Sports Nutrition Symposium 2025

Nigel Mitchell is a renowned sport dietitian with 30+ years of experience in elite sport and clinical nutrition, specialising in cycling and endurance performance. He has worked with World Tour cyclists for 15+ years and currently supports INEOS Grenadiers, British Athletics, and British Sailing. A key figure at the UK Sports Institute with an academic role at Leeds Beckett University, Nigel led Team Sky’s nutrition strategy (2009) and supported Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France win (2012). He has worked with 30+ Olympic and Paralympic medallists and co-developed the Advanced Certificate in Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition Practice. Join us today as he shares his expert insights in applied sports nutrition.

Peter Res is a performance nutritionist and triathlon coach. His career spans roles in elite cycling (Rabobank Cycling Teams), football (Ajax Amsterdam), and various Olympic disciplines, including judo, badminton, field hockey, and water polo. Alongside his practical work, Peter has conducted research in exercise physiology and protein metabolism in the lab of Prof. Luc van Loon at Maastricht University. Recently, he supported the Dutch Olympic team (TeamNL) and is now developing a global movement focused on promoting sustainable performance nutrition.

Mark Ellison is a leading sport nutritionist with over two decades of experience in elite sport. He has worked with Manchester United, GB Boxing, Sale Sharks, and Warrington Wolves, shaping nutrition strategies for world-class athletes. Mark played a pivotal role in Anthony Joshua’s rise to Olympic gold and unified heavyweight champion status, while also delivering performance nutrition services at the UK Sport Institute. He now co-directs Haute Performance and continues to support GB Boxing. With extensive experience across football, rugby, and Olympic sport, Mark is an authority on practical, high-performance nutrition. Join us as he shares insights from the highest level of elite sport.

Lauren Delany is a performance nutritionist with over a decade of experience in elite sport and a recently retired international rugby player. A registered dietitian and SENR practitioner, she began her career at the UK Sports Institute, supporting GB Badminton, British Skeleton, and British Cycling across Olympic, Paralympic, and Winter Olympic cycles. Now completing a PhD at Leeds Beckett University, Lauren researches nutrition and body composition culture in elite rugby through a behavioural science lens. She has applied this expertise as lead nutritionist for Sale Sharks, overseeing the senior men’s team, academy, and technical leadership for the senior women’s squad. As a dual-career athlete, Lauren transitioned from basketball to rugby at 25, earning 26 caps for Ireland and playing eight seasons in England’s top-tier women’s rugby before retiring in 2024. Passionate about player experiences, normative practices, and disordered eating risks, she combines research and real-world insight to drive innovation in sports nutrition.

Stephanie Roe is currently completing an applied PhD at Leeds Beckett University in collaboration with Huddersfield Town Football Club Academy. Her research focuses on fostering positive dietary behaviours in academy male football players. With extensive applied experience, Stephanie has led the academy nutrition strategy at Huddersfield for the past four seasons, playing a key role in their recent promotion to Category 3 status within the EPPP framework. At the conference, Steph will share insights from her research, focusing on optimising the dietary behaviours of academy footballers.

Nessan is a Sport Nutrition Consultant and Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, specialising in elite performance nutrition. He currently consults with Chelsea and Middlesbrough Men’s First Teams and has previously worked with Leeds United, Newcastle United, and Huddersfield Town. Nessan was involved in Leeds United’s 2020 English Football League Championship title win and has supported World Cup, European, and Copa América champions in elite male football, as well as international female team sport athletes in netball and rugby league. Leading a research team of eight PhD students, he has secured over £600k in funding to advance applied research and knowledge exchange in elite sport. Today, Nessan presents on the barriers and enablers faced by lead sports nutrition practitioners in implementing best practice guidelines within the English Premier League.

Introducing Albert Arrieta, currently completing an applied PhD at Leeds Beckett University in collaboration with Huddersfield Town Football Club. Albert's research focuses on the emerging role of the performance chef in professional football. He began by conducting a comprehensive head performance chef audit across the top four divisions of English football, exploring roles and responsibilities. Building on the findings from this study, he then conducted individual interviews with leading performance chefs from the Premier League and Championship to further explore their perceptions and challenges regarding nutrition strategy implementation. Today, he will share insightful findings from this research. In addition to his PhD work, Albert serves as the 1st team sport nutritionist at Huddersfield, supporting player health and wellbeing in the English Football League One. Join us as Albert sheds light on the evolving role of the performance chef in football.

