By Paddy Henry
NUI Galway have announced the appointments of Professor Rebecca Braun and Professor Geraint Howells as Executive Deans of their respective colleges
Braun, a professor of Modern Languages and Creative Futures at Lancaster University, and co-director of the multi-disciplinary Institute for Social Futures at the University will take up her role in the College of Arts, Social Science, and Celtic Studies
The professor who grew up in Ireland is a graduate of French and German from the University of Oxford and has had an illustrious career in academia, having been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellowship at the University of Liverpool, a Scatcherd European Scholarship from the University of Oxford and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship to work in Berlin,
She has published widely in the area of German literature and world literature in leading international venues, is one of the lead editors of German Life & Letters, and routinely works with partners in government and the creative sector.
Speaking about her appointment Rebecca said, “I am honoured to be joining NUI Galway as the Executive Dean of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies. The College has a fantastic wealth of ideas and expertise across an enviable range of disciplines. I am really looking forward to working with all College members to amplify this work, bring in new voices, and grow our audiences across the university, region and wider world.”
Joining Professor Braun is Professor Geraint Howells who will take up the role as Executive Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law. Howells, a Professor of Commercial Law and Associate Dean in Humanities for Internationalisation at Manchester University. He brings with him a wealth of experience having served as Dean of Law at the City University of Hong Kong and Head of the Law School in Manchester, and, previously, in Lancaster.
He has published extensively on consumer law, product liability and European private law and was a member of the Acquis group developing common principles of European contract law and tort law. Howells is also a former President of the International Association of Consumer Law and edited the Consumer Law Journal for many years,
Commenting on the new appointment, he said: “I have been heartened by the warmth of the welcome extended to me by the NUI Galway community. I was attracted by our strengths in Business, Public Policy and Law that make us well placed to promote inter-disciplinary research into the great challenges facing our society alongside other leading international research institutions. This research base feeds into innovative and topical teaching programmes that attract a diverse student population. I hope we can continue to serve our local community, whilst ensuring our excellence is available to the global community.”
President of NUI Galway Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, welcomed the new appointees and expressing his confidence in their abilities to strengthen their new departments, stating:
“I am delighted to welcome Professors Braun and Howells to NUI Galway. Both bring a great breadth of experience and I look forward to working with Rebecca and Geraint to strengthen and build on the strong, collegial foundations in the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies and the College of Business, Public Policy and Law, to living our values of respect, excellence, openness and sustainability for the public good, and to further developing new programmes of research and teaching.”
Both will assume their new roles in January
