New senior appointment: Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Innovation)
Queen's President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Ian Greer, is pleased to announce the following new senior appointment:
Professor Lorraine Martin has been appointed as Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Innovation).
In this role, Lorraine, who took up post earlier this month, will support the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) to deliver the research and enterprise pillar of Strategy 2030, providing strategic, cross-institutional and external leadership and support for the delivery of the pillar’s enterprise and innovation components. Her remit includes:
- Research commercialisation and spin-out generation activities
- Industry partnerships and business engagement
- Consultancies
A Professor of Biomolecular Sciences within the School of Pharmacy, Lorraine’s research interests are focused on the characterisation of novel biomarkers and the development of new therapeutic strategies for chronic airways disease, with a particular focus on cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive disease (COPD).
Lorraine has significant experience in entrepreneurship and innovation and was co-founder/CEO of Queen's University Belfast spin-out ProAxsis Ltd., for which she won the INVENT competition (Catalyst Inc) (2013). Since then, Lorraine has actively supported entrepreneurial activities in Northern Ireland and has enjoyed significant industry engagement both nationally and internationally. She has been the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lead on the Queen’s Gender Initiative (QGI) Executive Committee, is a Catalyst Role Model and also sits on the University’s Research Innovation Committee as co-Chair of the Post-doctoral and Research Staff Oversight Group (PROG). Her contributions to research impact and innovation have been recognised by the Vice-Chancellor’s Research Impact Prize (2016) and the VC Award for Research Culture (2020), the latter for her leadership of the €8.9M BREATH project.
In collaboration with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), Lorraine will lead on the development and delivery of the University’s enterprise and innovation strategy within the region, nationally and internationally and will play a key role in coordinating activities across the University and QUBIS, our subsidiary company responsible for managing our spin-out generation and portfolio.