.

The diverse nature of the projects advisory board allows the broad interests of the consumers, food industry and regulatory bodies to be represented.

Dr. Andrew Cannavan

Dr. Andrew Cannavan is Head of the Agrochemicals Unit of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory at Seibersdorf, Austria. With over 16 years experience working in research and method development for veterinary drug and pesticide residues in food, in his current post he is involved in 1) method development and technology transfer for veterinary drug and pesticide residues and other food contaminants 2) organisation of training courses and workshops on contaminant analysis and control for developing country scientists and 3) applied research to underpin international guidelines and standards (CODEX).

Dr. Cannavan has close collaboration with national and international organisations in various projects related to food safety and good agricultural practices. Dr. Cannavan is also responsible for co-ordinating international research projects in the field of monitoring of veterinary drug residues in livestock and livestock products and is the technical officer for a number of IAEA food safety related capacity building projects in developing countries.

Dr. Costas Georgakopoulos

Dr. Costas Georgakopoulos, chemical engineer, is currently a Director of the WADA Accredited Doping Control Laboratory of Athens. Having co-ordinated three EC funded 5th Framework programmes, two projects funded by the Hellenic General Secretariat of Research and Technology and seven projects funded by WADA, Dr. Georgakopoulos is a key element to the advisory board. Costas a previous Olympian having competed in the Discuss event in the 1984 LA Olympics, also controlled the organisation and direction for the 2004 Athens Olympic Laboratory.

Costas has authored/co-authored peer reviewed scientific articles and is presently Professional Member of the Association of Official Racing Chemists (AORC) and President of the World Association of Anti doping Scientists (WAADS).

Dr. Hans Jeuring

Dr. Hans Jeuring is a Senior Public Health Officer for the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority in the Hague [Jeuring, H.J. (Hans)] He was also Chairman of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues. His work interests focus primarily on residues of pesticides, toxins, contaminants and on the import controls of agricultural products. He has served as Deputy Director of the regional Inspectorate for Health Protection in Groningen and as Director of General Affairs for Pharma Bio-Research International BV. He has also been a member of a number of working groups, including Import Controls, Residues and Mycotoxins, of which he also served as Chairman.

Dr. Jim Lawrence

Dr. Jim Lawrence recently retired after more than 32 years at Heath Canada as a research scientist and manager in the Bureau of Chemical Safety in the Food Directorate. Dr. Lawrence has published over 184 papers, including 152 research papers, written 3 books and presented around 150 lectures at conferences, universities and institutes.

He has attained the highest research level (RES-5) through his interest in developing methods of analysis for toxic substances in foods including pesticides, veterinary drugs, environmental contaminants, food additives and natural toxins and has also been honoured with 4 prestigious awards for his scientific achievements.

A member or Chairman of a number of AOAC International committees Dr. Lawrence continues to be involved as an analytical expert in organising international symposia and giving invited presentations. He has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of AFMNet, a Canadian research consortium consisting of academic, government and industry members to promote research and development of new food products, technologies and biomaterials.

Dr. Michael Knowles

Dr. Michael Knowles, BPharm PhD CChem FRSC, CSci, FIFST, is Managing Director of the Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness and Chief Scientific Officer for the European Union Group.

Michael studied at the University of Nottingham where he was awarded a BPharm (1st Class Hons) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. He was also awarded a PhD for his work in medicinal chemistry, which he extended as an ICI post-doctoral fellow for a further two years.

Michael was employed in the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's (Food Science Division) initially as a Senior Research Fellow, and later became Head of the Food Science Laboratory. In 1985 Michael became head of Food Science Division (London) and chief scientist (Fisheries and Food).

In 1991 he further joined Coca-Cola Greater Europe, and between 1991-1999 he was responsible for the Middle East Division and African group as SRA director for Greater Europe Group and Group SRA Director for the European Union Group.

Mrs Gilli Cliff

Gilli Cliff is a freelance food writer and cookery consultant. Over the past ten years she has worked in an advisory capacity as a consumer representative to the Food Standards Agency, Defra and the Meat and Livestock Commission.

Gilli has written ten books with respect to food and cookery, devised a training scheme to encourage restaurants to use local produce, created and edited three eating out guides to Wales and has also set up and run restaurants and an organic cafe.

In 1990 Gilli had her own cookery series on TV and following its success was able to create a cookery scheme for disadvantaged children in the Rhondda valley in south Wales. Currently Gilli runs a cookery school in north Yorkshire, writes regularly for the Country Landowner and Business Magazine and is Chair of the Guild of Food Writers

Dr. Gregory Doucette

Dr. Gregory Doucette has 20 years experience in the area of marine biotoxins and harmful algae and, having authored/co-authored 85 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 10 book chapters in this field, it is a pleasure to have him as part of the Advisory Board team. Dr. Doucette is a project leader in the NOAA Marine Biotoxins Program and has acted as lead PI/co-PI on twelve related projects funded by the US federal agencies and as a co-PI/Steering Group member on the EC ASTOX project.

Dr. Doucette has extensive experience with in vitro assays and chemical analyses for phycotoxin detection, and is currently involved as a Technical Cooperation Expert to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency on a project aimed to transfer receptor assay technology for PSP and ASP toxins to African countries. He is also involved in developing automated, in-water phycotoxin detection capabilities for the monitoring of harmful algal blooms via ocean observation systems.

Dr. Mika Tuomola

Dr. Mika Tuomola is Director of Industrial Solutions for Specialty Diagnostics Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He has over 15 years experience working on the development and applied research of advanced diagnostic methods in the field of chemical and microbiological food safety. This includes past positions as the Director of Research and Development for Raisio Diagnostics and as a group leader at the University of Turku.

Dr. Tuomola has a PhD in molecular biotechnology with specialisation in vitro diagnostics and MSc in food chemistry and his interests lie particularly in advancing the use of state-of-the-art technology in food and environmental safety. He has extensive experience with molecular biotechnology and novel in vitro diagnostic methods applied in food analysis, analytical applications of novel bioaffinity assays, simple on-site testing, and automated high-throughput methods.