Hello and welcome
The Rowett Institute has been at the centre of developments in human nutrition globally since its foundation, over a hundred years ago.
Today we are uniquely placed to provide evidence and expertise across the full breadth of this crucial area of science – from farm to fork and bowel to brain.
And as home to the biggest concentration of nutrition researchers anywhere in the UK, we are proud to build on the strong foundations for public good laid by generations of scientists before us.
Our first director, John Boyd Orr, was a pioneering champion of improved diets as a route to better public health, laying the foundations for free school milk and war-time rationing.
Boyd Orr’s “lifelong effort to conquer hunger and want” across the world was recognised with a Nobel Peace Prize and the Rowett remains active in global food security alongside our UK-based research to this day - for example working with partners in Malawi and Zimbabwe to develop moringa as a nutrient supplement to prevent malnutrition.
Our research and expertise have provided the basis for a large number of government policies and strategies designed to improve nutrition closer to home over the years. One of Boyd Orr’s successors as director, Philip James, played a significant role in setting up the UK’s Food Standards Agency and we continue to work closely to make sure policymakers have all the evidence and insight they need.
As part of SEFARI (the Scottish Environmental, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes), we work especially closely with the Scottish Government through its Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS) division to address nutrition and food challenges and improve the health and wealth of the nation.
We also collaborate with bodies such as Food Standards Scotland on issues such as personal food security, dietary assessment and food safety.
The institute has been instrumental in developing methods and tools for dietary assessment, counting another Nobel Prize winner – the co-inventor of partition chromatography Richard Laurence Millington Synge – among the celebrated scientists to have graced our labs.
These achievements continue today thanks to our world-class facilities for measuring nutrients in the diet and internationally renowned expertise in metabolism and lipids – all housed in a modern, purpose-built facility on The University of Aberdeen’s Foresterhill medical campus, from where we join forces with clinical and other colleagues from across the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition to better understand how diet interacts with disease.
Alongside state-of-the-art laboratories and a world class analytical core, our striking building boasts a dedicated Human Intervention Studies Unit, making us one of the few Institutes in Europe that can cover all aspects of nutrition including dietary assessment, appetite regulation, electrophysiology, microbiology, food security, toxicology, life course nutrition, and systems medicine.
As well as work funded by the Scottish Government, UK research councils and charities, the Institute has important partnerships with industry exploring topics as diverse as food reformulation, microbiome manipulation and nutrition apps to help consumers make healthier and more sustainable choices.
This breadth of expertise at the Rowett is what gives us the edge in helping to address some of the major global challenges concerning nutrition.
One of those is the central role diet plays in the development of many chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart failure, fatty liver disease and many forms of cancer – an area my own research is focused on as we seek to translate our expanding knowledge into practical actions to help people stay healthier for longer.
Other challenges we are tackling on multiple fronts include obesity rates – from the neuroscience of weight loss drugs and understanding ultra-processed foods to the way the food environment worsens dietary inequality; climate change - including the contribution that changing the food we produce and eat can make to meeting net zero targets; and the growing threat from anti-microbial resistance.
The landscape we operate in today would look very strange to Boyd Orr and the many others who forged the Rowett’s international reputation for high-quality nutrition research.
The mission though, to push the boundaries of science in the service of improving the lives of everyone, especially the most vulnerable, would feel entirely familiar to them.
As director of this illustrious institution, I have some very large shoes to fill - but I am blessed to be surrounded by the best people and the ideal facilities to do just that and so I look forward to many years of continued success.
Enjoy exploring the site and please drop us a line if you want to know more or are interested in joining the team.
Best wishes
Jules