Ciaran McCartan

Biography

Member of the Northern Ireland Food Advisory Committee

Ciaran grew up on a small beef and pig farm in Co Armagh, which he ran with his father for over 30 years. After finishing school, he went to study at the University of Ulster, attaining a HND in Applied Microbiology and then BSc (Hons) in Applied Biochemical Sciences. He followed this up with Pg Diploma in Business Management at University College Dublin.

Ciaran worked across various food and pharmaceutical (human and veterinary) companies for eleven years before he joined Invest NI’s R&D team and worked as an Innovation Adviser to the Food and Life & Health Sciences sectors in NI for over 16 years.

In 2025 Ciaran took up his current role as Knowledge Transfer Adviser at Innovate UK Business Connect, supporting academics and companies to navigate the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme in Northern Ireland.