Dr Elaine Duggan obtained a BSc.(Hons) in Chemistry from UCD, and then completed a PhD in Physical Chemistry in UCD. She subsequently worked as Research Officer in Teagasc Food Research Centre Moorepark for two years. In 2005 she became a post-doctoral researcher in UCD Food Science where she worked on a number of projects investigating ingredient interactions iand their resultant effects on the physicochemical properties of foods. Dr Duggan joined WIT in 2011 as a lecturer in Food Science.
Her research has focussed on ingredient interactions in a variety of complex food systems, more specifically protein-protein, protein-polysaccharide interactions and their interaction with water and the resultant effect on the physicochemical properties of foods. These chemical relationships are fundamental to the physico-chemical properties of food products such as texture, stability and consumer acceptability and are key to developing new products in terms of functionality and processing. To date Dr Duggan has co-supervised 2 PhD students and 3 Masters students to completion and has been awarded ~€700,000 in research funding. She has published 23 peer-reviewed journal articles, a book chapter and is a co-inventor on two patents.
