| Queen's prides itself on the quality of its academic leadership, with a united team of academics and academic support directors working together to deliver its Vision. The University is led by its President and Vice-Chancellor, supported by the Registrar and Chief Operating Officer and Pro-Vice-Chancellors, each with specific portfolios. There are three Faculty groupings, each headed up by a Dean, and there are 20 Schools each run by a Head of School, supported by a School Manager. Eight academic support Directorates, which are responsible for the delivery of services ranging from finance and human resources, to estates and student services, complete the University’s organisational structure. This page contains profiles of the University's management team and the organisational structure. Click on the images to fast-track to an individual profile.
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Queen’s University Belfast’s new Chancellor is international statesman Kamalesh Sharma. He succeeds Senator George Mitchell, who stepped down in March 2009.
His Excellency Kamalesh Sharma is currently Commonwealth Secretary General and former Indian High Commissioner in London.
Mr Sharma retired from the Indian Foreign Service in 2001, serving as India’s permanent representative to the United Nations. From 2002 to 2004 he was the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to East Timor. He was appointed India’s High Commissioner in London in 2004 before his election as Secretary General of the Commonwealth in 2007.
Pro-Chancellor Sir David Fell, chair of the University's governing body which made the appointment, said: “Kamalesh Sharma is a worthy successor to Senator Mitchell. He is an exceptional figure who has served his country at the highest level and whose leadership skills have been recognized by the 53 member states which make up the Commonwealth.
“As High Commissioner in London, he cemented close links between Northern Ireland and India - it is a relationship which has resulted in India becoming the second largest inward investor in the Northern Ireland economy.”
Speaking at his installation, the Chancellor said: “I am enormously proud to be invited to serve Queen’s University and look forward to contributing towards strengthening its international influence.
“Queen’s has an international academic reputation and its research has made a dramatic impact on the world. We are operating in a competitive, worldwide higher education environment. The stronger a University's international connections, the greater the contribution it makes to the economic and social development of the community it serves. Northern Ireland should be justifiably proud of Queen's University Belfast.
"Queen's has high ambitions and I endorse these fully. I am enthused by its aspiration to become a global Top 100 university within the next five years. I believe it has the commitment, the resources, and above all, the talent to do that and I look forward to contributing to whatever I can to help it achieve this aim."
Sir David Fell was appointed as a Pro-Chancellor of the University on 1 September 2005. He is responsible for chairing Senate in the absence of the Chancellor. He also assists the Vice-Chancellor in his outreach work.
In addition, Sir David has been a member of the Queen's Foundation Board since 2002, a role in which he has been responsible, with other Foundation Board members, for raising substantial funds through the Campaign for Queen's to develop the University infrastructure and so improve the 'Queen's Experience' for students.
A Queen’s graduate, Sir David spent much of his career in the Civil Service, rising to become Permanent Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, and Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service from 1991 to 1997. He retired early to embark on a business career, and since 1998, has served as Chairman of the Boards of Northern Bank Ltd, National Irish Bank Ltd, Boxmore International plc, Harland & Wolff plc and Titanic Quarter Ltd.
He is currently Chairman of Goldblatt McGuigan, Chartered Accountants, and of Chesapeake Corporation. He also served as a Director of Dunloe Ewart plc, and remains a Director of National Australia Group Ltd and of Clydesdale Bank plc.
He was Chairman of the Northern Ireland Council of the Prince’s Trust from 1999 to 2005, and remains active in assisting other bodies in the voluntary sector.
He was knighted in 1995, and awarded an honorary DUniv by the University of Ulster in 2003.
Pro-ChancellorRotha Johnston took up her post as Pro-Chancellor for a four year period from 1 January 2008. A member of Senate, she is chair of the Planning and Finance Committee and also sits on the Remuneration Committee.
A Queen’s graduate, Ms Johnston has had a career in the textiles, economic development and the food sectors. She currently has various investment interests primarily in the property sector.
Rotha is National Trustee for Northern Ireland for the BBC Trust, the Sovereign Body of the BBC. In addition she is Chair of the BBC Audience Council for Northern Ireland, which represents the views of local licence fee payers to the BBC Trust.
