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

Professor John Anderson

• Independent Chair , ENNI (Education Network Northern Ireland) Innovation Forum
• Non-Executive Director

About John Anderson

A qualified teacher, researcher, author and former lecturer at the New University of Ulster Education Centre, John was a national director in the UK Microelectronics Education Programme from 1980 to 1985 as well as a research officer for the UK National Development Programme in Computer Assisted Learning.

He has been honorary professor of education at Queen’s University, Belfast, an adjunct associate professor in Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and for ten years was on the faculty of an international education summer school in Boston.

John spent seven years from 1999 - 2006 working with the five former education and library boards through the Classroom 2000 / C2k project as the strategy coordinator for education technology in schools, a further year in the Department of Education’s policy and strategy unit and as an associate for eight years with the Regional Training Unit in Northern Ireland.

He has worked variously in project management, consultancy, evaluation, research and lecturing with the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, the British Council, the European Union’s Schoolnet (EUN), The Teaching Council in the Republic of Ireland and with eight ministries of education across Europe and Scandinavia as well as in the USA, Jordan, South Africa and Japan.

John retired recently from the post of managing inspector after 35 years in the Education and Training Inspectorate in Northern Ireland, with experience in all school sectors, wider educational settings and further and higher education and training organisations as well as in the corporate management and staff development of the inspectorate.

John is now the independent chair of the ENNI (Education Network Northern Ireland) Innovation Forum, a non-executive Director of the Controlled Schools’ Support Council, and a Professional Associate with the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools.

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Professor Sherry Beaumont

• Department of Psychology , University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC)

About Sherry Beaumont

Dr. Sherry Beaumont (PhD, DVATI) is a Visiting Professor from the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Canada where she is a Professor in the Department of Psychology. In addition to her Professor position, she is a mixed-media visual artist and a professional art therapist in private practice.

Dr. Beaumont’s teaching at UNBC is in the general areas of developmental and positive psychology, with an emphasis on lifespan (adult) development and well-being. She was one of the first Canadian university professors to develop an undergraduate course in positive psychology over 15 years ago, and she continues to be one of the few professors in Canada who regularly teaches both introductory and advanced courses in positive psychology.

Her teaching methods in psychology include guiding students in developing a personal contemplative practice (e.g., mindfulness meditation and reflective writing) that supports their learning. Similarly, her teaching in art therapy focuses on the transformative roles of contemplative and expressive arts in personal and spiritual development.

In addition to her commitment to teaching, Dr. Beaumont is also an accomplished researcher and writer. Her research and publications focus generally on the roles of mindfulness, art-making, and reflective writing in the development of self-identity, wisdom, spirituality, and transformational growth. Her most recent publications in the Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal are two of the journal’s most-read articles and highlight her ongoing research interests in the development of narrative identity and personal mythology through art-making.

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Professor Paul Buggy

• Retired Judge Office of Industrial Tribunals, Fair Employment Tribunals

  About Paul Buggy

  Paul Buggy qualified as solicitor in Northern Ireland in 1981.

  Paul initially worked with Law Centre NI before moving to the NIHE to take up the position as Head of Legal Services, where he worked for more than 20 years. Paul was engaged as a part-time Employment Judge in the Office of Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunals in 1998 and became a salaried in 2007. He retired in 2019.

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Professor Riann Coulter

• Curator / Manager , FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge

About Riann Coulter

Riann Coulter is a curator and art historian whose research focuses on identity in Irish and Northern Irish art.  A graduate of Trinity College Dublin (BA) and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (MA, PhD), she has taught art history at TCD and been awarded post-doctoral fellowships by the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art and the Irish Research Council.

Dr Coulter has curated and co-curated over 40 exhibitions for institutions including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ulster Museum, National Gallery of Ireland and the F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Co. Down where she has been curator since 2009. Key projects include exhibitions and publications on Mainie Jellett, Gerard Dillion, Nano Reid, Colin Middleton, Deborah Brown, Gerda Frömel, David Crone, Susan MacWilliam, Sharon Kelly and Amanda Coogan.

She is co-editor with Roisin Kennedy of Censoring Art: Silencing the Art Work, (IB Taurus, 2018) and has contributed to numerous publications including The Art and Architecture of Ireland (Dublin, 2014), Familiar but Unknown: Irish Women Artists (Dublin 2010), Sources in Irish Art 2 (Cork, 2021) and Brightening Glances: Irish Art since 1900 (Dublin, 2022). Dr Coulter is the Vice Chair of the Irish Museums Association and a member of the International Council of Museums. She has served on the Boards of National Museums NI,  the Northern Ireland Museums Council and the Strategic Committee of the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.

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Professor Moira Doherty

• Deputy Secretary, Department for Communities , Northern Ireland Civil Service

About Moira Doherty

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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.

