2025 Speakers - TBC
Prof Ron Maughan
Chair of Programme Committee
Ron Maughan obtained his BSc (Physiology) and PhD from the University of Aberdeen, and was based in the Medical School there for almost 25 years before moving to England. He is now Visiting Professor in the School of Medicine at St Andrews University.
He spent much of his career trying to understand the physiological responses to exercise and the nature of fatigue, but has included many digressions along the way.
He chairs the Nutrition Working Group of the Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee. He is a director of the IOC Diploma programs in Sports Nutrition, Sports Medicine, Sports Physical Therapies, Mental Health in Elite Sport and Drugs in Sport.
Prof Craig Sale
Programme Committee
Craig is an experienced research leader, responsible for coordinating research activity relating to exercise and nutrition interventions in the Institute of Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University. In his previous role he was responsible for coordinating the research activity of staff across Nottingham Trent University as the Co-Lead of the NTU Health & Wellbeing Strategic Research Theme and of over 50 staff in the School of Science and Technology in his role as the Director of the Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement (SHAPE) Research Centre. He was also the REF Unit of Assessment Coordinator for UoA C24 since 2009, wherein he oversaw a significant upturn in the Units REF related performance and its sector position. Prior to NTU, Craig was a Senior Scientist and then Deputy Capability Group Leader of the Human Protection and Performance Enhancement Group at QinetiQ Ltd, where he was partly responsible for the activity of around 20-30 scientists conducting defence and security work for the Ministry of Defence and other commercial entities. Among other things, Craig is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and a Section Editor for the European Journal of Sports Sciences.
Prof Graeme Close
Programme Committee
Graeme is currently a Professor of Human Physiology at Liverpool John Moores University where is also the Head of The Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences. From an applied perspective, Graeme is the Head of Performance Nutrition to The DP World Tour Golf and High Performance Consultant to England Rugby and Everton FC. He is a fellow of both The European College of Sport Science (ECSS) and The British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). Academically, Graeme’s research is focussed upon muscle damage and repair with a specific interest in Vitamin D and most recently cannabidiol (CBD). Graeme has published over 200 research publications and regularly delivers keynote conference presentations in sport nutrition throughout the world.
Prof Louise Burke
Programme Committee
Louise is a sports dietitian with 40 years of experience in the education and counselling of elite athletes. She worked at the Australian Institute of Sport for thirty years, first as Head of Sports Nutrition and then as Chief of Nutrition Strategy. She was the team dietitian for the Australian Olympic Teams for the 1996-2012 Summer Olympic Games. Her publications include over 350 papers in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and the authorship or editorship of several textbooks on sports nutrition. She is an editor of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. Louise was a founding member of the Executive of Sports Dietitians Australia and is a Director of the IOC Diploma in Sports Nutrition. She was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2009 for her contribution to sports nutrition. Louise was appointed as Chair in Sports Nutrition in the Mary MacKillop Institute of Health Research at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne in 2014 and took up this position in a full-time capacity in 2020.
Dr Enette Larson-Meyer
Programme Committee
Dr Enette Larson-Meyer is currently a Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech, where she directs the Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism Lab. Her research focuses on how nutrition influences the health and performance of active individuals at all stages of the lifecycle and at all levels of performance. Recent research interests include healthy weight gain in athletes and military personnel, and the importance of iodine and vitamin D status in exercise performance, disease prevention and general wellness. Enette has authored over 100 scientific articles, is the author of “Plant-Based Sports Nutrition. Expert Fueling Strategies for Training, Recovery, and Performance” (Human Kinetics, 2020) and has served on several International Olympic Committee consensus panels. She serves as an Associate Editor for Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and the Science and Medicine of Football. Earlier in her career, Enette completed an internship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (Colorado Springs) and served as a collegiate sports dietitian. Her personal interests include trail running, flat water kayaking and Irish-Step dancing. She is the proud mother of three college students, two of whom play/ played D2 soccer at U.S. Universities.
Dr Ana Karin Kozjek Schwietert
Ana Karin Kozjek Schwietert is a medical doctor and Family Medicine resident with a background in sports nutrition and a strong interest in endurance and power sports. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Chemistry from Grinnell College, USA, and an IOC Diploma in Sports Nutrition.
She has worked with many Slovenian athletes, both professional and recreational, as a sports nutritionist and now as a team doctor. Currently, she is part of the medical team for the Slovenian national cross-country skiing team.
Ana is a member of the Slovenian Society for Clinical Nutrition and a founding member of its Section for Clinical Sports Nutrition, which educates healthcare professionals, athletes, and their teams on sports nutrition.
A former competitive swimmer, she has also completed two Ironman triathlons, giving her personal insight into endurance sports. She enjoys combining medical and nutritional knowledge to support athletes’ health and performance.
Dr Ian Rollo
Ian is principal scientist and head of GSSI international performance services and education engagements. His current role involves providing sports science and sports nutrition support for professional soccer clubs and organizations such as Manchester City FC, FC Barcelona and UEFA. His research is focused on sports nutrition and exercise physiology. Ian earned his Bachelors degree from Birmingham University in sport and exercise science and Masters degree from Loughborough University in Exercise Physiology. In 2009 he received a PhD from Loughborough University under the supervision of Professor Clyde Williams. In 2005 he worked at the August Krogh Institute, Denmark, assisting in studies on mechanisms of fatigue during high intensity exercise and optimizing nutritional strategies for soccer. Ian has previously served as a performance consultant in professional soccer, swimming and rugby. Dr Rollo is an honorary research fellow at Loughborough University. Ian also manages PepsiCo clinical research projects and is involved in developing novel technologies to support athletic performance. Finally, Ian leads the PepsiCo innovation team on healthy aging. He continues to author publications and deliver invited presentations globally.
Twitter: @Rollo_I
Link: https://www.gssiweb.org/en/about/Our-Team/ian-rollo-phd
Prof Javier Gonzalez
Javier is Professor of Nutrition and Metabolism at the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism (CNEM), University of Bath. His is interested in human fuel use. How we get fuel from our diet, burn fuels during exercise; and store fuels when they exceed our requirements. His research group employs a variety of methods to understand human fuel use, including indirect calorimetry, tissue biopsies and stable isotope (IV) infusion and ingestion. These methods are used across laboratory-based and free-living studies. In recognition of his research, Javier received the Julie Wallace Award 2018 from the Nutrition Society and is an Excellence in Nutrition Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition (FASN). He is also an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism and is a consultant to several organisations in sport, health and nutrition.
Prof Luc van Loon
Luc van Loon is a Professor of Physiology of Exercise at the Department of Human Biology at Maastricht University Medical Centre.
Luc has an international research standing in the area of skeletal muscle metabolism. Current research in his laboratory focuses on the skeletal muscle adaptive response to exercise, and the impact of nutritional and pharmacological interventions to modulate muscle metabolism in health and disease. The main research interests of his laboratory include muscle metabolism, sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, adaptation to endurance and resistance type exercise, and the use of physical activity and/or nutritional interventions to improve health in chronic metabolic disease and aging. The latter are investigated on a whole-body, tissue, and cellular level, with skeletal muscle as the main tissue of interest.