In addition Rotha holds a number of non executive positions including Director of the Allied Irish Bank (UK) plc, Deputy Chair of Invest Northern Ireland and member of NIO Management Board. She is also a member of the UK Female Entrepreneurship Task Force and the NI Skills and Science Task Force, Matrix.
Previously she was a shareholder and director of Variety Foods Ltd, a food service company supplying the Irish market, which was sold in 2005; Head of Marketing in Moygashel Textiles, part of Lamont Holdings and Business Development Director, Ledu.
Ms Johnston was also a member of the Northern Ireland Economic Council, Deputy Chair of the Labour Relations Agency, the Industrial Development Board and a member of the Northern Ireland Council of the Prince’s Trust.
In 2006 she was awarded the CBE in recognition of her contribution to industry in Northern Ireland.
She is married to Henry and they have four children.
Professor Sir Peter Gregson became President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University in August 2004.
Born in 1957, Professor Gregson graduated with a first-class degree in Materials Science at Imperial College London and went on to earn a PhD before being appointed to the academic staff at the University of Southampton.
Appointed to a personal Chair in 1996, he was awarded the prestigious Rosenhain Medal and Prize of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining the same year, and elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1998.
In 2000 he was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor. In 2001, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and became a member of the Windsor Leadership Trust in 2002. He was appointed to the governing body of one of the UK’s most important research organisations - the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils - in 2003.
Professor Tony Gallagher took up post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic Planning, Staffing and External Relations on 1 May 2010.
He joined Queen’s as a Lecturer in Education in 1992 and was later appointed to a Readership in 1995 and a Chair in 1999. In 2005 he was appointed Head of the School of Education.
His main research interest lies in the role of education in societies marked by ethnic conflict, although he is also interested more generally in issues related to equality and social inclusion in education. Most of his research has been carried out in Northern Ireland, although he has also worked in the Middle East, with Israeli and Palestinian educators, and in South East Europe. He has acted as a consultant for many government departments, non-governmental public bodies, voluntary and community organizations, and a range of international organizations.
His current main work involves the exploration of effective methods of school collaboration to raise standards and promote new relationships across denominational divisions in Northern Ireland.
Professor McElnay took up the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Postgraduates on 1 July 2008.
He gained his BSc and PhD from Queen's and, after registration as a qualified pharmacist, he spent a year at the University of Iowa on a postdoctoral fellowship. He continued his academic career at Queen's and spent a year as a visiting professor at the Texas Medical Centre in Houston before being awarded a Chair of Pharmacy Practice in 1995. He was Head of the School of Pharmacy from 1994 to 2001 and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005.
Professor McElnay is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland. His research interests lie in the area of clinical pharmacy, with particular reference to pharmaceutical care and paediatric therapy.
Professor Douglas-Cowie is Professor of Spoken English at Queen’s University Belfast and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students. A speech scientist, she graduated from the University of Ulster in 1972, and gained her PhD in 1980. She became a lecturer in Linguistics (based in the School of English) at Queen’s University Belfast in 1975, Senior Lecturer in 1991 and Professor in 2003. She was Head of the School of English (1992-2003), Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (2003-2005) and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (2005- 2009). She took up her post as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students in 2009.
Her research studies the characteristics that distinguish varieties of speech and includes seminal papers on sociolinguistics, deafened speech and emotional databases. Most recently she has worked on a series of EU funded interdisciplinary projects concerned with the identification and recognition of emotion and social signals from speech and face.
She was appointed a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2008 and is Chair of the AHRC Advisory Board.
As Dean, Professor O’Neill is responsible for the strategic management of research and education portfolios and for the quality of student and staff experiences in the Faculty.
A graduate of University College Dublin and Glasgow University, he joined the staff at Queen’s, from a post in the University of Manchester, in 1994. He became Professor of Political Theory in 2002 and was Head of School from 2001 to 2009. His primary interest is in contemporary moral and political philosophy, specifically in clarifying the demands of justice and outlining conditions of democratic legitimacy in modern pluralist societies.
He was Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 and has held Visiting Professorships at the University of Macquarie in Sydney, and Queen’s University in Ontario. He recently lead an ESRC-funded seminar series on ‘The Politics of Recognition and the Dynamics of Social Conflict’.
As Dean, Professor Millar sees his main objectives as ensuring that Schools in the Faculty provide flexible and innovative research and teaching portfolios.
