Research News
Posted 27 June 2011
Leading AIT Researcher appointed Adjunct Professor at NUIG
Dr Neil Rowan, a lecturer and internationally recognised researcher at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT), has been appointed as an adjunct professor at the prestigious School of Medicine in NUI Galway.
Based at AIT’s Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Prof Rowan has a strong history of collaborative research with leading medics, scientists and engineers at NUIG. Amongst the areas where he has collaborated with researchers in the Galway university are anaesthesia and intensive care medicine, water research, food safety microbiology, and bacteriology.
Over his 20-year academic career he has published some 70 papers in scientific and engineering journals, published five book chapters and delivered over 110 presentations at national and international conferences. He is delivering the keynote opening address at the 100th anniversary of the International Association of Food Protection Conference in Chicago this August.
He has generated €4.6 million in research funding and holds fellowships of the Institute of Biology, Institutes of Food Science and Technology Ireland and UK. Prof Rowan frequently undertakes scholarly duties with the Food Standards Agency Scotland and the European Food Safety Authority, and is an expert evaluator for the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC).
Prof Rowan said that he was “humbled and honoured by this elevation and I very much looked forward to facilitating further bridge-building in areas of research and teaching that are deemed of strategic importance to both AIT and NUIG”.
The Academic Registrar at AIT, Dr Joseph Ryan, congratulated Prof Rowan on the appointment. “It is well deserved recognition for consistent endeavour that has contributed so much to enhancing the research profile of this institute and in forging valuable collaboration with NUIG and other leading HEIs here and abroad. It also reflects positively on the standing of the institute and for that you deserve special appreciation.”
President of NUI Galway, Dr James J. Browne, congratulated Prof Rowan on his appointment and stated that is was “just recognition of his outstanding academic track record and his existing deep collaborative links with the School of Medicine that spans both research and teaching.”
Prof Rowan hails from Westlodge in Athlone and is the son of Breffni and Ruth. He lives in Coosan with his wife Michelle, daughter Chloe (14) and sons Kevin (11) and Liam (5). He undertook his primary and secondary education in Dean Kelly NS and St Aloysius College Athlone respectively, before completing his BSc degree in microbiology in NUIG. Before taking up his lecturing post in AIT, he was employed as senior lecturer at Strathclyde University, where he also received his MSc in biotechnology and PhD in clinical sciences. Prof Rowan also lectured at Trinity College and DIT.
