Our Team
At the Institute of Performance Nutrition (“the IOPN”, formerly the Guru Performance Institute) we have assembled a special team of expert practitioners as our educators who are led by Founder and Director Dr Laurent Bannock, all of whom are highly qualified and well-respected professionals within the field. Such expertise helps to ensure that the professional educational products that we offer are unparalleled and remain at the forefront of competition.
Our experts have significant experience working within the high performance setting. They have collaborated with a wide variety of elite teams and individual athletes, including FIFA World Cup and English Premiership / Championship league football teams, WTA professional tennis players, Premier League football and rugby players, Olympians, professional boxers, MMA (UFC) fighters, and elite level triathletes (Ironman, GB age group etc). They also have extensive experience working with recreational athletes (cyclists, runners, triathletes, cross-fit athletes, bodybuilders and regular gym goers) who are looking to take their performance (both exercise and day-to-day) to the next level.
Mission Statement:
To provide our students with the best possible, and up to date, evidence-based education and support to help them achieve unparalleled success in their studies and ultimately in their professional practice.
Dr Laurent Bannock DProf, MSc, CSCS, RNutr, SENr
Founder and Director
Laurent is the Founder and Director of the Institute of Performance Nutrition (“the IOPN”, formerly the Guru Performance Institute) with over twenty eight years of practitioner experience in the fields of nutrition, fitness, and performance. Via his private practice he has worked with many elite professional athletes and teams. Notable recent roles include being Performance Nutrition lead to the Egyptian National Football team up to and during the FIFA 2018 World Cup, and the the British Fencing World Class Program; supporting the Team GB Fencing Squad for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Laurent is a Registered Nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition (AfN), a Registered Sports and Exercise Nutrition Practitioner with the British Dietetic Association’s UK Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr), and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA). Academic qualifications include a Professional Doctorate (DProf) in Sport and Exercise Nutrition from Middlesex University (UK), a Master of Science degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion from California University of Pennsylvania (USA), a Post Graduate Certificate in Strength & Conditioning from Middlesex University (UK), and a post-graduate Certificate in Nutrition Counselling from Cornell University (USA).
Laurent is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, a Fellow of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, and is the 2016 inaugural winner of the SENr Professor Clyde Williams OBE Award for Sport and Exercise Research/Education.
Although Laurent has been primarily a practitioner throughout his career, he is also a researcher and educator in the field of Applied Sports & Exercise Nutrition, with a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals, and is the host of the highly acclaimed ‘We Do Science’ Podcast. Laurent plays an active role in supporting his profession and fellow professionals in any way he can and is currently serving as a member of the registration panel of the UK Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr).
Laurent is a highly experienced educator & lecturer, and in addition to his current educational roles at GPI he was also the founding program leader for the MSc program in Sport & Exercise Nutrition program at Middlesex University which he ran for several years.
Learn more about Laurent via his personal website: www.LaurentBannock.com
Dr Sally Waterworth PhD
Lecturer and Tutor
Sally has a BSc (Hons) in Sports Therapy and worked clinically for many years in various sports, alongside lecturing positions at different Universities. Her early research focused on injury biomechanics and she completed a PhD in Human Movement Science at University of Pretoria in South Africa.
She got involved in triathlon in 2011 and has since completed seven Ironman 70.3 and six Ironman races, podiuming in her Age Group and qualifying for World Championships in her last five races. As her experience grew, she realised the important role that nutrition plays in endurance performance and she enrolled on the IOPN’s Graduate Diploma in Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition, graduating with Distinction in August 2017. For further personal and professional development, she is now completing an MSc Sports Nutrition at Liverpool John Moores University.
Sally is a certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN), a certified Anthropometrist (ISAK) and a certified Anti-Doping Advisor with UKAD. As a practitioner, she has worked with a diverse range of individuals including high-level youth and junior triathletes, AG triathletes, para-triathletes, long and ultra-distance runners, cyclists, rugby players, weigh-lifters, cross-fitters and recreational athletes wanting to optimise their health and performance. Her work has seen her travel extensively, providing support to individuals and teams and she often gives talks and workshops on optimising nutrition for training and racing to clubs. She has written for Triathlon magazines and blogged on various topics related to triathlon and nutrition.
Mark Hearris BSc, MSc, PhD(c), SENr
Lecturer and Tutor
Mark has a BSc in Sport Science (Physiology), an MSc in Sports Nutrition, and is a current PhD student at the Research Institute for Sport & Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moore’s University where his specific research interests focus on the molecular and cellular responses of human skeletal muscle to endurance exercise and the impact of nutrition on modulating these responses as well as nutritional strategies to enhance team-sport performance. To date, Mark has authored 4 scientific research publications in the area of nutrition and exercise metabolism and has presented this work at both national and international conferences. Adjunct to research, Mark also has four years of experience teaching, designing module content, supervising work-based learning placements and providing both academic and pastoral support to students on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes which has allowed him to become an Associated Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).
