NUI Galway Announces New Executive Dean Appointments

NUI Galway has announced the appointment of (left) Professor Rebecca Braun as new Executive Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, and (right) Professor Geraint Howells as Executive Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law.
Nov 24 2020 Posted: 14:32 GMT

NUI Galway has announced the appointment of Professor Rebecca Braun as new Executive Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, and Professor Geraint Howells as Executive Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law. Professors Braun and Howells will begin their new roles in January 2021.

NUI Galway President, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, said: “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.” 

Professor Rebecca Braun will join NUI Galway from Lancaster University where she is currently Professor of Modern Languages and Creative Futures, and where she co-directs the multi-disciplinary Institute for Social Futures. Rebecca grew up in Cork and Tipperary before studying French and German at St. Edmund Hall, the University of Oxford. Having been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellowship (Early Career), a Leverhulme Early Career 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/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.

Professor Braun 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.”

Professor Geraint Howells is currently Professor of Commercial Law and Associate Dean in Humanities for Internationalisation at Manchester University. He has extensive leadership experience having served very successfully as Dean of Law at the City University of Hong Kong and Head of the Law School in Manchester, and, previously, in Lancaster. He was called to the bar in 2002 through a special route for distinguished academics and was awarded an LLD in 2014. 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. A former President of the International Association of Consumer Law, he edited the Consumer Law Journal for many years, is on the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Policy and is Series Editor for Routledge’s Markets and Law series. He has undertaken extensive consultancy for government, the EU and NGOs.

Commenting on the new appointment, Professor Howells 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.”

-Ends-

Marketing and Communications Office

PreviousNext

Featured Stories