Paddy Nixon is a computer scientist and

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

and President of the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. U ...

, in Australia. He took up office in April 2020. From July 2015 to January 2021, he was

and President of

Ulster University sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

and on the board of

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

, chair of Universities Ireland and was on the Northern Ireland Council of the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

. Prior to that he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first prop ...

Background

Nixon is originally from Liverpool in the United Kingdom. He attended

St. Anselm's College St Anselm's College is an 11–18 boys, Roman Catholic, grammar school and sixth form with academy status in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was established in 1933 and is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury. It is one of ...

, obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science from

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

and M.A. from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He is an elected Fellow of the British Computer Society, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Career

Research and teaching

He has held academic positions at

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

, and

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. While at Trinity College he was Warden of

Trinity Hall, Dublin Trinity Hall is the main extramural hall of residence for students of the University of Dublin, Trinity College in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is located on Dartry Road in Dartry near Rathmines, about three miles south of the college. Hist ...

. Nixon's research specialism is large-scale

distributed systems A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

with a particular focus on software infrastructure including pervasive systems, sensor systems,

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...

, web services, trust, and privacy. Nixon has published over 220 publications and he has edited 9 books. Nixon was

Science Foundation Ireland Science Foundation Ireland (SFI; ga, Fondúireacht Eolaíochta Éireann) is the statutory body in Republic of Ireland, Ireland with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in the areas of science, technology, engineering ...

Research Professor in Distributed Systems at University College Dublin (2005-2010). He has extensive industry and commercial experience, collaborating with global high tech firms such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Intel. He was an IBM faculty fellow at the IBM Dublin Institute for Advanced Study and from 2007 to 2010 he was Academic Director of Intel's Independent Living and Digital Health. He was also instrumental in the establishment UCD's Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory (CASL) focusing on the inter-disciplinary research at the intersection of mathematics, computation and scientific discovery. Nixon has been a visiting academic / professor at

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

, and

Kaunas University of Technology Kaunas University of Technology (abbreviated as KTU, ) is a public research university located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Established in 1922, KTU has been one of the top centers of Lithuanian science education. According to Lithuanian National Univ ...

Technology transfer

Having been involved in three start-up companies, Nixon has a particular interest in the commercialisation of university research and the interface between universities and industry. In 2006 he led the consortium that bid for, and subsequently established, National Digital Research Centre (NDRC); a national early stage investor in tech companies in Ireland.

Administration

Nixon was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the

until 2015.

References

External links

* http://www.ulster.ac.uk/staff/Vice-Chancellor.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Paddy Academics from Liverpool English computer scientists Researchers in distributed computing Vice-Chancellors of Ulster University Alumni of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Liverpool Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool University of Tasmania faculty