The Registrar works closely with senior academic leaders

Professor Colin Scott

Professor Scott was appointed Registrar, Deputy President and Vice-President for Academic Affairs for a ten year term commencing 1 December 2023. Professor Scott was originally appointed to UCD as Professor of EU Regulation and Governance in 2006 and subsequently has served as Vice Principal for Research and Innovation in UCD College of Business and Law (2006-2009), Dean of Law (2011-2014), Principal of UCD College of Social Sciences and Law (2014-2023), Dean of Social Sciences (2017-2023) and Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (2017-2024). Professor Scott has previously held academic posts at the London School of Economics (where he completed his undergraduate education in law followed by graduate study at Osoode Hall Law School of York University, Toronto), the University of Warwick, the Australian National University and the College of Europe Bruges.  

Throughout his career Professor Scott has been an innovator in education and research. He was a core member of the Law Courseware Consortium which built early versions of interactive digital learning materials across the core law curriculum in England and Wales (subsequently extended to Australia) in 1993-4. He was the first director of the innovative interdisciplinary MSc Regulation programme at LSE in 1995 and the first director of the structured PhD programme in Law at UCD in 2006. He led on curriculum reforms in Law, introducing wide ranging experiential learning and clinical themes to legal education at UCD from 2011 and was Dean of Law at the time of completing fundraising, building and opening the new Sutherland School of Law building in 2013. In social sciences Professor Scott initiated the reform of undergraduate education and the establishment of the general entry Social Sciences programme in 2018, with its emphasis on students as partners, internship and exchange opportunities, interdisciplinarity, methods and research skills. He has sponsored wider reforms and diversification of education in social sciences and law at undergraduate, taught graduate and research levels.

The main focus of Professor Scott’s research has been on themes of fragmentation and accountability in regulatory governance across domains as diverse as regulation of business, regulation of the public sector, EU, international, transnational and private regulation. He has led and co-led projects on the regulation of telecommunications, regulation of the public sector (including prisons, higher education and the civil service), meta-regulation, transnational private regulation and the regulatory state in Ireland. He is a co-creator of the (opens in a new window)(opens in a new window)Irish State Administration Database, published in 2008, and which is now the longest time series database detailing changes in central state administrations in the world, updated to cover the whole first century of the Irish state.

Professor Emma Sokell - Dean of Graduate Studies

Professor Emma Sokell took up her appointment as UCD Dean of Graduate Studies in January 2025. Prior to this she was Head of the School of Physics in UCD (2021-2024). She has been co-chair of the UCD Gender Equality Action Group (GEAG) since 2021, including the period when UCD achieved institutional Silver Athena Swan Accreditation for the first time. The GEAG oversees the implementation of the institutional Gender Equality Action Plan and also acts as the Steering Group for University Athena SWAN applications. She is also currently a member of the UCD Governing Authority. 

Professor Sokell holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Manchester and is an active researcher in (opens in a new window)atomic, molecular and plasma physics. Current projects that she is involved in include a Science Foundation Ireland/Irish Research award: xLuminate (aimed at the development of lab-scale x-ray sources) and an ERC  SYNERGY grant HEAVYMETAL, concerned with the creation of heavy elements in neutron star collisions.

Professor Sokell is pleased to be taking up the role of Dean of Graduate Studies just after the recent launch of the UCD Strategy to 2030, “Breaking Boundaries”. UCD Graduate Studies is well positioned to  support a diverse community of postgraduate students & seeks to foster a sense of community and institutional belonging among students, supervisors and those who are invested in their education. 

Professor Jason Last - Dean of Students

‌Professor Jason Last is a medical graduate and began teaching in the UCD School of Medicine in 2000. In 2008, he was appointed Director of Pre-clinical Education, leading the development of the UCD Graduate Entry to Medicine programme before becoming Associate Dean for Programmes & Educational Innovation.  In 2014, he was appointed School Director of Educational Development & Academic Affairs and chaired sequentially the Global Engagement Group and Education Group at a College level.

Having led the University Continuing Professional Development Board of Studies, successfully introducing a framework for Schools to develop credit and non-credit bearing CPD offerings, Professor Last was asked to lead the development of the UCD Student Mental and Wellbeing Policy which was launched in 2015.  Nationally, he has worked closely with agencies and organisations on professional accreditation and quality review processes associated with higher education and training, and was the Minister for Education’s nominee to the Radiographers Registration Board which he subsequently chaired.  He is also active in patient education and advocacy and recently joined the Board of the Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science and Industry (IPPOSI). 

Internationally, Professor Last has led UCD initiatives in China and Malaysia and is a director representing UCD on the Board of Penang Medical College, Malaysia. He co-chairs a Universitas 21 international education research group, based on a membership of staff-student pairings from eight universities in seven countries, focussing on social media in health education.

Appointed Dean of Students in January 2017, Professor Last has responsibility for the student experience in UCD, and is committed to the continued enhancement of UCD’s programmes and educational environment so that every student may be fully supported in reaching their potential. As Dean of Students, Professor Last also acts as the University Child Protection Officer. Please refer to the UCD Child Safeguarding Statement.

Professor Marie Clarke - Dean of Learning and Teaching 

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Marie Clarke is a Full Professor of Education, Deputy Registrar and Dean of
Learning and Teaching in UCD. Prior to working in UCD she was a teacher in
Liberties College, City of Dublin VEC. Joining the UCD School of Education in 1998,
she served as Head of School from 2007 to 2011 and continues to lecture and
supervise research. In 2015 she was appointed Dean of Arts and in 2017 she was
appointed as Dean of Undergraduate Studies in UCD. In her current pan-university
role as Deputy Registrar and Dean of Learning and Teaching she is responsible for
educational innovation, teaching and learning, academic regulations, technology
enhanced learning, curriculum review, academic advising and assessment. She is
Chair of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) National Forum Student Engagement
and Teaching & Learning Committee (SETLC) [2023-27] with responsibility for
developing national policy in these area across the higher education sector. In recognition of her achievements in student learning and teaching she is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) Advance HE UK. She served as
a member of Universitas 21 Educational Innovation Steering Group (2019-22).

Marie leads a number of funded research projects in the areas of higher education,
the promotion of female teachers as leaders in the Global South and in teacher
education. She also conducts research in the areas of history of education and
education policy and is published in leading peer reviewed education journals and
presses. She served as Chair of the Global and Higher Education Research Steering
Group (GHEAR) in the Worldwide Universities Network from 2021/23. She
established the UCD Centre for the Study of Higher Education and was Director from
2019-2024. She has worked as an expert reviewer for the Norwegian, Portuguese
and Flanders Research Councils and was a visiting scholar at the Curriculum and
Teaching Department, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York (2006/07).

She is a past President of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) (2011-
13) and currently serves on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Disability Committee
(2021-25). She was appointed as a ministerial nominee to the third Teaching
Council of Ireland (2012-16) and to the Student Grant Appeals Board (2011-2021).
She served as an elected faculty member of UCD Governing Authority from 2009-
2019 and served on the University Finance, Remuneration and Asset Management
Committee from 2014-19.