Rate My Professor Colette Fagan

Professor Colette Fagan serves as Professor of Food Processing and Head of the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Reading, where she also directs the Food Processing Centre. She earned her BSc (Hons) in Industrial Microbiology, MSc (Agr) in Engineering Technology, and PhD in Biosystems Engineering from University College Dublin. Before joining the University of Reading in 2011, Fagan was a Lecturer in the School of Biosystems Engineering at University College Dublin from 2006 to 2011. During this period, she collaborated extensively with industry on projects aimed at optimizing food processing operations and developing sensing technologies to enhance process control. At Reading, her leadership has expanded the Food Processing Centre's role in providing hands-on training for undergraduate and postgraduate students in unit operations such as ice cream making, bread production, sausage manufacturing, and spray drying of coffee. The centre also offers professional services to food industry partners for small-scale trials, product development, and collaborative problem-solving initiatives.

Fagan's research centers on dairy processing, cheese technology, process control, rapid sensing technologies, and process analytical technology, with applications of optical spectroscopy to ensure consistent quality and safety in food production. She is recognized as an expert in industrial microbiology and engineering technology. Her work contributes to projects like Food Systems Equality, funded by the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund. Key publications include 'Prediction of coagulation properties, titratable acidity, and pH of bovine milk using mid-infrared spectroscopy' (Journal of Dairy Science, 2009, 215 citations), 'Application of near and mid-infrared spectroscopy to determine cheese quality and authenticity' (Food and Bioprocess Technology, 2008, 172 citations), 'Novel online sensor technology for continuous monitoring of milk coagulation and whey separation in cheesemaking' (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2007, 82 citations), and more recent contributions such as 'Reformulation initiative for partial replacement of saturated with unsaturated fats in dairy foods' from the RESET study (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2020). With over 2,300 citations across 96 research items, her scholarship influences advancements in food science and technology.