The Bia Analytical team

Chris is Professor of Food Safety and founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast. He served as Pro Vice Chancellor for the Medical and Life Sciences Faculty between 2015 and 2018. He is also Professor of Food Security at Thamassat University in Thailand.

He has published more than 500 peer review articles relating to the detection and control of agriculture, food and environmental related contaminants. Protecting the integrity of the food supply chain from fraud is a key research topic and Chris led the independent review of Britain’s food system following the 2013 horsemeat scandal.

Over the years Chris has developed a high level network of collaborators across Europe, the United States , the Middle East and Asia. He is a visiting Professor at the China Agriculture University in Beijing. He is a recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Biology. Chris has received numerous prizes and awards for his work. In 2017 he was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Theophilus Redwood Prize and was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2020.

Simon brings over 25 years of extensive experience in building and leading companies from start-up through to their critical growth stages. Passionate about the transformative power of technology, he has particular experience in the software and SaaS product development arena. Simon has played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of data management and analysis industry over many years, bringing disruptive technology while also working with regulatory bodies to define industry standards. His leadership at Automated Intelligence was marked by visionary strategies, product excellence, and a collaborative people first and growth focused company culture. As CEO, Simon will continue to build upon the existing innovation excellence and world leading scientific research, and seek to augment this with world class technology to keep Bia Analytical at the forefront of combining Scientific Research and ground-breaking Technology.

Terry McGrath is a founder and CSO of Bia Analytical. Terry is passionate about detecting food fraud. Before joining the company full time, Terry was a Research Fellow in IGFS at Queen’s University Belfast where his latest research was developing spectroscopic methods, both laboratory based and field deployable, in conjunction with chemometric models to detect food fraud. This research aimed at supporting the food industry to detect food fraud/adulteration in a way that would allow them to increase efficiency and protect consumers from unsafe food. Terry has more than 20 years’ experience working on food safety, security and authenticity from both a commercial and academic perspective. From 1997-2001 Terry was employed by Precision Analysis, an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, where he was involved in agri-food testing and development of the laboratory portfolio of accredited methods as well as the development, maintenance and transfer of near Infrared spectroscopic models for proximate analysis of animal feeds and raw materials. From 2001 to 2009 he was employed by a newly launched university start-up company where he was involved in new product development including method validation, sample preparation, project management and marketing activities. Terry returned to university in 2009 to undertake his PhD and remained a Research Fellow since completing his thesis in 2012 until he joined Bia Analytical.

Gareth Burns is a highly experienced software professional with over 25 years working in online platforms. Since graduating from the University of Glasgow, Gareth’s career has taken him from web development through team management, international consultancy, and co-founding technology start-ups. With a passion for code quality, cloud architecture and scalable solutions, Gareth loves nothing more than building clean, concise solutions that scale gracefully. Away from the screen, Gareth has built high performing international teams across the globe to deliver software and worked with executive boards, investors, and shareholders. With a background commercialising the digital transition of traditional industries, Gareth is delighted to be part of the Bia Analytical team and moving into the scientific field of food fraud

Simon is a founder and Academic Consultant at Bia Analytical advising the company on laboratory-based methods and chemometric models. Simon is a Senior Research Fellow within IGFS at Queen’s University Belfast. His current research interest is the use of molecular spectroscopic tools (e.g. RAMAN/NIRS/FT-IR/Hyperspectral Imaging) to detect food and feed fraud, authenticity, quality and safety. He has expertise in: Spectroscopic “Fingerprinting” techniques for detection of adulteration of food and feedstuffs; Development of risk management models for ranking hazards in food and animal feed sectors; Expertise in the use of Raman, FT-IR and NIRS to detect adulteration of feed oils such as soya oil (with transformer oils and mineral oils), soya meal (with melamine), chili powders (with Sudan dye), Oregano (with cheaper waste leaves). Furthermore, he is Technical Manager for IGFS’s ISO accreditation. Simon has published more than 80 scientific papers on the topic of food safety and food authenticity. He previously spent more than 8 years as a Senior Research Scientist in a university start-up company where his activities included research, product development and manufacturing of in vitro diagnostic kits.

