People
Staff receive highest academic honour in Ireland
Four academics from Queen’s have been admitted into the Royal Irish Academy
Four academics from Queen’s have been admitted into the Royal Irish Academy, the highest academic honour in Ireland.
Professors Peter Gray, Chris Hardacre, Christine Maggs and Sally Wheeler have been honoured for their world-class contribution to science and the humanities. Election to membership of the Royal Irish Academy is public recognition of academic excellence.
Peter Gray is Professor of Modern Irish History and Head of the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s. He specialises in the history of British–Irish relations in the nineteenth century, and has published a number of important books on the Irish Famine. His most recent full-length monograph is The making of the Irish poor law 1815 -1843 (Manchester University Press, 2009).
Chris Hardacre is Head of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He is distinguished for his innovative research in catalysis and on ionic liquids. He has won a Royal Society of Chemistry ‘Teamwork in Innovation’ award for his ionic liquids research and awarded the inaugural Andrew Medal (2013) by the Institute of Chemical Engineers for his applied catalysis research.
Christine Maggs is Head of the School of Biological Sciences. She is an international authority on the biology and systematics of marine algae, with a specialist interest and expertise in aquatic invasive algae and plants. She is author of more than 120 scientific papers, monographs and contributions to books and is president-elect of the British Phycological Society.
Sally Wheeler is Head of the School of Law and is a renowned scholar in commercial law. She pioneered socio-legal studies well beyond her area of expertise; is a world leader in her own scholarship on contract law, directors' duties, and corporations; was long-standing Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association and is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.
