Our Team
Our team at the Riddet Institute
Professor Warren McNabb leads the SNi® program at the Riddet Institute. The core team comprises Dr. Nick Smith, Honorary Industry Fellow Dr. Andrew Fletcher, Adjunct Professor Jeremy Hill, Laurette Batstone, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Mahya Tavan, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Heather Collis as well as many important contributions from across the Institute.
Professor Warren McNabb
Project LeaderRiddet Institute
Warren McNabb is a Professor of Nutritional Science at the Riddet Institute; one of New Zealand’s Centres of Research Excellence (CoRE), hosted by Massey University. He leads SNi® and his research interests include digestive physiology and metabolism, nutrition for health, and sustainable nutrition.
Dr Nick Smith
Research OfficerRiddet Institute
Nick works as a mathematical modeller on the Riddet Institute SNi®. He is responsible for a wide range of SNi’s work and the continued development of the SNi models like the DELTA Model®. This is a tool for investigating how global food production meets global nutritional requirements as part of a sustainable food system.
Dr Andrew Fletcher
Honorary FellowRiddet Institute
Andrew is a Chemical Engineer with a PhD in process control and modelling. Andrew is a Honorary Fellow at the Riddet Institute and has been involved with SNi® since the outset. He is based at the Fonterra Research and Development Centre in Palmerston North and is involved in a range of research, management and strategy roles.
Professor Jeremy Hill
Adjunct ProfessorRiddet Institute
Professor Jeremy Hill has played a major role in developing SNi®. He has also been involved in developing strategic partnerships between Fonterra and the Riddet Institute. For example, the establishment of three Professorial Chairs in Food Material Science, Nutrition, and Consumer and Sensory Science.
Jeremy is the Chief Science and Technology Officer at Fonterra.
Hannah Ramsay
Project ManagerRiddet Institute
Hannah is the Project Manager for SNi®. She started her career in the Riddet Institute when she first came to New Zealand and has since done project and event work across various educational institutes. The opportunity to return to Project Management at the Riddet Institute was very welcome, especially given the fascinating research and mahi conducted as part of SNi®.
Dr Mahya Tavan
Postdoctoral Research FellowRiddet Institute
Mahya is a postdoctoral research fellow working on the development of the iOTA model. iOTA is a dietary optimisation tool for designing sustainable diets that are nutritious, acceptable and affordable. Prior to joining SNi®, Mahya held a research role at the University of Melbourne, Australia where she carried out various research projects on sustainable food production, resource use efficiency and biofortification of fresh food.
Ejovi Abafe
PhD studentRiddet Institute
Prior to his current PhD, Ejovi obtained a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Delta State University, Nigeria.
The current focus of his PhD at the Riddet Institute is Global land use for the delivery of nutrition.
Patricia Soh
PhD StudentRiddet Institute
Prior to her current PhD, Patricia attained a Master of Science in Human Nutrition at Massey University, Albany.
The current focus of her PhD is investigating nutritional concerns within vegan diets.