Alongside his roles in academia, Mark is a Registered Sports and Exercise Nutrition Practitioner with the British Dietetic Association’s UK Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr) and a certified anthropometrist (ISAK). Over the past four years, Mark has continued to work as an applied practitioner where he currently acts as a nutrition consultant within professional football and supports a variety of physiological testing for a range of external clients through LJMU.
Jasmine Campbell BSc, MSc, DProf(c), SENr
Lecturer and Tutor
Stephen Smith BSc, MSc, PhD(c), SENr (Grad)
Lecturer and Tutor
Stephen has a Master of Science in Sport Nutrition from Liverpool John Moores University (UK) where he is also currently undertaking Doctoral Research into how the gastrointestinal system responds to exercise. He was amongst the first cohort of students to successfully complete the IOPN’s Graduate Diploma in Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition, graduating with Distinction. Stephen is a Graduate Registrant on the UK Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr), a certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN), a certified Anthropometrist (ISAK) and a certified Anti-Doping Advisor with UKAD. He works closely with all students on our Diploma in Performance Nutrition (previously titled ISSN Diploma) program to ensure that they get the very most out of the course.
Specifically, he helps to guide students through the various modules and assignments; offering his advice, ‘top tips’ and pointing students towards useful resources to ensure they are kept up-to-date with the latest research in the field of Applied Sports and Exercise Nutrition.
As a practitioner, Stephen has worked in a diverse spectrum of sports including professional motorsport, pro MMA, world-championship downhill mountain bike, cycling, triathlon and the with the military. This work has seen him travel around Europe providing nutritional support to world-level athletes. His written work has appeared in the UKSCA Journal as well as respected triathlon magazines, and his own blog covers a range of nutritional topics to help athletes improve their performance.
Alex Ritson MSc, SENr (Grad)
Lecturer and Assistant Program Leader (Diploma in Performance Nutrition)
Alex holds a Master of Science in Sports and Exercise Nutrition (with distinction) from Middlesex University (London) and is a proud product of the IOPN’s Graduate Diploma being awarded a Distinction and is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN).
Coupled with this, Alex has years of professional and personal experience to offer our Diploma in Performance Nutrition students. Most importantly, Alex brings first hands experience of what it takes to excel in both the Diploma and the Master’s program while managing a full-time, successful coaching business.
Alex is well known for his continued pursuit of academic and personal development. This unrelenting pursuit of up-skilling has evolved Alex’s career from being a personal trainer to a Master of Science in Sports Nutrition, alongside running a successful online coaching company.
Alex’s background is a multi-cultural one, growing up in Malaysia, Germany, America and the UK. At present, Alex resides in Seville, Spain and continues to explore Europe as an online Tutor and Coach, while continuing to research an appropriate placement for his Ph.D. in the near future.
“What excites me as a tutor at the Guru Performance Institute is watching our students take what they’ve learned and build wonderful careers for themselves. I want our students to be the benchmark for evidence-informed practitioners in Sports Nutrition. Seeing them progress in their careers using the tools they attained from the program and remaining true to our message, gives me immense satisfaction as an educator.”
Rianne Costello BSc MSc PhD(c), SENr (Grad), AFHEA
Lecturer and Tutor
Rianne has a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science (Sports Performance), MSc in Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition and is a current PhD student with the Occupational Performance Research Group (OPRG) at University of Chichester. Her Doctoral research is focusing on the inter-individual response to exercise-induced muscle damage and New Zealand blackcurrant supplementation, specifically examining bioavailability response and genotypes. Rianne has previously been on the editorial advisory board for the quarterly BASES publication, The Sport and Exercise Scientist, and is a reviewer for the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. Rianne has held teaching and module coordinating roles at various Universities for the past four years at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).
Alongside her academic engagements, Rianne is a Registered Sport and Exercise Nutritionist (SENr Grad), a certified anthropometrist (ISAK) and certified by the International Association of Sciences in Medicine and Sport (IASMS) in using B-mode ultrasound as a tool for body composition assessment. Since completing her MSc at Oxford Brookes University, Rianne has worked as an applied practitioner providing nutrition consultation services to a range of clients including, rowing teams, triathletes, ultra-endurance cyclists and marathon runners from grass-root level to the international stage.