Hugh Patrick McKenna

Professor Hugh McKenna, CBE, PhD, B.Sc (Hons), RMN, RGN, RNT, DipN(Lond), AdvDipEd, FFN RCSI, FEANS, FRCN, FAAN., M.A.E is a general and psychiatric nurse by background and was recently Dean of Medical School Development at Ulster University, UK. Prior to this he had overall responsiblity for Research and Impact at Ulster University. He has over 250 publications, including 16 books. He was awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his work on health and community and is a Fellow of four prestigious organisations. In 2013, he was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award by the Royal College of Nursing and in 2014, he was presented with a lifetime achievement Award at the Institute of Psychiatry. In a 2018 Government report he was named as one of the 70 most influential nurses in the 70 year history of the NHS. Currently, he is an Adjunct/Visiting Professor in universities in Slovenia and Australia. In 2014, he chaired the UK Research Excellence Framework panel for Pharmacy, Dentistry, Allied Health Professions, Biomedical Sciences, Nursing and Midwifery. He chairs the same panel for the next REF. He has also chaired a clinical health research quality panel for the Swedish Research Council and panels for the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation. He is chair of Inspire Wellbeing, the largest mental health, learning disability and addiction charity on the island of Ireland. Recently he received an Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Maribor. In 2019, he was appointed to the Academia Europaea, founded as an initiative of The Royal Society to be the official scientific advisory body for the EU. He is a Trustee for the Alzheimer’s Society UK and a non-executive director for a large health and social care trust. He has presented papers and conducted workshops on research impact in numerous countries on five continents.