Marie is Professor of Exercise and Health, Dean of Postgraduate Research and Director of the Ulster Doctoral College. She graduated from Ulster with a BA (Hons) Sport & Leisure and PGCE (with distinction) in Physical Education and was awarded an MSc in Sports Science (with distinction) and a PhD in Exercise Physiology from Loughborough University.

Marie’s research focuses on the effect of physical activity and exercise, in particular walking, on health and uses multidisciplinary approach that has included outcome measures ranging from the behavioural to the biochemical. Her work has contributed to the evidence base underlying the current physical activity guidelines in the US, UK and Ireland and she was a co-author of the UK guidelines by the 4 Chief Medical Officers in 2011 and 2019.  She has over 140 peer- publications including a number of highly cited peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and invited editorials.

Marie is principal investigator on the cross-border WISH (Walking In ScHools) Trial testing the efficacy of a school based intervention which uses peer-led walking groups to increase physical activity among adolescent girls.

Marie is a member of the UK Chief Medical Officer’s expert advisory group on physical activity. She is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the British Association of Sport & Exercise Sciences (BASES) and the Higher Education Academy and is vice-president of the WHO Europe Health Enhancing Physical Activity Steering Committee (HEPA Europe).

Marie was a member of the Research Excellence Framework 2014 (UK-wide assessment of university research quality) sub-panel for Sport & Exercise Sciences Leisure & Tourism and is chair of this sub-panel for REF2021.

Marie has held public appointments on the Board of Sport Northern Ireland (2 terms), the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland and the Board of the International Society of Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH). She is an advisor to the Department for Communities on the development of the NI Sport and Physical Activity Strategy (Strategy 2020). She is an active gymnastics coach and chair of the Board of Directors of City of Lisburn Salto National Gymnastics Centre.

Dr Katie Liston is a former high-performance sportswoman: holder of youth national athetics titles, GAA All Star and All Ireland medal winner, Irish representative player in soccer and rugby. She holds national league titles in soccer, north and south. She has also held a number of administrative roles in womens sport clubs. She completed her PhD in sport and gender at University College Dublin and worked at the University of Chester for a number of years, before joining Ulster University (Jordanstown) in 2008. Katie is a senior lecturer in the social sciences of sport, and has published on a wide range of topics and issues, drawn mainly from sociology. These include gender and womens sports, pain and injury, national identity, concussion, policy and media-sport. She is author of a 2005 Joint Committee report on womens sport and physical activity and has presented to the Stormont Assembly

On the same topic. Katie is a regular media contributor who works to raise the profile of research on sport, health and physical activity. Her role in SHE is the support all members to bridge the gender data gap in sport-related research, to embed gender equality into teaching and research activities and to collaborate with key stakeholders in the dissemination of research that will inform future policy.

Kirsty completed her undergraduate degree and PhD [Exercise Physiology] at Liverpool John Moores University. Her PhD examined the effects of female reproductive hormones on muscle strength and since then her work has mainly focused on female athletes. She worked as a Lecturer at Brunel University and the University of Brighton before undertaking a four-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Kings College London. Kirsty joined Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in September 2009. In addition to her research on female athletes, which includes the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, the Female Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, her work in recent years has involved designing exercise interventions for weight management in overweight and obese pregnant and postpartum women. She is an Associate Professor [Reader] of Female Physiology and the Head of the Musculoskeletal Physiology Research Group at NTU.

Kirsty has tween-aged twin boys and has lived in the UK for 25 years. She is married to another academic, who she often collaborates and publishes with. She is originally from Ireland, Dundalk to be precise. A very long time ago she was an international level kickboxer! Since hitting the big 40, she has taken up running and is currently trying to upgrade herself from half-marathons to full marathons

Helene is Director of NICHE, a centre of excellence for nutrition research at Ulster University.

Having graduated from Trinity College Dublin (BSc and PhD in Nutrition) and Dublin Institute of Technology (Diploma in Dietetics), Helene joined Ulster University in 1992 and was promoted to Professor of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, in 2001.She is an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy (since 2008), Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (since 2017), and was co-Chair of the 13th FENS European Nutrition Conference (Dublin, Oct2019).

Helene’s research programme aims to provide greater understanding of nutrition-related health issues and achieve impacts in food and health policy. She has particular expertise in B vitamins research and has published extensively in this field, building impacts in early life and ageing nutrition and frequently delivering keynote presentations at scientific conferences worldwide.

Helene is actively involved in teaching at BSc and MSc levels and programme administration in Food, Nutrition & Dietetics, and has supervised 30 PhD students to date.

https://www.ulster.ac.uk/staff/h-mcnulty