Visiting Professors to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Professor Chris Dolan

Director, Refugee Law Project , Makerere University

Role at Ulster University

Chris Dolan is Director of the Refugee Law Project, School of Law, Makerere University in Uganda, and a Visiting Professor at Ulster University’s International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) and Transitional Justice Institute and. He is best known for his work in drawing international attention to the phenomenon of conflict related sexual violence against men and boys in the Great Lakes region of sub-Saharan, and for challenging humanitarian systems to adopt more inclusive approaches to gender programming, as well as more holistic and comprehensive investigations into sexual violence against men as a war crime, crime against humanity and genocide. In addition to media coverage (e.g. BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, The Independent etc), this work is reflected in numerous films, documentaries, published articles and guest lectures.

Dr Sean Farren

Former Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Role at Ulster University

Dr Sean Farren, a graduate of the National University of Ireland (BA), of Essex University (MA), and of Ulster University (DPhil), was a faculty member at the School of Education from 1970 until 1998 when he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly following the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. He was nominated Minister responsible for Higher and Further Education and subsequently Minister for Finance and Personnel in the first power-sharing Executive following that agreement.
After his retirement from the Assembly he rejoined the School of Education as a Visiting Professor. In that capacity he chaired the UNESCO Centre’s International Development Committee, represented the Centre in the Irish Africa Research Capacity Building Partnership, and participated in the School-University Mentorship project linking UU’s School of Education with similar schools in universities in Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda.
More recently he co-authored with Professor Linda Clarke (UU) and Professor Teresa O’Doherty (Marino Institute) the recently published (2019)Teacher Preparation in Northern Ireland, a monograph in Emerald Publishing’s Studies in Teacher Preparation in National and Global Contexts.
Dr Farren has published widely in peer reviewed journals on English curriculum studies, education in a divided society, the history of education in Ireland and on politics in Northern Ireland.
In these disciplines, he has authored or co-authored six books and contributed chapters to several others.

Professor Liam Kennedy

Royal Irish Academy's National Committee for Social Sciences
Role at Ulster University

Professor Liam Kennedy read for an undergraduate degree in food science before becoming an historian.
His formative intellectual influences included Raymond Crotty (Irish agricultural production) and Sir John Hicks (A theory of economic history). In 2005 he held a visiting professorship at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy's National Committee for Social Sciences. He has been a Visiting Professor of Irish History at Ulster University since 2007. Professor Kennedy’s interests in Irish migration and the economic history of the famine have involved joint research and grant applications with colleagues at Ulster. Professor Kennedy is a frequent guest speaker at History’s research seminars.

Dr Rory McGloin

Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Connecticut
Role at Ulster University

Rory McGloin, Ph.D. is an award-winning communication professor at the University of Connecticut. Rory's career in higher education spans 14 years, including engagements with over 10,000 learners to date and 28 peer-reviewed journal publications. During this time, Rory has curated a wealth of knowledge on how the process of communication impacts every element of our lives. Rory’s previous research focused on the effects of interactive media environments, with specific interests in online information processing as well as the effects of video games and their associated affordances. Rory’s current work is focused on the use of communication best practices in digital environments as well as organizational training and development centered around the improvement of employees’ communication skills. Rory is also an entrepreneur who runs his own consulting firm, in which he shares his expertise with organizations seeking to engage in meaningful transitions through the power and value of effective communication.

Professor Ian Menter

Former President of the British Educational Research Association
Role at Ulster University

Ian Menter is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK and was President of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), 2013-15. He is Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Oxford and was formerly the Director of Professional Programmes in the Department of Education at the University. He previously worked at the Universities of Glasgow, the West of Scotland, London Metropolitan, the West of England and Gloucestershire. Before that he was a primary school teacher in Bristol, England. He is now a Visiting or Honorary Professor at three UK universities and is a Senior Research Associate at Kazan Federal University, Russia.
He was President of the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) from 2005-2007 and was a member of the steering group for the BERA/RSA Inquiry into Research and Teacher Education. His main research interests are in research, policy and practice in teacher education, including comparative studies of this topic. Recent and forthcoming publications include: Learning to Teach in England and the United States (Tatto, Burn, Menter, Mutton and Thompson; Routledge, 2018); A Companion to Research in Teacher Education (Peters, Cowie and Menter, Eds.; Springer, 2017); Knowledge, Policy and Practice in Learning to Teach - a cross-national study (Tatto and Menter, Eds.; Bloomsbury, 2019)

Professor Jim Roddis

Emeritus Professor of Sheffield Hallam University
Role at Ulster University

Jim Roddis was made an Emeritus Professor of Design at Sheffield Hallam University on his retirement from full time employment and now works on a part time basis in the Art & Design Research Centre. Prior to his retirement he was the Assistant Dean for Research in the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences and responsible for The Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) and The Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI) These two institutes spanned research, development and knowledge transfer programmes from nano technologies to fine art. He is a member of the Creative and Performing Arts panel for the New Zealand PBRF (REF) and was a panel member of Sub Panel 34 Art & Design: History, Practice and Theory for the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014. Also in 2014 Jim served as a panel member for the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in Hong Kong (Creative Arts, Performing Arts and Design). Jim has also been a member of the UK RAE sub Panels for Art and Design at the 2001 and 2008 assessments and was deputy chair of the 2008 panel. Over his career he has contributed to many panels and strategic boards including HEFCEs Special Institution Panel the Regional Development Agencies Design Strategy Board and the AHRC peer review college.

Dr Professor Yong Xie

Dean of Fine Arts College, Shenyang University
Role at Ulster University

Professor Yong Xie became Dean of Fine Arts College, Shenyang University in 2015 following a period of 9 years as Associate Dean. He is a Member of the Chinese Artists Association, Vice Chairman of China Arts and Crafts Association and Vice President of Young Artists Association Liaoning.
His practice based research has achieved extensive impact as an Art Social Activist. A notable example is his work in relation to child internet safety in collaboration with UNISEF.
He attained a PhD by Published works in Ulster University (2020) which documents his research process for several such case studies.
He has helped develop PhD links with Ulster University, Shenyang University and LuXun Fine Art Academy, from which he is an alumni.
He has received recognition through Chinese regional teaching awards in Shenyang and Liaoning Provence, National and International Art awards in Cannes, London, Beijing, Singapore and nationally across China. He has exhibited extensively across Asia, Europe and America.
His work is held in private and museum collections in China and Japan and has been commissioned for use by commercial giants such as CocaCola.