People
UNIVERSITY STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE
Integrity, Connected, Ambition, Respect, Excellence. The University is committed to the application of these core values within our Institution or on our behalf.
Leadership and StructureSenior university leadership - Leadership and Structure
OPERATIONAL SUPPORT TO OUR ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
Queen’s directorates ensure the university’s professional and academic needs are fully supported. This ensures effective communication, decision-making and advice on issues of critical importance to the working of the university.
Professional support directoratesPROFESSIONAL SERVICES - Professional support directorates
Professor Maire O'Neill
Maire is a British Female Inventor of the Year and the youngest-ever engineering professor at Queen’s University Belfast
She is widely regarded as one of Europe’s leading cryptography experts and the inventor of a high-speed silicon security chip that is used in more than 100 million TV set-top boxes. Her current work focuses on the design of novel security solutions for communications applications.
Featured researchersStaff leading innovation - Featured researchers
Caitlin Chee, PhD Engineering
Engineering student Caitlin was named the Allstate Queen’s Student of the Year 2024/2025.
Over the last five years, Queen’s has played a huge role in how Caitlin Chee has developed not only as an engineer, but also as a person. It has given her opportunities she never thought possible and opened doors to a future she is excited about.
Developing skills outside of her discipline, Engineering Master’s graduate Caitlin is a recognised leader – in April 2023 she received the gradireland ‘Female Leadership Undergraduate of the Year’ award. This accolade recognised the leadership skills Caitlin developed and demonstrated through the programmes she took part in while at Queen’s, including the Real-World Consultancy Programme.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education recognise the outstanding contribution that a university or college has made to the United Kingdom.
Since the biennial prizes were first awarded in 1994, Queen’s has been the recipient of seven awards, underlining our status as an outstanding UK educational institution and a centre of excellence.
Awards and accreditationsOutstanding contribution - Awards and accreditations
Queen’s University Belfast has been awarded a prestigious Gold Athena Swan Award, conferred in January 2024 by Advance HE.
Queen’s is the first university on the island of Ireland and only the second in the UK to achieve an institutional Gold Award for its work improving gender equality.
The hard work does not stop there though with Queen’s pledging an ambitious plan to continue its sustained and longitudinal approach to gender equality. This work will include investing in a new Queen’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, which will improve access to higher education for disadvantaged schoolgirls, showcase gender equality research across Queen’s and launch international leadership programmes.
Find out moreImproving gender equality - Find out more
From playwrights to presidents, physicists to physicians, Queen's has produced an inspiring cohort of graduates and alumni, including:
- Mary McAleese
- Seamus Heaney
- John Stewart Bell
- Lisa McGee
From literature to politics, to modern science and sport, Queen's has a long-standing history of recognising trailblazers and leaders from their respective fields, including:
- Gary Neville
- Jamie Dornan
- Anna Burns
- Jonathan Rea