Meet the Global Engagement Team

Professor Dolores O’Riordan

Vice-President for Global Engagement

Dolores is responsible for the development and implementation of UCD’s Global Engagement Strategy.
She is a Professor of Food Science with a research focus on the physico-chemical properties of food ingredients and creating food structures that enhance health benefits. Her food research programme has active links with universities in Europe, the US, Australia and China. She has supervised over 40 postgraduate students to completion and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications. She is UCD’s principal investigator in two large technology centres, Food for Health Ireland and the Dairy Processing Technology Centre.

She received the Enterprise Ireland 2012 Lifescience and Food Commercialisation Award in recognition of her exemplary contribution to innovation in the food industry. Prior to joining UCD she worked in a research and development capacity with a multinational food company servicing global markets. She is an advisor on a number of State boards.

Professor Paul Fanning

Provost - BDIC, CDIC & GDIC (UCD's Joint International Colleges in China) and UCD International Dean (China)

Professor Paul Fanning is UCD International Dean for China and Provost for each of UCD’s three joint international colleges in China. The three international colleges are the Beijing-Dublin International College at Beijing University of Technology (BDIC), the Chang’an Dublin International College of Transportation at Chang'an University, and the Guangzhou-Dublin International College of Life Sciences & Technology at South China Agricultural University (GDIC).

Previously, 2017-2019, he served as UCD Deputy Vice President for Global Engagement and shared responsibility for the delivery of UCD’s Global Engagement Strategy. In this role he chaired the Global Engagement Board of Studies which provides academic oversight and governance for all UCD academic programmes under the remit of the UCD Applied Language Centre and the UCD Irish Institute for Chinese Studies

Shauna Hughes

UCD Global Director of Global Relations, Partnerships and Mobility

Shauna Hughes is the Director of Global Relations, Partnerships and Mobility, UCD Global. Shauna works in partnership with Una Watkins, Director of International Student Recruitment, to provide the vision, strategic leadership and management of UCD Global to realise the ambitions set out in UCD’s Global Engagement Strategy 2021-2024.

A graduate of Ulster University and the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Shauna also leads the Global Relations, Partnerships and Mobility Team, on the development of existing and new partnerships and mobilities, guiding UCD’s academic leaders in developing strategic partnerships and supporting mobility initiatives.

Una Watkins

UCD Global Director of International Student Recruitment

Una Watkins is the Director of International Student Recruitment, UCD Global. Una works in partnership with Shauna Hughes, Director of Global Relations, Partnerships and Mobility, to provide the vision, strategic leadership and management of UCD Global to realise the ambitions set out in UCD’s Global Engagement Strategy 2021-2024. An alum of UCD, Una also leads the International Student Recruitment and Admission Teams in Dublin and UCD’s network ofthe UCD Global Centres in China, India, Malaysia, UAE and the US, setting the overall direction for the University’s international student recruitment strategy across key international education markets.

Michael Talbot

Director of Global Engagement Strategy

Michael leads on the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of UCD’s Global Engagement Strategy. In this capacity, he works with key stakeholders across campus and UCD’s global network of partners to ensure a global experience for all UCD faculty, staff, and students and enhance UCD’s global impact.
Michael’s research and teaching interests focus on international human rights law and transitional justice. He is currently an external PhD candidate at Utrecht University School of Law, where his research examines the process of norm development and diffusion across the three regional human rights systems. His scholarship has appeared in the Georgetown Journal of International Law, Harvard Human Rights Journal, and elsewhere.

Prior to joining UCD, Michael served as Director of the University of Notre Dame’s Mexico Global Centre and supported the establishment of the Keough School of Global Affairs.

Professor Liming Wang

Director of the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies and UCD Confucius Institute

In 2006, Professor Wang was appointed as Director of Irish Institute for Chinese Studies and the UCD Confucius Institute. Prior to joining UCD, Professor Wang was awarded a visiting studentship from Queen's University Belfast and, after completing his PhD in Economics, became a teaching and research fellow at Queen's in 1995.

Dr Anna Nunan

UCD Centre for English and Global Languages

Anna is the Head of Unit at the Centre for English and Global Languages. She previously served as Deputy Director and Interim Director and led the Centre on the Global Language Modules Programme, In-sessional English modules and the Centre's Master’s in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She studied German and French and holds a PhD in Germanic Studies from Trinity College Dublin. She was awarded a scholarship exchange to Germany and worked on Academic Writing programmes in the U.S. prior to joining UCD. She earned a Graduate Diploma in University Teaching and Learning at UCD.

Anna works with a team at the Centre on the development of quality language programmes across a broad range of languages and levels at UCD. A strong focus is on the area of English for Academic Purposes for international students and the research areas of plurilingualism, language teaching methodologies and language testing.

Clár Ní Bhuachalla

Director of Gaeltacht UCD - UCD Global Centre for Irish Language and Culture

Clár leads Gaeltacht UCD in sharing the Irish language and its associated culture globally, which is as much a passion as a profession. She has devised projects that include language courses for students and employees, a translation service for the university, an award-winning Irish language student residence scheme, exchange programmes with universities in Scotland as well as the design and delivery of a linguistic and cultural programme in China. One of her highlights each year is welcoming alumni, diaspora and the local community to UCD’s International Irish language summer school.

Clár holds an honours degree in Modern Irish and Germanic studies and a Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College Dublin. She has earned scholarships to Christian- Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Germany and Adam Mickiewicz University Posnan’ in Poland. With a particular interest in Celtic and European cultures, she was awarded an MA in European and Regional Minority Cultures by UCD.

Paula McBride

Finance Manager

Paula McBride is the Finance Manager within the Office of Global Engagement. She has responsibility for financial control and planning. Paula is a member of the senior management team and provides advice and expertise in reviewing current and future finance-related activities.

Paula is an honours graduate of the University of Limerick, majoring in Accounting and Finance and a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, having completed her professional accountancy training with PwC in 2005. Paula has worked as a college accountant for the College of Engineering and Architecture, the former College of Agriculture Food Science and Veterinary Medicine and most recently as part of the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences team.

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