MEET PROFESSOR MÁIRE O'NEILL – ESTEEMED GRADUATE AND MEMBER OF STAFF, AND FELLOW OF THE RAENG  

29 October 2019

Queen’s international cybersecurity expert Professor Máire O’Neill – MEng, Electrical and Electronic Engineering 1999, PhD 2002, PGCHET (Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching), 2006 – is the cover subject of the 2019 issue of The Graduate magazine.

Regarded as one of Europe’s leading cryptography experts, Máire Patricia O'Neill (née McLoone) was, at the time of her appointment, the youngest engineering professor in Queen's history. From Glenties in County Donegal where she was one of five children, Máire was also the youngest Irish Academy of Engineering Fellow and is a former UK Female Inventor of the Year.   

Her expertise is focused on cybersecurity, cryptography, hardware security, data security and the internet of things.

Currently Acting Director of ECIT, the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology at Queen’s, she is Principal Investigator of CSIT, Director of the £5m EPSRC/NCSC–funded Research Institute in Secure Hardware and Embedded Systems (RISE), a Member of UK AI Council, and recently led the €3.8m EU H2020 SAFEcrypto project (2014–2018).

Among her many contributions to cybersecurity, Professor O’Neill has invented a high-speed silicon security chip that is used in more than 100 million TV set-top boxes around the world.   

This has been an outstanding 12 months for the highly respected researcher. In December 2018, she appeared in Silicon Republic’s ‘22 high-flying scientists making the world a better place in 2019’ and in January 2019 Professor O’Neill was listed in the Irish Times ‘50 people to watch in 2019: Ireland’s hottest young talent’.   

In March, she was honoured at a gala dinner and ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, when she was awarded US$30,000 in the second annual Blavatnik Awards in the UK, which honour outstanding young scientists under the age of 42.

In May, she was appointed to the body designed to develop the UK artificial intelligence (AI) sector, joining leaders from business, academia and data privacy on the UK Artificial Intelligence Council.

And at the end of September, Professor O'Neill was formally admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering – the UK's national academy for engineering and technology – where she joins the most successful and talented engineers from academia and business to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society.

Speaking at the time of her Fellowship, Professor O'Neill said: "I am proud and honoured to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

“To join the ranks of so many internationally recognised engineers has great significance for me and is also a major recognition of the academic standing of Queen's University Belfast, where we have been leading the way in solving the many global challenges associated with emerging technologies."

Máire’s father, John McLoone, was a vice-principal and maths teacher at Glenties Comprehensive School. He built a hydroelectric scheme on the Oweneda River, close to the family home, which provided them with free electricity.

At school she studied mathematics, physics and technology before coming to Queen’s to do electronic engineering. As a PhD student she worked under the supervision of Professor John McCanny.

Married to an electronic engineer, Máire is mother to three children. Her two brothers are both electronic engineers and her two sisters are medical doctors.

Professor O'Neill previously held a UK EPSRC Leadership Fellowship (2008–2014) and was a former holder of a UK Royal Academy of Engineering research fellowship (2003–2008). She has received numerous awards, which include a Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal (2014) and British Female Inventor of the Year (2007).

She has authored two research books, and over 150 peer-reviewed international conference/journal publications.

The Graduate, which is currently being issued to over 140,000 Queen’s alumni around the world, highlights and celebrates 12 female academic staff at the University – including Professor O’Neill – who, among many others, are blazing a trail in their chosen subject areas.

To submit graduate news items, or for general enquiries about this story, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen's University Belfast or telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5321.

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