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Professor 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.

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Professor Katrina Godfrey

• Permanent Secretary, Department for Infrastructure , Northern Ireland Civil Service

About Katrina Godfrey

Katrina is the Permanent Secretary in the Department for Infrastructure, a department which carries both policy and operational responsibilities for most aspects of strategic infrastructure in Northern  Ireland, including the road, rail, public transport, drainage, inland waterways and  water and sewerage networks. She joined DfI in 2018 following 2 years leading work on a new Programme for Government at the centre of government here and 12 years at senior levels in the Department of Education.

The Department for Infrastructure leads work on transport  policy, planning policy, active and sustainable  travel and road safety policy; oversees the delivery of water and sewerage and public transport services by its arm’s length bodies; acts as planning  authority for regionally significant planning decisions; delivers driver  and vehicle testing and enforcement services; leads on river and sea defence maintenance, flood risk assessment and the construction of flood alleviation schemes; and fulfils the responsibilities of both a strategic and local roads authority. Along with its counterpart department in the south, it also oversees the work of one of the north-south  bodies, Waterways Ireland.

Katrina has developed and led policy development courses in the NI Civil Service and has also participated in a wide range  of national  and international policy  groups, mostly in the field of education.  She has worked with both the British Council and the OECD to develop the sharing of learning and best practice in an international context and as part of an OECD expert team carrying out a review of aspects of the education system in Lithuania.

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Professor Sir George Hamilton

• Former Chief Constable , Police Service of Northern Ireland

About Sir George Hamilton

Sir George joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary August in 1985 spending the early years of his police service in County Fermanagh and Belfast. In 1994, on promotion to Inspector, Sir George was selected for a three-year secondment to England where he worked on a number of training and organisational development programmes. On his return he worked in uniform patrol and neighbourhood duties in Lisburn before being seconded to assist with the transition in policing arising from the Patten Reforms, which included work on the creation of the PSNI Code of Ethics.

From 2002 to 2007 Sir George worked in CID as a Detective Chief Inspector and Detective Superintendent where he led on a number of high profile and complex investigations as well as being involved in the creation of Crime Operations Department as part of policing reforms.

In 2007 he was selected as the District Commander for South and East Belfast. During his time there he was responsible for the amalgamation of two command units facing some significant challenges which included a substantially high volume of crime, interface and community issues.

In 2009 Sir George was selected as Assistant Chief Constable for Crime and Public Protection with Strathclyde Police. In this role he led a major change programme and was the lead for Homicide and Serious Crime issues for all of Scotland through the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS).

In December 2011 he returned to Northern Ireland and was appointed as Assistant Chief Constable Criminal Justice where he instigated a change programme that resulted in the creation of Service Improvement Department. The new department took on responsibility for Professional Standards and Anti-Corruption as well as the portfolio of Equality and

Diversity as part of a new Policing with the Community Branch. In this role he was the Service’s Victims' Champion and, in partnership with the Public Prosecution Service, delivered the new Victim and Witness Care Unit and other significant criminal justice reforms.

In June 2013 Sir George was appointed as Assistant Chief Constable Rural Region and oversaw an operationally challenging yet successful year which included the G8 Summit in Fermanagh, the UK City of Culture events in the North West and the first ever All Ireland Fleadh to be hosted in Northern Ireland.

In May 2014 the Northern Ireland Policing Board appointed George Hamilton as Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He took up this post on Monday 30 June.

Sir George holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Politics and Economics and a Masters in Business Administration. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Association.

In June 2015 Sir George was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the Queen’s Birthday honours. In January 2019 he announced his intention to retire from policing in June 2019.

In June 2019 he was awarded an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws (LLD), by Ulster University for his outstanding contribution to policing with the community and for his leadership of the PSNI. Sir George was knighted in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to policing and the community in Northern Ireland.

In July 2019 Sir George Hamilton joined the board of Co-operation Ireland.

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Professor Anthony Harbinson

• Director of Access to Justice and Director of the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service , Department of Justice

About Anthony Harbinson

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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. ​

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Professor Peter Lloyd Jones

• Professor of Design , Sheffield Hallam University

About Peter Lloyd Jones

Peter Lloyd Jones is a studio scientist who in 2020 became a Professor of Design within Lab4Living at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), where he is also a member of the Art, Design & Media Research Centre.

Prior to joining SHU, he was the inaugural Associate Dean for Emergent Design and Creative Technologies in Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and co-founder of the Sabin+Jones LabStudio at The University of Pennsylvania in his role as a tenured Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Lecturer in Architecture.

An overarching theme of Peter's research is to radically improve human health and wellness and especially for individuals, local communities and global populations whose needs are unmet by current care systems.