A graduate of UMIST, Professor Millar is the author of some 200 papers and has edited six conference proceedings in the field of physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium. He is Chair of the International Board of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii and Vice-President of Division VI (Interstellar matter) of the International Astronomical Union.
He held postdoctoral positions in York University, Toronto and the University of Oxford and moved to UMIST in 1981 as an SERC Advanced Fellow. In 1983 he was appointed lecturer in Mathematics and in 1995 became Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics, UMIST. He served subsequently as Head of Department (1997-1999) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Staffing) between 2001 and 2004.
As an established member of the University's senior management team, James O’Kane, as Registrar and Chief Operating Officer, plays a leading role in helping to realise Queen’s Vision to be a global player at the heart of the local community.
The Registrar and Chief Operating Officer is head of a unified administration and chairs the University Operating Board. His main roles are to lead, manage and coordinate the provision of a comprehensive range of high quality professional support services and to formulate and co-ordinate strategies, policies and procedures in support of the Vision for Queen's.
An accountant by profession, James O'Kane was appointed Registrar and Chief Operating Officer in 1999, after nearly six years as the University's Director of Finance. An advocate of technology and knowledge transfer he is a Director of a number of companies including QUBIS Ltd., NI Challenge Fund Ltd and Northern Ireland Science Park Holdings Ltd. He is also currently a Director of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and was formerly the Chairman of the Belfast Metropolitan College, the largest provider of tertiary education in Northern Ireland.
As Director of Academic and Student Affairs, Wilma Fee leads a major support service for students and academic matters. The Directorate is comprised of four major divisions - Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Educational and Skills Development, and Student Services and Systems. These divisions provide the framework for the delivery of services to students and the academic infrastructure for quality assurance and regulation, and student appeals. The Directorate is also responsible for a purpose-designed Student Guidance Centre, which provides a single point of access and guidance for all students and a recently opened International and Postgraduate Student Centre. The Directorate works closely with Schools and other key directorates in delivering the Corporate Plan and Education Strategy for the University, and in developing and enhancing the processes and systems which underpin learning and teaching of students. It is most closely associated with the provision of leadership and support for the 'Student Experience', from enrolment through to graduation, and for the implementation of the University’s Education Strategy.
A graduate of both Queen’s University and the University of Ulster, Wilma Fee joined Queen’s in 1995 as Faculty Administrator for the Faculty of Humanities, and was Head of the Postgraduate Office before taking up the post of Director of Academic and Student Affairs in May 2006. She is an active member of the national Association of University Administrators, having served as a member of the Executive Committee, the Conferences Committee, and as Regional Coordinator for Ireland.
Visit the Directorate of Academic & Student Affairs website.
The Directorate of Development and Alumni Relations has spearheaded the £150 million philanthropic Campaign for Queen's, set up the Queen's University of Belfast Foundation Board and the Friends of Queen's, and undertaken responsibility for a number of fund-raising initiatives and events and enhancing relationships with Queen's graduates.
Norma Sinte joined Queen's in 2000 as Head of Corporate and Major Gifts Fundraising and has been Director since November 2008. A graduate of Queen's, she worked as Marketing and Development Manager at the Ulster Orchestra. Prior to this she worked in the private sector in sales and marketing management in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Europe. She is a member of the Board of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen's and a member of the Northern Ireland Council of the Prince's Trust.
Visit the Development & Alumni Relations Directorate website.
As Director of Estates, Gary Jebb leads one of the major support services of the University. It is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of all buildings, grounds and engineering plant in an efficient and cost-effective manner, ensuring the enhancement of the physical heritage and the continued provision of a quality learning and teaching environment. This entails capital project management and space management, while the essential services provided include building structure repair and maintenance, car parking, cleaning, portering, mail, security, fire safety, emergency planning and business continuity, and the maintenance of grounds and playing fields.
A Queen’s graduate who worked in the private sector as a Chartered Surveyor, Gary Jebb joined the staff of Queen’s in 1994. He is a School Governor and a Board member of a number of companies associated with the University.
Visit the Estates Directorate website.
Director of FinanceThe key objective of the Finance Directorate is to support the teaching, research and other activities of the University through the efficient planning, management and control of its financial and business affairs, the control of its funds and assets, together with the development and implementation of effective systems and services to improve the financial wellbeing of the institution.
