Class Notes 2010s
Milena Williamson, MA 2018. Milena Williamson’s debut pamphlet, Charm for Catching a Train was published by Green Bottle Press in September 2022. She received her MA in poetry from the Seamus Heaney Centre at QUB in 2018 and is currently preparing for her PhD viva, also through the SHC.
Charm for Catching a Train brings together poems from both her MA and PhD. Charm for Catching a Train begins with the speaker ‘walking farther than [she has] been before’ and ends with her waiting on a platform, until ‘a train arrives from the right direction’. The pamphlet progresses from an unexpected journey and homesickness toward belonging and newfound love. The poems explore what it means to live in different places – in Pennsylvania and in Belfast – and how these places, in turn, shape our identities: what does it mean to be American; to live elsewhere; to be Jewish; to be separated from family; to be a woman? Dr Stephen Sexton describes Charm for Catching a Train as ‘gregarious’ and ‘tender.’
You can order Charm for Catching a Train from Green Bottle Press (https://greenbottlepress.com/product/charm-for-catching-a-train-by-milena-williamson/) or No Alibis Bookstore (https://noalibis.com/product/charm-for-catching-a-train/). (Added 29 September 2022)
Dr Fragkoulis Kanavaris, PhD Civil Engineering 2017. Fragkoulis has been awarded the 2022 Young Engineer of the Year by the Royal Academy of Engineering. (Added 5 August 2022)
Dr Selman Ozdan, PhD Law 2016. Selman has published his first book entitled The Human Rights Challenge to Immunity in International Law. (added 16 May 2022)
Dr Anselm McDonnell, BMus 2015, PhD 2020. Anselm is currently workly as a professional composer of classical music based in Belfast. His debut album (Light of Shore), featuring the music that he wrote for his PhD and reflects on aspects of Northern Irish culture and folkfore, was released on 8 October 2021. (note added 21 December 2021).
Suzanne Allen, BSc 2011. Queen’s graduates Jonny Bramley and Suzanne Allen got engaged on 27th March during a trip home to Northern Ireland. Suzanne and Jonny met in London in June 2012 at a Queen’s University Association London (QUAL) event. This event was to showcase the role of Queen’s graduates at the London 2012 Olympics and Mary Peters, amongst others, gave a presentation. Jonny was speaking in his capacity as Executive Producer of Major Events for BBC Sport and Suzanne was just there for the craic!
Jonny, Queen’s 2016 Graduate of the Year, graduated with honours in Computer Science in 1987 while Suzanne, who works in risk management in The City studied Business Information Technology graduating in 2011. Jonny popped the question on ‘Pig Island’ on the shores of the Ards Peninsula on Strangford Lough on a blustery Saturday afternoon. (note added 11/05/2021)
Ty McCormick, MA Comparative Ethnic Conflict 2015, is an editor at Foreign Affairs, the magazine published by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. A former foreign correspondent in Nairobi and before that in Cairo, he has reported from more than a dozen countries in Africa and the Middle East. He has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, New Republic, and National Geographic, among others. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Africa editor of Foreign Policy, where he led a team of reporters that won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for a series on African migration. On 30 March 2021, Ty's book entitled 'Beyond the sand and sea: one family's quest for a country to call home' will be launched. (note added 15 March 2021)
Simon Lee, BD Theology (2005), MTh Theology (2005), PGCE Education (2009), CERT Counselling (2011), MEd Education (2018), was elected to Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council earlier this year, as a Green Party Councillor.
Gary Doggett, MSc Youth Justice (2017), originally from County Meath is the Coordinator of Driver Intervention Services at Extern, aiming to reduce road dangers through developing driver intervention programmes across the island of Ireland.
Gary was joint winner of the New Scheme of the Year Award at the 2019 Young Driver Road Safety Awards in the UK, for a project aimed at addressing impulsivity in young drivers.
Find out more on Twitter @garydoggett (updated 30 October 2019)
Mary Conlan, BEd (2016) graduated from St Mary's College (a Queen’s affiliate college) in July 2016 before moving to New Zealand earlier this year. Since then she has been completing her first year of post-primary mathematics teaching in Auckland.
