Professor John Nolan is a Fulbright Scholar and currently holds a Chair for Human Nutrition Research at the School of Health Science, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. Prof Nolan is the Founder and Director of the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI, www.nrci.ie) and is also the Principal Investigator of the Macular Pigment Research Group (MPRG, a specialised research group within this centre).  

His research group studies the role of nutrition for vision and prevention of blindness. In 2011, Prof Nolan won a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) research grant to study the impact of nutritional supplementation on visual function via two major clinical trials (CREST 281096; Central Retinal Enrichment Supplementation Trials). These trials identified how targeted nutrition can improve visual function for the general population, and for patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Current studies at the NRCI are investigating the link between nutrition and brain health and function.  

Prof Nolan has published 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers on his area of research (3621 = citations, H index = 38). In 2014, he successfully edited a CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group book publication entitled “Carotenoids and Retinal Disease.”  He also has editorial roles at the European Journal of Ophthalmology and the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Professor Nolan is Chair of the International Brain and Ocular Nutrition Conference (BON Conference), which is held at Downing College, Cambridge University (www.bonconference.org).