Wendy Galbraith joined Queen’s as Director of Finance in October 2010. Wendy is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and joined the University from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust where she held the post of Director of Finance and was latterly also the Deputy Chief Executive. She graduated from Dundee University with a First Class BSc Honours in Mathematics and Statistics and trained in accountancy with Price Waterhouse, moving to Deloitte and Touche in 1994 as a manager in their public sector consulting practice. She has extensive experience across a wide range of strategic financial management arenas in the public and voluntary sectors.
Visit the Finance Directorate website.
The Human Resources Directorate is comprised of five units - Personnel, Equal Opportunities, Legal Services, Staff Training and Development, and Occupational Health and Safety. Each unit offers professional support to service the needs of a workforce of nearly 3,500 people. Additionally the Occupational Health and Safety Service works closely with academic schools, the Estates and Student Services Directorates in ensuring students learn and indeed live in a safe environment.
The University is also one of Northern Ireland’s leading employers and plays a vital role in providing career opportunities for its employees. The key challenges facing the Directorate are to work even closer with its key users and respond to their needs ensuring that it contributes to the recruitment, retention and development of key staff. As the University strives to enhance its reputation nationally and internationally the Directorate needs to respond by having in place policies, practices and procedures, conditions of service which enable Queen's to compete with other leading universities.
Director Sean McGuickin was appointed in October 2001 to contribute to the development of strategies that will continue to make the most of these human resources, which are by far the University's greatest asset. Setting his own challenges is nothing new. He left school in Belfast at 16 and later studied part-time for his primary degree and postgraduate qualifications while progressing to senior positions in his career.
Visit the Human Resources Directorate website.
Director of Information ServicesThe Directorate of Information Services provides a wide range of library and IT services which underpin the research, education and administrative work of the University.
Mr Gormley graduated from the University of Ulster with first-class honours in Computing and Information Systems before completing an MBA in Higher Education Management at the Institute of Education in London. He joined the staff of Queen's in 2000 after a career in IT in the private sector and claims that "contrary to popular myth", he finds that higher education is "at least as dynamic and challenging".
Scott Rutherford joined Queen’s as Director of Research and Enterprise in November 2010. Scott provides strategic oversight and leadership for the research development and knowledge exchange activities of the University. The Research and Enterprise Directorate works closely with University colleagues, research students and external partners to develop and strengthen the world class research base at Queen’s.
Prior to joining the University, Scott spent several years at Imperial College London managing academic research activities both within the Faculty of Medicine and at the centre of College. During his time at Imperial College, Scott also oversaw a number of high profile projects to implement research systems to support the lifecycle of research, from research development through to publication and commercialisation. Scott’s experience also includes leadership of a number of high-profile change management projects and several years developing organisational strategy. Scott has held a number of posts within research strategy and policy, working for the Medical Research Council (MRC) and for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), where latterly he played a key role in developing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) programme.
Scott holds an undergraduate degree in English and Geography from the University of Keele and an MBA from Imperial College London.
As Director of Student Plus, Isabel leads five principle units in the University comprising of the Students' Union, Eventus, Queen's Sport, Hospitality Services and Childcare. Isabel works to maximise the service and quality of provision of these units by leading, directing, and implementing strategies across the service areas to exceed students' expectations by delivering lifestyle opportunities that enhance the acquisition of academic, personal and social skills, and provide an enriched, valued and memorable learning experience.
Isabel graduated with a BA Hons degree and a Masters in Business Administration from Queen's University, and has substantial experience of working in both the public and private sectors in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Europe, USA and Asia. Before joining Queen's in January 2006 Isabel worked as a Commercial Development Director for TBI plc whose portfolio of airports include Belfast International Airport. In this capacity she was proactive in the delivery of a range of commercial strategies and formed part of the TBI Acquisitions Team working on properties in Stockholm and Bratislava. Isabel is currently a member of the Institute of Directors, and a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Visit the Student Plus Directorate website.