Ronan Brennan, MSc (2016), recently won the CIPD NI Outstanding Student of the Year award, which recognises someone who has brought their academic knowledge into the workplace and made a substantial impact. Ronan works for the charity Inspire, which looks after service users with mental health and learning disabilities as well as providing counselling through workplaces and organisations such as Queen’s.
Sarah Mulholland, LLB (2016), swept the board with four exam awards, on top of her distinction from the Institute of Professional Legal Studies (IPLS), which she picked up in the summer of 2018. Sarah is a trainee solicitor at the Belfast offices of UK law firm TLT, where she was recently appointed to a permanent role in the planning and environment team.
Gordon Brown, MSci Medicinal Chemistry (2015), is living in New York, where he is a PhD student in the lab of Bobby Arora at New York University.
He has successfully defended his qualifying exam and has been awarded an Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Gordy will continue his research in the development of peptidomimetics and will teach Organic Chemistry alongside his boss in the upcoming autumn semester. (updated 30 October 2019)
Professor Françoise Meunier, DMedSc (Honoris Causa) 2015, is Director Special Projects at the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), having been Director General for 25 years. During this time she has contributed to and witnessed the massive improvement of anticancer treatment which has transformed cancer from a ‘death sentence’ in the 1970s to a chronic disease for most patients nowadays. Currently she devotes herself to research on long-term survivorship issues together with her team at the EORTC.
Stephanie Ferguson, BSc Zoology 2014, started an accelerated veterinary medicine course at The Royal Veterinary College in London in September.
Luke Hanley, MSc Construction and Project Management 2014, works for PBC Builders in Limerick. He was shortlisted for Project Manager of the Year at the Irish Construction Industry Awards 2015.
Lisa McEvoy, BSc Economics and Accounting 2014, has begun an Accounting Graduate programme at Deloitte in Belfast.
Victoria Bustard, BSc Zoology 2013, opened her own business – Plant & Play Wildlife Garden in Bangor – in May 2014. One year on and Plant & Play won the Visitor Attraction of the Year (small category) 2015 in the NI4Kids Awards! That’s in addition to being Regional Winner at The Big Start Up Loans Competition plus Runner-up in the Northern Ireland Enterprise Awards – Start Up Business of The Year in her first year! Further information available at www.plantandplay.co.uk
David Galbraith, BSc Computing Information Technology (2012), used his tech know-how to set up SWIG – a worldwide online luxury hip flask brand (http://swigflasks.com). He’s now shipping personalised hip flasks to over 40 countries from his workshop in Belfast! An alum of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation (Class of 2013), he spent a year working with a successful entrepreneur and their senior management team, gaining valuable insight into how business works.
Hairuo Jia (Julie), Master’s in Business Management & Marketing (2012), is just months away from opening a jazz club in Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province in south-eastern China.
Born in China, Julie attended Shenzhen Experimental High School before graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Electronic Commerce from Shenyang Aerospace University in 2010. While at Queen’s she worked part-time as an interpreter in the Students’ Union.
Having set up her own wine distribution business she is ready to open Roots House in the Nanshan District, one of the most aesthetic and artsy areas of Shenzhen. The boutique jazz club with a select wine list and creative cocktails will marry the two greatest passions in her life.
Julie is planning to offer a Lanyon Cocktail and there’s even talk of a dried cherry blossom flower by way of decoration, both inspired by Queen’s. (updated 30 October 2019)
Sean McGeough, MSc International Business 2012, moved to London in 2014 after interning at Corkscrew and working in AIB, to join Wonga Group as a Procurement Analyst. In March 2015 he was promoted to Group Procurement Manager with a remit to manage all third party spend across the group (Wonga.com and Billpay.de) that together provide services in 12 countries.
Catherine O’Neill, BEng 2012, is managing director of the Amelio Group, an Engineering firm which she founded while still a student at Queen’s. And Catherine has made the shortlist for the 2015 EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Emerging category. Amelio now employs over 50 staff and has offices in Belfast, Dublin and Gloucester.
Andrew Mulvenny, BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2010, moved from London to New York in 2014 as Assistant Vice President at Barclays Investment Bank. He is now responsible for CCAR – Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review – and the US IHC (Intermediate Holding Company) implementation and execution.