Yun Yun Gong

Professor Yun Yun Gong is a Professor in Food Safety and Global Health at the School of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, where she serves as School International Lead and maintains an extensive global research network across Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Her educational background includes:

• Bachelor in Medicine
• Master in Epidemiology
• PhD in Food toxicology

Her research program centers on food chemical contaminants, particularly mycotoxins like aflatoxin, and their impact on human health. She conducts molecular epidemiological studies in high-risk regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, investigating links between mycotoxin exposure and child malnutrition (including double/triple burden), stunting, cancer, and reproductive health. Her work integrates biomarker development, in vitro mechanistic studies, and sustainable interventions such as post-harvest storage improvements and public education campaigns, generating science-based evidence for international food safety policies.

Her scientific recognition includes the Newton International Fellowship and appointments as a working group member for the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Professor Gong has secured major research funding from:

• Royal Society UK (including Newton International Fellowship)
• BBSRC (multiple projects including GCRF-AFRICAP and China malnutrition study)
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (multiple awards on aflatoxin and child stunting)
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) USA
• Wellcome Trust
• Sir Halley Stewart Trust

She actively supervises postgraduate researchers Rui Ma and Xiaomian Tan and maintains strategic partnerships with Tanzania TFDA, South Africa MRC, Gambia MRC, China CFSA, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and IARC. Her professional affiliations include UK Toxicology Society, UK Environmental Mutagen Society, World Mycotoxin Society, and Nutrition Society UK.