p>Maureen Kilgore is a mum with a passion for healthy living. She lives with her husband and two children in Belfast city Northern Ireland. Maureen is currently a "stay at home" mum looking after her kids full time and thoroughly enjoying it. She is originally from the South of Ireland but moved to Belfast to study at Queens University, eventually married and stayed in Belfast.

Maureen was always interested in Biology and Science at school and decided to study for a Bachelor of Agriculture at University. During her studies the agricultural industry in Europe was in turmoil with the BSE outbreak, views and opinions on how food should be produced and eaten were changing fast. With the European Union placing more and more emphasis on the conservation and the environment, the industry had to adjust fast and so did the students. There were virtually no jobs in the traditional graduate roles, the only options - post grad programs in environmental science or transfer to another discipline. Maureen chose to study for an MSC in Applied Environmental Management at Queens University. She was awarded a scholarship from the Shellfish Association of Great Britain and her MSC thesis was on aquaculture. After graduating she worked at the Centre for Marine Resources and Mariculture as a researcher in sustainable aquaculture with research being focused on developing alternative environmentally sustainable aquaculture businesses for Fishermen whose livelihoods were being affected by the fishing quotas that were being put in place by the EU to try and sustain and conserve fish stocks.

Maureen became more and more interested in Sustainability and started work with an NGO called Sustainable Northern Ireland as a community project officer and community facilitator with specific remit of working with Belfast Communities to develop local projects that would minimize waste and make the community more sustainable environmentally, socially and economically. The projects involved communities that were changing rapidly, becoming stronger, safer in the time of Peace and on a quest to develop a community vision, ownership and long term sustainability.

Maureen’s eldest son Ryan was born in 2004 and when he was 6 months old she returned to work part-time, when he was 18 months old she decided that she did not want to miss the important moments of his preschool years and took a career break. Her second son Adam was born in September 08 and is now 10 months old. She is still passionate about sustainability, sustainable healthy communities, healthy parenting and has a particular interest in organic food, chemical free food and the effect that diet has on the behavior of children.

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