Professor Marie McHugh

Marie McHugh is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and between 2009-2016 was Dean of the Ulster University Business School since 2009.  She has played a significant role in delivering the Business School’s vision of shaping futures; shaping the futures of students; shaping the future of business; and shaping the future of the wider community. Through the School’s active engagement with employers, she has sought to ensure that the work of the Ulster University Business School is aligned to the needs of business in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Marie joined Ulster University as a Research Officer in 1987, and obtained a
Lectureship in 1989.  In 2001 she was promoted to a Personal Professorship.  Prior to becoming Dean of the Ulster University Business School in 2009, Marie was Head of the Business School’s Department of Management and Leadership.  She has been a Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the University of Nebraska (USA) and the University of Halmstad (Sweden).

In addition to her roles at Ulster University, Professor McHugh is a member of the Council of the CBI (NI), and is Editor of the Leadership and Organizational Development Journal.  Marie has been a member of the UK Government’s Business Schools’ Taskforce, which focussed on the contribution that business schools make to the development of the UK economy.  She was President of the British Academy of Management in 2012, and was elected as a Fellow of the Academy in 2013.  She received a Special Achievement Award from the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development in 2014. In November 2015, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual UTV Business Awards.

Her main research interests are work stress, organisational health and organisational change, and she has published widely within these areas.  She has acted as a consultant to a variety of organisations, nationally and internationally.

Professor Denise McAlister

Professor Denise McAlister was Pro-Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at Ulster University between 2002 – 2016. Previous to this she held positions as Head of School, School of Public Policy, Economics and Law and Dean of the Faculties of Business and Management and Social Sciences and Pro-Vice- Chancellor (Quality Assurance and Enhancement). Previously educated at the Queen’s University of Belfast, the University of Salford and the University of Tromso, Norway, Professor McAlister was appointed to a personal Chair in Health Policy in 1998. Her research interests and expertise include economic appraisal and evaluation, the economics of contracting and the role of the user in health policy evaluation and she is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education.

She has held a number of public appointments including, membership of the Ministerial Advisory Board, Water Service (NI), and the National Board for Nursing, and Health Visiting, interim chair ERINI, membership of the Governing of BIFHE and a Board Member of the Northern Ireland Public Sector Ltd (NI-CO), Department of Trade and Investment. Her professional extend to national/international committees including the Quality in Higher Education Group and formerly, the US National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education. She has undertaken consultancy projects in performance measurement and economic appraisal for a wide range of government departments and public sector organisations, and provided policy relevant advice to Ministers, CEOs and civil servants.

Professor McAlister was awarded a CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours for services to higher education in Northern Ireland.