Professor Stephen Farry
Professor of Strategic Policy In Practice & Co-Director of the Strategic Policy Unit
Stephen Farry is a Professor of Strategic Policy in Practice at Ulster University. He was educated at the Queen’s University of Belfast and holds a PhD in International Relations. He was a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, 2005-06.
Professor Farry has served as an elected representative in various levels between 1993 and 2024, including holding office as local government councillor, Mayor, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and a Member of Parliament.
Between 2011 and 2016, he was the Minister for Employment and Learning on the Northern Ireland power-sharing Executive.
He participated in the negotiations that resulted in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (1998) and has been involved in many subsequent negotiations in relation to the Northern Ireland peace and political process. He has also been a consultant for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
Professor Jodie Carson
Professor of Strategic Policy In Practice & Co-Director of the Strategic Policy Unit
Jodie Carson is a Professor of Strategic Policy in Practice at Ulster University. She was educated at the Queen’s University of Belfast and holds a Masters and PhD in Finance.
Dr Carson has served as a Senior Parliamentary Adviser in the House of Commons and as a Special Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Previously, she was a Senior Economist within the Economic Policy Centre at UU, and subsequently a Course Director at the Business School. She has also been a Senior Economist with Oxford Economics, an Economist in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, a committee subject specialist in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and worked in corporate banking.
She has been involved in negotiations between the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive on a financial package for the devolved government, and participated in political meetings with UK Ministers, including the current and previous Prime Ministers.
