Gillian is currently the Director of People at Belfast Metropolitan College, where for the last 11 years she has led the people functions in a wide-ranging role, heavily focused on change management.

Welcoming the appointment, Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Greer said:

"I am delighted to welcome Gillian to Queen's and to the University Management Team. Gillian brings significant experience of achieving excellent results.

"One of her first tasks at Queen's will be to review and update our People approach alongside the implementation of Strategy 2030."

Speaking about the appointment, Gillian said:

"I am delighted to be joining Queen's as the first substantive Chief People Officer at this exciting time for the University.

"People are at the heart of Queen's and all that this great institution does, which is reflected so well in Strategy 2030.

"People are key to our success and to realising our ambition to shape a better world through life-changing education and research.