Clive was appointed Chairman of Bia Analytical upon the Company’s formation in 2020. He has close links with The Queen’s University of Belfast having gained his Ph.D on corporate strategy in the Northern Ireland food industry at the college. More latterly, he is a founding member of the Queen’s City Leadership Group, which seeks to enhance the university’s links to the City of London and wider financial markets, and is Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board of the Institute for Global Food Security, founded by Professor Chris Elliott.

Following five years as Head of Food Policy at the National Farmers’ Union, Clive joined Northern Food plc under Lord Haskins as a strategist before moving into equity research analysis with leading mid-market British bank Charterhouse Tilney, which became ING Financial Markets, where he was Head of Pan-European Retail Research. In 2003 he became a Founding Director and Head of Research at Shore Capital Markets, where he was voted City AM Analyst of the Year in 2013 and which has a strong presence advising the food system in these Isles, including A.G. Barr, Cranswick, Greencore, Marks & Spencer, Moy Park and Wm. Morrison Supermarkets.

Additionally, Clive is a Non-Executive of The Community Shop, a charitable venture seeking to reduce food waste and assist the development of human capital in some of Britain’s most socially challenged districts, Chairman of Mash Direct, Chairman of Morellis Ice Cream and a Senior Advisor to Coriolis Consulting and Edward Billington Group.

Chris is a founder and President of Bia Analytical. He is Professor of Food Safety and founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast. He served as Pro Vice Chancellor responsible for the Medical and Life Sciences Faculty between 2015 and 2018.

Richard Ilsley was appointed as a Member of the Executive Board of BIA Analytical in April 2020, with a mandate to develop a strategy for the business and to lead the commercialisation and start up process.

Terry McGrath is a founder and CSO of Bia Analytical. Terry is passionate about detecting food fraud. Before joining the company full time, Terry was a Research Fellow in IGFS at Queen’s University Belfast where his latest research was developing spectroscopic methods, both laboratory based and field deployable, in conjunction with chemometric models to detect food fraud.

David is an Investment Manager with QUBIS Ltd, the early stage investment fund responsible for the commercialisation of technology from The Queen’s University of Belfast.

He has been actively involved in a range high-growth technology based businesses for over 20 years.  His experience covers both a range of technology sectors and various stages of company growth.

David has been involved with a number of the QUBIS portfolio companies from the initial pre-company cap sheet discussions at incorporation, through venture capital and corporate investment rounds, and on to eventual exit from either trade sales, management buy-out or IPO.  He currently holds Non-Executive Board positions with a number of the existing QUBIS Ltd spin-out ventures.

Paul is founder and Chairman of Good For You Group Ltd., a UK-incorporated safe food brand delivering unique, healthy and certified safe foods from the UK and other locales to consumers in China.  The Group is currently active on bring to market a self-auditing farm marketplace in South-East Asia, initially for the seafood industry.  Recently, he was Head of Asia Pacific and Strategy for Muddy Boots Software Ltd. (Herefordshire), an agri-management and retailer supply chain authentication software developer but prior to that was Executive Vice-President Asia Pacific & Head of Greater China for AVEVA, a Cambridge-based FTSE 250 company, managing all facets of AVEVA’s business and growth throughout the Asia-Pacifica and the Greater China region (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau) across all business lines and disciplines.

Prior to that Paul was founder and Chief Executive of the Honiton Energy Group, where he built China’s only successful foreign-owned wind power producer from start to a $350m business. Honiton was the first independent foreign energy provider to amass over 2,200 square kilometres of land usage, first to build its own wind farm, first to connect to China’s grid, and first to receive carbon credits for the three farms that Honiton eventually built up.  With a previous career in Investment Management in Canada, Paul has come to specialize in China strategic and operational management, debt and equity fundraisings, and Chinese JV negotiations.

Paul has a Finance degree from the University of British Columbia, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and has currently relocated back to the UK.