DrKaterina Petropoulou

Dr Katerina Petropoulou received her PhD in July 2019 and is currently working as an Innovation Hub Manager for the RIPEN Innovation Hub and Research Fellow in the Nutrition Research Group under the supervision of Professor Gary Frost.

As an Innovation Hub Manager she manages and run the RIPEN Hub (TRanslational Innovation Hub for Population HEalth using Food and Nutrition approaches to enhance Positive Physiology) funded by BBSRC Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC). Her duties and responsibilities inclide: leading and coordinating the hub activities ranging from funding calls release and award, grant management, communication with RIPEN Hub members, affiliates, industrial partners, and others with an interest in our work and the hub. She works closely with the British Nutrition Foundation and Funding Strategy Teams at Imperial and BBSRC to ensure the successful run of the hub.

As a Research Fellow, she onducts research in the field of Human Nutrition, within the Nutrition Research Group. Specifically, her research examines how food structure affects glucose metabolism and overall health. Her role involves managing and running large human nutrition trials, collecting and analysing data, publishing and disseminating the research results, and applying for research funding. She project manages and supervises multi-disciplinary teams of researchers and industrial partners.

She is also involved in teaching, and provide support in the following course programmes: MRes in Clinical Research (Postgraduate), MRes Diabetes and Obesity (Postgraduate), MRes Human Nutrition and Dietetics (Postgraduate), Undergraduate Medicine Programme/BSc Endocrinology.

In March 2019, she presented the results of her PhD at the STEM for BRITAIN competition at the Houses of Commons and received the STEM for BRITAIN Inaugural Physiological Society award.

Prior to her PhD studies she worked as a Research Assistant and Dietetic Research Assistant in the same group where she was actively involved in large UK and European Human Clinical Trials. She moved to Imperial College London after completing her undergraduate studies in Human Nutrition at Oxford Brookes University in 2012.

Awards Received

Faculty of Medicine 25th Anniversary Staff Awards (2023), Award Winner for Good governance as part of the FoM GDPR Working Group and the FoM Data Protection Team

STEM for BRITAIN, House of Commons, March 2019: Winner of the STEM for BRITAIN Physiological Society Award. ‘’Using Wrinkled-seeded peas to prevent Type 2 Diabetes.’’ http://www.setforbritain.org.uk/2019psr/B-PETROPOULOU-5223-PSR.pdf

Royal Society Pairing Scheme ‘’Week in Westminster’’, March 2021. I was selected by the Royal Society to spend a week in Parliament were policymakers and research scientists experience each other’s work.

Imperial College, Department of Investigative Medicine Divisional Away Day, November 2018: Winner for the lay abstract competition within the division. ‘’A seed trait studied by Gregor Mendel in Pisum sativum L. (pea) offers potential for the prevention of Type 2 diabetes.’’