Dr Sinéad Furey is a Lecturer on the Consumer Management and Food Innovation undergraduate degree programme in the Department for Hospitality and Tourism Management. Sinéad studied Consumer Studies at Ulster University (1998) and completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in food poverty researching the characteristics, extent and location of food deserts in both rural and urban areas of Northern Ireland in 2001. She completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Management Studies at Queen’s University Belfast (2005) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Sinéad joined Ulster in 2013 having worked previously in consumer, food and nutrition policy in the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, Education and Training Inspectorate, and the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland.

Her primary research interests are food poverty, retail food promotions, promotion of food to young people, and social exclusion. 

Sinéad lectures on food and consumer policy and legislation and co-ordinates modules for consumer law and Contemporary Consumer Issues. She also teaches business-related modules on marketing and management.

Sinéad supervises two PhD researchers identifying a fit for purpose indicator to measure the extent of food poverty in Northern Ireland, and the development of an at risk of food poverty index for mapping rural food poverty in Northern Ireland. She represents Ulster University on the Belfast Food Network Advisory Group and Belfast Food Network Food Poverty Working Group.

Sinéad also holds a Ministerial appointment as a Board member of the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland and is the independent consumer representative on the Northern Ireland Food Chain Certification Committee.