A video message from President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Ian Greer to the Queen's University Belfast community.

 

Transcript:

 

Professor Sir Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor, Queen’s University Belfast:

At Queen’s we enter 2024 with a real sense of optimism.

This is a great university, with great people, both staff and students, who make a real difference to the lives of people across our society, not only in Northern Ireland, but on a global scale.

However, I'm very conscious of the many challenges that we face.

Locally, our politics have stalled, while the cost of living and the health and social care crises continue.

There's a desperate need for investment – investment across our society to fix our public sector and to promote inclusive economic growth.

Internationally, conflict continues to impact on the lives of innocent people, including thousands of children, while climate change threatens our very existence.

As a university that promotes peace and reconciliation it is our hope that the template of the Northern Ireland peace process, enshrined by the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, can be used as an example to achieve peace where there is conflict.

We cannot be without hope and belief.

A belief that any challenge can be overcome.

For almost 180 years we've been a constant presence through difficult times and good times:

• Queen’s began life during a turbulent time on this island.
• Queen’s was here as the Industrial Revolution took grip in the 19th century; the heart of Belfast’s growth in the early 20th century, leading the world in shipbuilding and the manufacture rope and linen. And as these once great industries faded, we sowed the seeds of the knowledge-based economy that now drives Northern Ireland forward.
• We've provided a safe haven for our young people – to meet and to socialise and to carry on their normal lives, on our campus and in the Students' Union – all throughout the Troubles.
• We were the launching pad for many significant political careers, several of whom were involved in achieving the peace that was so elusive for so long.
• We've provided entrepreneurs, innovators in business and health, and a Nobel literary winner in the Arts.

Our students, our staff, and our alumni are remarkable people.

Their ingenuity and their courage in pushing back boundaries, making the impossible possible, never ceases to amaze me.

Queen’s will continue to be at the leading edge in our research and enterprise, from our work in cancer research, through to cyber security, the environment, and providing safe spaces for difficult political and societal conversations. A place where these can take place in the pursuit of peace and reconciliation.

We need political will and financial commitment.

We need politics that works and puts people first.

We need to invest in our young people. For every pound invested in Queen’s, our economy benefits by £8 in return.

But we need a Higher Education system that enriches our lives, our society and our world.

Queen’s will continue to make a positive difference locally, nationally and internationally.

So together, in 2024, let’s shape a better world.