Christine Maggs has been a botanist since childhood, and studied Botany at St Catherine's College, Oxford. A work placement on seaweeds in the Natural History Museum in London and a scientific diving expedition to Brazil led to a position as a diving botanist in Wales and then to a PhD at NUI Galway. Her main research interests are molecular systematics of seaweeds with particular interests in alien marine algae and plants, biological conservation, and sustainable seaweed exploitation. Following postdoctoral fellowships in Canada and Belfast, Christine took up a lectureship in marine biology at Queen's University Belfast in 1995. She became Professor of Phycology in 2004, Director of Research in 2008, and Head of School in 2010.
She has published over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers and co-authored two monographs in the Seaweeds of the British Isles series and a popular Seasearch guide to seaweeds.
View the School of Biological Sciences website.
Professor Christopher HardacreThe School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering's primary objective is to develop ground-breaking research and educational programmes at the interfaces between chemistry, chemical engineering and allied disciplines. It has three main research areas - catalysis, materials and synthetic organic and biological chemistry. In addition, strong emphasis is placed in the area of sustainability and the environment through QUILL and QUESTOR.
Professor Chris Hardacre graduated from Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge with a MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD examining surface processes in automotive catalysis and was awarded the International Institute of Precious Metals award for his graduate studies. After holding a SERC research fellowship and a junior research fellowship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he moved to Queen's University in 1995 as a lecturer in physical chemistry.
In 2003 he was appointed as Professor of Physical Chemistry and took on the role of Director of Research of CenTACat. In 2004 he was awarded a USAF Window on Science visiting research fellowship. Through this work in iconic liquids research, he was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Encouraging Innovation Award with Merck Chemicals Ltd and was part of the team to win the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and holds six patents.
View the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering website.
Head of the School of Creative Arts Born in 1962, Michael Alcorn graduated with a first-class honours degree in Music from the University of Ulster and went on to complete a PhD in composition at the University of Durham. He returned to his native Belfast in 1998 to take up a position as Composer-in-Residence at Queen’s. Since then he has held various academic positions at the University, the most recent of which was the appointment to a personal Chair in Composition in 2003.
He founded the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s in 2001 and has been actively involved in a range of artistic events inside and outside Queen’s including the Belfast Festival, Sonorities Festival, Young at Art, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig.
View the School of Creative Arts website.
Professor Paul ConnollyPaul Connolly graduated from the Birmingham University in 1989 with a BSocSc (Hons) in Social Administration before then completing an MA (with distinction) in Race and Ethnic Studies (1992) at Warwick University and a PhD in Sociology of Education at Leicester University (1995). He has also completed an MSc (with distinction) in Applied Statistics with Sheffield Hallam University (2004). He arrived in Northern Ireland in 1994 to take up the post of Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer (from 2001) in Sociology at the University of Ulster. He joined Queen's in 2003 as a Reader in Education and was promoted to a Professorship in Education in 2005. He was appointed to his current role as Head of School in 2011.
Paul is recognised internationally for his research on diversity and inclusion in early childhood. He is founding Co-Director (with Professor Tony Gallagher) of Una: A Global Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity that links together over 80 leading researchers, practitioners and policy makers across 33 different countries.
Paul also has a strong interest in evaluating the effectiveness of educational programmes and initiatives. He was Founding Director of the Centre for Effective Education that is based within the School of Education at Queen’s and is also Founding Editor of the international peer-reviewed journal Effective Education. Paul is also a member of the international Steering Committee of the Campbell Collaboration and Co-Chair of its Education Review Group. Within Queen’s, Paul has led the development of the cross-University and inter-disciplinary initiative Improving Children’s Lives.
For more information on Paul and his publications please visit: http://www.paulconnolly.net
View the School of Education website.
Professor Scott is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast having been awarded a first-class (hons) degree in Mathematics in 1977 and a PhD in 1980. Following a period at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell and the University of Ulster he was appointed to a lectureship in Computer Science at Queen’s (1985), a Senior Lectureship (1991), a Readership (1995) and a personal Chair in Computational Science (2001). Within the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science he has held the positions of Director of Research for High Performance and Distributed Computing (2005-2010) and Director of Education (2010).
Professor Scott’s research interests are focused on computational science and high performance and distributed computation. He is Coordinating Principal Editor of the Elsevier journal Computer Physics Communications and is Director of its associated international software library. In 1994 he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship which was held at the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics near Munich. From 2005-07 he held a visiting professorship at the Laboratoire d’Informatique de Paris 6, Pierre and Marie Curie University in. In 2006 he was awarded the HPC Prize for Machine Utilization by the UK Research Councils’ High End Computing Strategy Committee.
