Professor George Boyne
Professor George Boyne became Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen on 1 August 2018.
Professor Boyne led the creation of the University’s Aberdeen 2040 strategy which was launched in February 2020 to mark the 525th anniversary of the foundation of Kings College in Old Aberdeen. Aberdeen 2040, which builds directly on the university’s foundational purpose to be open to all and dedicated to the pursuit of truth in the service of others, won the Higher Education Strategic Planners Association award for University strategy of the year in 2021.
Professor Boyne is Chair of the University Senate, a member of the University Court and a member of the Board of the University’s Development Trust. His external roles include Chair of Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), Convenor of Universities Scotland Funding Policy Group, member of the Board of Opportunity North East, and member of the Aberdeen City Deal Joint Committee.
Professor Boyne has published extensively on the performance of public sector organisations and has been a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences since 2010.
Dr Amudha Poobalan
I am a Medical doctor by background, trained in academic Public Health and have over 20 years of experience as a Public Health educator and researcher. I graduated from Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore in India and worked as an infectious disease clinician before pursuing academia. I am a Senior Lecturer in Public Health based at the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen (UK) and have a Senior Fellow status of the UK Higher Education Academy. I am a committee member (Country Director) of International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL). I lead the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme and teach on several undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. I have supervised 51 Masters and 6 Doctoral students to date.
My pedagogical research interests include student support to enhance engagement and learning especially among ethnically and culturally diverse student communities; predictive validity of medical selection; and developing research methods courses for resource limited settings. My discipline specific research focusses on lifestyle behaviours and patterns and its modification for prevention and management of non-communicable diseases, especially Obesity, Diabetes and Cancer. I have subject specific and education research collaborations nationally and international with India, Singapore, Australia, Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh and Nepal working with Medical schools, Universities, NGOs, Government and Private Research Foundations.
I have over 90 research outputs as publications in high impact scientific journals, posters and oral presentations. I have delivered invited symposiums and keynote sessions at international conferences. I have undertaken consultancy work for WHO and peer reviewed grant applications for Governments and other esteemed organisations such as NIHR.
Dr Patrick Blessinger
Dr. Patrick Blessinger is an adjunct instructor of education with the State University of New York, a math and science teacher with the New York State Education Department, and an educational research scientist at the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (in consultative status with the United Nations). Blessinger is the editor and author of many books and articles, and he is an educational policy analyst and contributing writer with UNESCO's Inclusive Policy Lab, University World News, The Hechinger Report, The Guardian, and Higher Education Tomorrow, among others. Blessinger teaches courses in education, leadership, and research and he serves on doctoral dissertation committees. Blessinger founded and leads a global network of educators focused on improving teaching and learning in education. Blessinger has received several educational awards, including: Fulbright Senior Scholar to Denmark (Department of State, USA), Governor’s Teaching Fellow (Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, USA), and Certified Educator (National Geographic Society, USA).
Prof. Ibrahim Al Naimi
Prof. Ibrahim Al Naimi is the Undersecretary of the “Ministry of Education and Higher Education”. He is Chairman of “Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue” since its establishing in 2007.
Prof. AlNaimi was also the President of Qatar University between (1994-1999). He was the Founder and President of “Community College of Qatar” (2010 – 2018).
Professor Al Naimi received his Ph.D. and M.A in Chemistry from University of Southern California, USA. He earned his BSc. Ed. With honor in Chemistry from Qatar University.
Kirsty Kiezebrink
Kirsty joined the university in July 2010 as RCUK funded research fellow based in the health services research unit. She has since then taken on the lead of the Postgraduate Education Group and works closely with colleagues to conduct and disseminate research into teaching and learning at a postgraduate level. Kirsty leads the development and enhancement of online learning for the Institute of Applied Health Sciences. Within this role, she has worked with staff from across all the research groups within the institute to develop and run our four highly successful fully online masters in Clinical Nutrition, Health Economics for Health Professionals, Applied Health Sciences and Public Health. Kirsty’s research currently focusses on the public’s understanding and engagement with science with particular reference to medical and health related research. Alongside Kirsty’s role as postgraduate coordinator for both our taught and research programmes Kirsty is also the deputy director for Applied Health Sciences.
Kirsty is keen to supervise PhD students in the field of public health nutrition particularly around communication of health messages. She is also keen to supervise projects looking at enhancing education and training in applied health science fields in addition to projects looking at the role of technology in enhancing the learning environment.
Steve Tucker
I am currently a Professor of Pharmacology Education within the School of Medicine, Medical Science and Nutrition, and the Dean of Quality Assurance and Enhancement at Insitutional level.
Here is my story so far:
Having been raised and schooled locally (Portlethen Academy), I graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a 1st class honours degree in Biomedical Sciences (Pharmacology) in 2000, winning both the class prize and the University Quincentenary Award. I then completed my PhD studies in the laboratory of Professor Dave MacEwan in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen in 2004.
I then completed a series of post-doctoral research posts.
In 2008, I moved into a more teaching centred role and became a Teaching Fellow in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. In 2010, I gained my first promotion, was further promoted in 2012 to Senior Teaching Fellow before becoming a Senior Lecturer (scholarship). I was promoted to Professor of Pharmacology Education in 2021.
Throughout these teaching posts, I have remained research active in areas relating to cell signalling, primarily involving the role cAMP binding proteins play in the pathology of breast cancer and how these might be targeted therapeutically.
Outside academia, I have a keen interest in music and play drums, bass guitar and keyboard (throwback to my youth in the 1980s!!). I also love sport including football, cricket, tennis, American football, cycling and golf.
Prof. Abhilasha Singh
A staunch supporter of quality education with a strong commitment to academic excellence and unwavering dedication to the success of students, Prof. Abhilasha Singh is Vice President of Academic Affairs at the American University in the Emirates, Dubai, UAE. She also serves as an executive board member and country director of UAE at the International Higher Education, Teaching and Learning Association (HETL). Throughout her distinguished career, she was engaged in a series of academic administrative positions at various institutions and have been engaged in providing strategic directives at a senior leadership role and ensuring its implementation with determination. She has been also engaged in ensuring educational quality and compliance for national and international accreditation. She is a passionate educational leader, engaged in not only leading the strategic plan, but also outcome-based student learning, and continuous improvement plans through a robust and scalable infrastructure, and, with a commitment to bring educational excellence in the region. Recipient of many awards and accolades, including amongst the most admired global Indians 2021, she is also passionate about research that resulted in many published articles in journals of high repute and in frequent invitations to numerous speaking engagements to national and international audiences. She has a Ph.D. in Psychology from Banaras Hindu University, India, and graduate certifications from IIM-C and MIT, US and she is a certified practitioner of Balance Scorecard, EQ, SHRM, CIPD, & MBTI.