Ben Samuels, a sport nutritionist and PhD candidate with expertise in applied research, elite sport, and the supplements industry. Ben’s PhD research quantifies the resting, activity, and total energy expenditure of senior professional male soccer players in-season, and through distinct phases of injury rehabilitation. With six years in applied sport nutrition, he has worked with endurance athletes and teams in Men’s and Women’s WorldTour cycling, sailing, triathlon, and professional football. In addition to applied practice, Ben spent multiple years with one of the leading sport nutrition brands used by elite athletes globally, Science in Sport. Ben’s nutrition coaching philosophy seeks to build positive food relationships and behaviours that underpin athlete health, performance, and well-being.

Introducing Lara Wilson, a season practitioner with eight years of applied experience supporting various sports, including para table tennis, wheelchair basketball, para badminton, British diving and the Scottish Women’s International Rugby Team for the past five years. Currently completing her applied PhD at Leeds Beckett University, Lara’s research focuses on the nutritional needs of female rugby players. Her PhD has involved determining the energy requirements of international female rugby players during the Six Nations Championship, conducting an international audit of sports nutrition services for male and female international players, and investigating the barriers and enablers to appropriate dietary behaviours in this cohort. In her talk today, Lara will share key insights into the nutritional considerations for female rugby players and implication for nutrition service provision, drawing from her wealth of experience and research findings.

Tim Rawlinson has spent his career navigating high-pressure environments, first in the military and then in elite-level sport. He’s worked with Olympic and Paralympic teams, helping leaders sharpen their influence and decision-making when the stakes are high. Whether it's on the front line or the sidelines, Tim knows what it takes to get people on board, build trust, and create impact, even when the answer isn’t obvious. Expect practical insights, a story or two and no fluff.

Dr Laurie Patterson is a Reader in Sport and Exercise Science within the School of Sport at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Laurie initially trained as a sport and exercise scientist, before becaming involved in anti-doping research in 2008. Her research primarily involves using behavioural science to investigate (anti-)doping and broader integrity behaviour among athletes and athlete support personnel (e.g., coaches, nutritionists, medical staff) to inform evidence-based practice, programmes and policy. She has secured over £1.5 million of funding to undertake over 20 projects, working collaboratively with key organisations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency, UEFA, World Rugby and the Athletics Integrity Unit. Laurie has completed a multitude of projects outside of anti-doping related to the efficacy of nutritional supplements, coach development and education, and athlete development in youth sport settings. Most recently, she co-authored the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences Expert Statement on using a behavioural approach to prevent problematic low energy availability/relative energy deficiency in sport. Join Laurie for this interactive session on working in collaboration with coaches to unlock behaviour.

Dan is a SENr Performance Nutritionist and Chartered Sport & Exercise Scientist with over 10-years’ experience of working in professional and Olympic sport. He obtained his MSc in Sport & Exercise Nutrition from Leeds Beckett University followed by a PhD in the area of Performance Nutrition, Education, & Behaviour Change from Liverpool John Moores University. He holds strategic positions across three main sports. In motorsport he is Head of Sports Science and Performance Coaching for Moneygram Haas F1 team, in football he is Head of Nutrition for Southampton FC, and within horseracing he holds a central role of Head of Industry Nutrition Services. Alongside these roles he still enjoys works privately and directly with several professional athletes including F1 drivers, Premier League footballers and celebrities. Originating from West Yorkshire and being a Leeds Beckett alumnus, he’s looking forward to returning to the university and sharing some of his experiences and the lessons learned on his journey.

Emma currently holds the position of Head of Nutrition at the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) where she has worked for the past 3 years alongside the Men’s National team who won back-to-back 6 Nations titles in 2023 and 2024. Prior to this role Emma was a Senior Performance Nutritionist at the English Institute of Sport where she worked for 10 years specialising in nutrition support for team sports. Emma has worked with both Olympic and Professional sports including Northampton Saints Rugby club and Great Britain Hockey, the latter of which she was part of the Science and medicine team who supported the women’s hockey team to Olympic Gold success in Rio de Janeiro 2016, and bronze in Tokyo 2020. In 2017 - 2022 Emma worked for the England & Wales Cricket board where she was lead performance nutritionist for the Senior Men’s England Cricket team, who made history in 2019 winning the Cricket World Cup on home soil, followed by another T20 World Cup in 2022. Emma was part of the Team GB Science and Medicine Team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympic Games where she led the nutrition provision for over 25 sports at the preparation camps prior to the Olympic Games. A graduate in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Birmingham, with two MSC’s in Sport & Exercise Science, and Sports Nutrition respectively, Emma is also a high-performance registrant with the Sport & Exercise Nutrition Register.