View the School of Electronics, Electronic Engineering and Computer Science website.
Ed Larrissy came to Queen’s in 2007 from the University of Leeds, where he had been Head of the School of English, to take up the newly-established Chair in Poetry. Before going to Leeds, he had been, among other things, Chair of the Sub-Faculty of Literary Studies at the University of Warwick, and Head of Department and Dean of Research at Keele. He is a Fellow of the English Association and serves on its Higher Education Committee. He is also a member of the Literatures in English committee of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Peer Review College of the AHRC. He was on the English Sub-Panel for the RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) in 2008.
Prof Larrissy’s books include Yeats the Poet: The Measures of Difference (1994), Blake and Modern Literature (2006) and The Blind and Blindness in Literature of the Romantic Period (2007). He was Principal Investigator of the £140k AHRB Resource Enhancement project, ‘Leeds Poetry.’
He is determined to help maintain the School’s outstanding and many-faceted research excellence, recognised in RAE 2008 in the description of 35% of its research as 4* (world-leading) quality, 90% being held to be of international significance. In particular, he wants to help support and develop the School’s distinctive and long-standing tradition of an interaction between the critical and the creative, as symbolised by its hosting of the world-renowned Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry.
View the School of English website.
Keith Bennett joined the staff of Queen's in 2007 as Professor of Late-Quaternary Environmental Change, where he also holds a Royal Society - Wolfson Merit Award. Previously, he was Professor of Quaternary Geology at Uppsala University in Sweden (1998-2006), and Assistant Director of Research at the University of Cambridge (1985-1998).
His dominant scientific interest has been the understanding of how organisms have responded to major climatic changes, such as those at glacial–interglacial transitions. He has been developing a theoretical basis for understanding the role of ice age (Quaternary) climate change in macroevolution and speciation, particularly through the observation that, despite substantial climatic and other environmental changes during the ice ages, there has been remarkably little evolution (in the form of speciation) as a consequence.
He has carried out fieldwork in many parts of the world, including southernmost Chile, Kamchatka and the Peruvian Andes, as well as most parts of the British Isles and Europe. This fieldwork has typically focussed on obtaining sediment cores for the period of time since the last ice age, in order to establish the development of forests as climates became warmer and continental ice sheets retreated.
His research has been funded by research councils in the UK and Sweden, as well as the Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust. He has authored one book and about 100 scientific articles.
View the School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP) website.
Peter Gray, a native of Belfast, was appointed Professor of Modern Irish History at Queen’s in 2005. He is a graduate of Cambridge University, and has held research and teaching posts at the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University, at Downing College, Cambridge, and at the University of Southampton. In 2004 he was Visiting Professor of Irish Studies at the Burns Library, Boston College, Massachusetts.
His research specialism is in the politics and governance of nineteenth-century Ireland. Research publications include The Irish Famine (1995), Famine, Land and Politics: British Government and Irish Society 1843-50 (1999) and The Making of the Irish Poor Law, 1815-43 (2009). Currently, Professor Gray is directing the AHRC-funded DIPPAM project to digitize Irish historical documents. He has been president of the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies and chair of the Royal Irish Academy’s Committee for the Historical Sciences, and is a member of the AHRC peer review college.
View the School of History and Anthropology website.
Sally Wheeler came to Queen's in 2004 as a Professor of Law. Prior to that she had held Chairs at the University of Leeds (where she was Head of Department from 1997-2001) and Birkbeck College.
Her main research interest is in company law, contract law and corporate governance, all of which she approaches from the standpoint of socio-legal studies. She is interested in the relationship between law, ethics and ritual in areas such as corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
Her work has been funded by the ERSC and she was a member of ESRC research grants board from 2005-2010. She was Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association from 2000-2011. She was on the Law Panel for a REA 2001 and the Law Sub-Panel for RAE 2008.
View the School of Law website.
Professor Gilles has been a professor of economics at QUMS since 2008. He has assumed the position of Head of School in 2011.
