29 April, 2019

Cork based company Atlantia Food Clinical Trials will create six new jobs when they open their new offices in Chicago, growing to 20 positions within two years. Two of these initial posts will be held by CIT graduates. The announcement was made by, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, at an event in Washington in March.

The company which provides clinical trial expertise for the food, beverage and supplements sector, spun out of the APC Microbiome Ireland in 2012 with eight employees. They currently employ 40 staff and have been collaborating with CIT since 2014.

Dr Helena Stack, lecturer from the Department of Biomedical Science, recalls initially getting in touch with Atlantia to discuss work placement opportunities for 3rd year Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Nutrition and Health Science students. This led to several other opportunities for CIT students, including final year projects and employment.

“Nutrition modules including nutritional analysis, Nutrition and Health, Nutrition communication, Nutrition epidemiology and functional foods and Health seemed like a great fit for Atlantia,” Dr Stack said. “Our department had also recently integrated the cloud based nutritional analysis software, Nutritics, into the teaching of modules, so students were industry ready.”

Ms Ursula Leonard, Operations Manager at Atlantia Food Clinical Trials, said CIT students are very tech savy and quick to grasp what is required in their role. “Almost all projects have some element of dietary analysis, and Nutritics is our chosen analysis tool. CIT students come on aboard and can start working almost instantly after learning our internal processes.”

Ms Leonard said that placement students provide the resources they need to carry out back end work such as dietary analysis, preparation of sample collection kits, and telephone screening. “Through this hands-on type training, we watch them develop their skills and become equal counterparts.”

Atlantia’s move to Chicago marks the next phase of their development. Ms Leonard said that as the company has grown, opportunities have arisen and CIT graduates have put their hand up for promotions, most notably in Project Management, Quality Management and Data Management.

In addition to the two CIT graduates moving to the Chicago offices, Atlantia employs four alumni on permanent contracts, five 4th year students on part-time contracts and currently hosts four interns on placement.

“CIT students have a practical, driven and attention to detail mindset. We were really impressed by their growth from start to finish. They showed the commitment required in a small business, and it’s no surprise that we have hired CIT graduates on permanent contracts after graduation,” Ms Leonard added.

If you would like to find out more about collaboration opportunities within CIT, call 021 4335302 or email extendedcampus@cit.ie