Dr. Jens Walter serves as the Professor of Ecology, Food, and the Microbiome at University College Cork and the APC Microbiome Ireland. His expertise lies at the interface of the evolutionary ecology of the gut microbiome and human nutrition. His research focuses on the evolutionary and ecological processes that have shaped host–microbiome symbiosis and the translation of basic microbiome science into therapeutic and nutritional strategies. Dr. Walter and his collaborators have pioneered the application of ecological theory to elucidate ecological and nutritional factors that shape gut microbiomes and have achieved targeted modulations of microbiomes via dietary strategies and live microbes. Prof. Walter has published >140 peer-reviewed publications and is a ‘highly cited researcher’ according to the Web of Science group. Prof. Walter’s research has been featured on six occasions in the research highlights of Nature and Nature Reviews journals, and he has participated in several invitation-only workshops and think-tanks of the NIH, CIFAR and ILSI to discuss imminent issues in the microbiome field.
Prof. Dr. Elke K. Arendt has been a Senior Lecturer in the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork since 1993. She established an externally funded research group, which was consistently supported by grants from National, EU and industry sources. In 2007, she was awarded a DSc from the National University of Ireland for her published work in the area of fermented foods. In 2016, she was appointed as Principal Investigator at the APC Microbiome Institute. She lectures and carries out research in the areas of alternative proteins, fibres, food and beverage products for specific health issues (IBS, Coeliac, obesity, diabetes, etc.), ingredient and culture development, and food and beverage fermentations. In her research field, she was listed as one of the most highly cited researchers in the world in 2017, 2019 and 2021. She has also been listed as one of the top 10 Food Scientists in the world (SciVal, based on citations) and has an H-Index of 110 (Google Scholar). She has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers and three books.
