Queen's sets out lofty ambitions with 23 posts

Queen's University Belfast, the newest member of the Russell Group of research-led universities, announced 23 new academic posts in a broad range of subjects this week.

The university wants to recruit a mixture of chairs, lecturers and fellows as part of a recruitment drive to take on 140 new academic staff over the next five years.

The posts, advertised in The Times Higher this week, are in areas ranging from sociology and aeronautical engineering to health sciences, education and psychology. They aim to build on areas of research strength.

Peter Gregson, vice-chancellor of Queen's, said: "This reflects the fact that Queen's is a broadly based university with an ambitious corporate plan."

Over five years, the university will invest £259 million, £28 million of which will go on recruitment. "This is all part of Queen's enhancing its position as a research-driven university and a broad-based one," he added.

The university recently made a £20 million investment in studentships and scholarships to ensure that well-qualified students from a range of backgrounds were able to come to Queen's, Professor Gregson said.

Queen's advertised for five chairs and three other academic posts in cancer research and cell biology for the university's Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology last week.

The centre works with the National Cancer Institute, which links Queen's, University College Dublin and the Washington Cancer Institute in Washington DC.