Professor Tara Dean

I am a Professor of Health Sciences who is an internationally recognised authority in epidemiology of allergic disorders. As Provost I'm the University’s chief academic officer, upholding LSBU’s academic standards and core academic mission. I have direct responsibility for LSBU’s academic units.

I have demonstrable success in developing highly effective teams capable of delivering strategic objectives and in 2015 was shortlisted for ‘Mentor of the Year’ by Women of Future programme. I'm the institutional Athena SWAN lead and the executive champion for gender equality. In 2020 I initiated and implemented a BAME and Women leadership programme at University of Brighton.

My research has involved number seminal birth cohort studies, where natural history and risk factors of the conditions have been identified. I have extensive experience in the area of food allergy, hypersensitivity and food preference.

I have been awarded over £12M to support my research activity, either as a Principal or Co-Investigator, from a variety of sources, including UK and international Research Councils, Government Agencies, the European Commission, charities and industry. I have established, managed and developed a number of successful research teams and have mentored many of the researchers working with me on these projects, who have subsequently gone on to become successful, independent researchers themselves.

At University of Brighton, I strived to establish a new and dynamic Enterprise & Innovation agenda - forged from collection of ad hoc, disconnected activities, loosely referred to as “non research”. The University now has a flourishing suite of innovative research and enterprise projects, in partnership with companies and public sector partners and is now acknowledged as a respected contributor to the economic stewardship of the local economy.

I have been involved in many externally facing activities including my current roles as the Chair of UUKi’s International Research and Development Network, National Director of University Alliance Doctoral Training Alliance, Advisory Board member for Gender Equality, Association of Commonwealth Universities, and as a member of ‘The Conversation’ editorial board. I have taken part of a number of UUKi and British Council overseas delegations and was asked to lead a UUKi delegation to Pakistan in April 2020 which was cancelled due to Covid19 crisis.

Within my discipline areas I have served as the Chair of EU’s European Food Safety Authority Panels, served as an expert advisor to the Adverting Standards Authority, served on the Clinical and Scientific panel of Anaphylaxis Campaign, been a panel member for NordForsk (the cross-Nordic council for research cooperation and infrastructure) and for Swedish Research Council’s register-based studies. In September and November of 2020, I chaired the mid-term review of Swedish Research Council ‘World Leading Researchers’ programme and the Finnish Academy of Sciences ‘Research Network’ programme respectively. In 2017 I established a partnership with ‘Research Impact Canada’, a pan Canadian network of 17 Canadian Universities with a focus on knowledge mobilisation.