Before coming to Belfast, he was affiliated with Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands, and Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. The areas of research pursued by Professor Gilles concern microeconomic theory, in particular the mathematical modelling of institutional network economies, and game theory, in particular the cooperative game theory of network formation and hierarchical authority structures. He has published on equilibria of socially structured economies; the collective provision of institutional infrastructure; the analysis of the exercise of authority in hierarchical decision organisations; trade processes in network economies; the game theoretic modelling of networks formation under mutual consent with applications to the analysis of middleman positions; and interdisciplinary research on networks of mobile software radios.
Professor Gilles has authored four books and more than 40 peer reviewed research papers.
View the Queen's University Management School website.
Professor Francis KeenanProfessor Keenan graduated in Pure and Applied Physics from Queen's in 1979 and obtained his PhD in Astrophysics in 1982. After several years as a postdoctoral researcher, he obtained an Advanced Fellowship from the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) in 1986. He was subsequently appointed to a lectureship in 1989, Readership in 1991 and Professorship in 1994. He was Head of the Astrophysics and Planetary Science (APS) Research Division from 1997 to 2004, and became Head of School in 2004.
He obtained a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship for the year 1995-1996 for his research on solar physics and in 2003 was awarded a William Penney Research Professorship for his research on the link between astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Professor Keenan has published more than 420 papers in international refereed journals.
View the School of Mathematics and Physics website.
Professor Mark Price obtained his primary degree in Aeronautical Engineering 1987 and took up his first post as a Stress Engineer in the aerospace industry. He came back to QUB to undertake a PhD in Mechanical Engineering which was completed in 1993. Mark then returned to industry as a software engineer and project manager to implement his research work, where he remained until returning to academia in 1998, becoming a Chartered Engineer along the way with the British Computer Society, and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
With a strong focus on design applications and integrated cost models including manufacturing processing effects in design simulations, he has research interests in the analysis and design of airframes, and design automation for airframes. A recipient of the 2006 Thomas Hawksley medal from the IMechE for published work on friction stir welding in airframe design, he has a record of high quality international publications, with an ethos of undertaking fundamental research and subsequently using this to address industrial needs, and develop advanced technology solutions which impact industrial practice, working with local and international companies.
He has major interests in sustainability and is a Director in the QUB Institute for a Sustainable World (ISW) where whole life costs of engineering systems is his key focus. Professor Price has wide ranging international collaborations, and contributes to the profession in particular through his involvement with technical committees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in their Aircraft Design TC and the Value Driven Design Programme Committee. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has held key administrative and leadership roles including Head of Teaching for Aeronautical Engineering, and was a University Subject Review auditor for the quality assurance of degree programmes, becoming Director of Research for Aerospace in 2007, and Head of School in 2011.
View the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering website.
Professor Patrick Johnston was appointed Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry in September 2007 to lead the development of a modern international Medical School and Health Sciences Institute that will become the foundation for excellence in education and research, and compassion in quality patient care.
He plans to ensure that the new medical School and Institute are led by international medical and biomedical leaders and underpinned by a culture of innovation, high-quality education and high-quality research.
Among his key aims is the development of a School which serves as a magnet to attract high-quality clinicians, researchers and key disciplines to Queen’s and also fuels educational and research partnerships throughout the world.
Under Professor Johnston’s leadership the School will provide a dynamic environment for the training and development of doctors, clinician scientists and scientists and, as a result, encourage our brightest graduates to seek a future career in biomedical science, medical research and medical leadership.
Another key aim is to enable partnerships through collaboration and research strategic alliances, both with international research institutes as well as the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
A graduate of University College Dublin, he obtained a Fellowship at the National Cancer Institute NIH, USA, before being appointed to senior investigator status in 1991. He became Professor of Oncology at Queen’s in 1996 and has since led the development of a comprehensive cancer centre for Northern Ireland, encompassing a £65 million clinic cancer centre at Belfast City Hospital and a new £25 million cancer research complex at Queen’s.
View the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences website.
Janice Carruthers is Professor of French Linguistics. She is a native of Belfast and holds a BA, MPhil and PhD from Cambridge University. Since appointment to a lectureship at Queen’s in 1989, she has held a number of leadership roles, notably as Associate Dean, Head of French and Director of Research.