Peter has authoured more than 200 manuscripts, proceedings, commentaries and books/chapters in science, architecture and design, many of which have been published in notable journals including Science, Nature, The Lancet, 306090 and A+U.

In parallel, his collaborations have been supported and shown internationally, including at the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Physiological Society, MIT, SIGGRAPH galleries, ACADIA, DesignPhiladelphia, Ars Electronica, The MAK Center L.A. and V&A London - often appearing alongside design luminaries including Jenny E Sabin. Cecil Balmond, Zaha Hadid, Gregg Lynn, Philip Beasley and Olafur Eliasson.

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Professor Deepa Mann-Kler

• Chief Executive , Neon

About Deepa Mann-Kler

Deepa Mann-Kler is Chief Executive of Neon; Visiting Professor In Immersive Futures at Ulster University in Northern Ireland and is an award winning visual artist. Neon harnesses the power of immersive technologies to create authentic augmented and virtual reality narrative driven experiences. This year the company has launched AR Peace Wall and AR Street Art apps on iOS and android.

Deepa directed and produced her first virtual reality experience Retne which demoed at SxSW17. Deepa is an internationally acclaimed, multi-disciplinary artist with over fourteen years experience of major international exhibitions and public art programmes.

Deepa is also an exceptionally experienced public, private and charity sector Chair and Non-Executive Director, having served on 10 Boards across the UK over the past fourteen years.

As a TEDx speaker and thought leader she regularly keynotes on the intersection of digital transformation, technical innovation, inclusion, ethics, bias, data and AI. Deepa is author of the first report on race discrimination with policy recommendations for the public sector in Northern Ireland "Out Of The Shadows."

As an artist Deepa has a strong focus on public art light installations, notably Light Up Leicester 2020, Lumiere Durham 2019, London 2016 & 2013 in Derry/Londonderry UK City of Culture.

Awards include:

• Royal Television Society Finalist “Interactive Entertainment” 2017
• WinTech Series Finalist “Tech Start Up Of the Year” 2018
• Digital DNA Finalist “Tech For Good” Talking Sense AR App 2020

Links

• Neon
• Visit Deepa Mann-Kler
• Follow Deepa Mann-Kler

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Professor Fiona McCandless

• Deputy Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs , Northern Ireland Civil Service

About Fiona McCandless

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Professor 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.

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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)

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Professor Aoife Nolan

• Professor of International Human Rights Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Law Centre , University of Nottingham

About Aoife Nolan

Aoife Nolan is Professor of International Human Rights Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham. Professor Nolan’s professional experience in human rights and constitutional law straddles the legal, policy, practitioner and academic fields. She is Vice-President of the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights, which she joined in 2017. She has published extensively in the areas of human rights and constitutional law, particularly in relation to children's rights and economic and social rights. She currently leads a major three-year international research project on ‘Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation’.

Professor Nolan has acted as an expert advisor to a wide range of international and national organisations and bodies working on human rights issues, including numerous UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, the Council of Europe, multiple NHRIs and NGOs. She has held visiting positions at academic institutions in Europe, Africa, the US and Australia. She is an Academic Expert member at Doughty Street Chambers where she co-leads the Children’s Rights Group.

Her recent work has focused on climate justice and the rights of children and future generations. In January 2021, she was invited to join the advisory board to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on its forthcoming General Comment No.26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change.

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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.

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Professor James Stewart

• Partner , Penningtons Manches Cooper

About James Stewart

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Professor Michael Tierney

• Barrister

  About Michael Tierney

  Michael is a graduate of the University of Ulster and is member of the Bar of Northern Ireland who specialises in criminal defence advocacy but has a broad practice including civil litigation, employment and public law (through Judicial Review). He has appeared as Counsel for the Coroner in several inquests including high profile ‘legacy’ cases.

  Before joining the Bar Michael worked in what is now the Department of Justice as a member of the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service and consequently has a unique perspective of how the legal system in Northern Ireland operates. He remains passionate about his role which he sees as advocating for those that cannot speak for themselves.

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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.

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Professor Hakeem Yusuf

• Visiting Research Fellow, School of Advanced Studies , University of London

About Hakeem Yusuf

Hakeem Yusuf is a Visiting Professor at the School of Law, and the Transitional Justice Institute and he is best known for his work on judicial accountability in post-authoritarian societies. His work in this regard has moved the theme of judicial accountability into the theory and praxis of transitional justice.

Hakeem is also known for his work on how colonial rule of law has impacted and continues to shape law and governance in post-colonial Commonwealth countries. He has won awards and international recognition for his work including  the prestigious John T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Constitutional Legal History 2015.

Hakeem has consulted for governments including those of the United States and Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar. He has also consulted for non-governmental organisations including like the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, South Africa.

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