Her research interests centre on the evolution of the French language, verbal tense and aspect, corpus linguistics, oral narrative and the syntactic structure of spoken French. Her books include Problems and Perspectives. Studies in the Modern French Language (2001, with Wendy Ayres-Bennett), Oral Narration in Modern French. A Linguistic Analysis of Temporal Patterns (2005) and The ‘Conte’, Oral and Written Dynamics (2010, ed. with Maeve McCusker). She is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College and is on the Editorial Board of French Studies and Legenda Research Monographs in French.
View the School of Modern Languages website.
Linda Johnston was appointed Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery in October 2008. The School brings together academic excellence in undergraduate and postgraduate specialist training in the disciplines of nursing and midwifery, together with world class research in the themes of maternal and child health and evaluation of complex interventions in healthcare.
Professor Johnston undertook her undergraduate nursing education in the USA and worked for many years in neonatal intensive care in the USA, Australia and the Middle East. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours and a PhD from the University of Sydney. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute where she has been the Group Leader of Neonatal Nursing Research in the Critical Care and Neurosciences theme.
She is the current Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Collaboration of Neonatal Nurse Researchers, holds nationally competitive and philantrhropic research grants, is an OzReader for the Australian Research Council, and was the Founding Chair of the Research Committee of the Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery, Australia and New Zealand.
View the School of Nursing and Midwifery website.
Professor David WoolfsonDavid Woolfson, Chair in Pharmaceutics and a Queen's graduate in Pharmacy, was appointed Head of School in 2009. He is presently Chair of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission and leader of the UK Delegation to the European Pharmacopoeia Commission. He founded the McClay Research Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences, which provides state-of-the-art facilities for the School's dynamic research programmes in the Pharmaceutical Science and Practice, and Molecular Therapeutics research clusters.
His personal research interests are in polymeric drug delivery systems for transdermal and intravaginal (HIV microbicides and vaccines) applications, bioadhesion and biomaterials. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Partnership for Microbicides in Washington DC, is on the Editorial Advisory Board of CRC Books Inc. and has contributed to the development of a number of marketed pharmaceutical products. A Director of QUBIS Ltd., he has extensive experience of technology transfer and intellectual property in the pharmaceutical sector.
View the School of Pharmacy website.
David Cleland is Head of the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, a school which embraces a range of the disciplines associated with construction and the environment (both built and natural). This new School brings together over 50 professors and lecturers to deliver exciting new interdisciplinary research and education programmes. Research conducted by three internationally recognised research centres is leading to more sustainable development and better environmental solutions. This is being achieved through financial support from the EPSRC, European Union and industry.
After graduating with a BSc and PhD, David Cleland pursued a career as a Structural Design Engineer with Doran Consulting. He became a lecturer in Queen’s in 1983 and a Professor in 1993. His research within the Centre for Built Environment Research concentrates on the punching strength of concrete slab structures and on the durability and repair of concrete structures. He has received awards for his research and he contributes to international working groups and research committees.
View the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering website.Professor David Phinnemore joined Queen's in 2000 as a Lecturer in European Integration and was promoted to Professor of European Politics in 2011. He holds a Jean Monnet Chair in European Political Science and is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium). In 2010-11, he was seconded as a senior research analyst to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
Professor Phinnemore holds a BA in European Studies (1990) and was awarded his PhD in European Studies by the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1998. His research and teaching interests cover EU treaty reform, EU enlargement and EU external relations. Among his publications are The European Union’s 2007 Enlargement (London: Routledge, 2012) (edited with Cristina Chiva), Reflections on European Integration: 50 Years of the Treaty of Rome (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009) (edited with Alex Warleigh-Lack), Romania and the European Union: From marginalization to membership (London: Routledge, 2008, with Dimitris Papadimitriou) as well as a range of edited volumes and published articles in Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, European Foreign Affairs Review. His most recent book, Treaty of Lisbon: Origins and Negotiation, will be published by Palgrave in 2013.
View the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy website.
Profile to follow.
View the School of Psychology website.
Mike TomlinsonA graduate of Nottingham University where he was awarded a BA in Social Administration and an MPhil by research on the concept of stigma in the administration of social services, Mike Tomlinson joined the staff of Queen's as a lecturer in 1975.
Most of his funded research has been on unemployment, poverty and inequality, and how such problems impact on specific communities, families and individuals. He is particularly interested in the role of social policy and social control strategies in managing division and conflict.
View the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work website.
