South African post will allow leading AIT researcher to advance humanitarian work
Professor Neil Rowan, Director of the Bioscience Research University at Athlone Institute of Technology, has been appointed an Honorary Professor in the School of Nursing and Public Health in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Prof Rowan said:“It’s humbling to accept this position that will create exciting opportunities for mobility, training and research between AIT and this highly progressive university with view to enhancing important food security including sustainable food production.”
Prof Rowan said the appointment would also advance collaborative research in the emerging area of bio-inspired and bio-based material research with a focus on helping to provide adding value to traditional indigenous South African foods produced by over 300 regional farmers including testing and developing potential solutions to mitigate against COVID-19 pandemic.
Prof Rowan is Guest Editor of a Special Issue published in the leading scientific journal Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health, which is the first globally to address sustaining and potentially disruptive eco-solutions in the important theme of New Green Deal.
Prof Rowan stated, “this is a timely appointment as the research aligns strongly with opinions from 20 leading experts published in this special issue on key societal challenges including mitigating against the impact of extreme climate change events on food supply chains.”
Prof Rowan holds an Adjunct Professorship to the School of Medicine, Nursing and Biomedical Science at NUI Galway, and evaluates for Professorial Chair appointments internationally, including at the University of Malaya, Malaysia.
He has previously supervised 26 doctorate researchers in related fields of study where his research is cited by his peers in over 5,300 scientific publications internationally.
Prof Rowan is on the Editorial Board of the prestigious journal Science of the Total Environment, and is a Founding Director of ‘Empower Eco CLG’.
Neil hails from West Lodge in Athlone, and is the son of Ruth and the late Breffni Rowan.
He lives locally in Coosan with his wife Michelle and their children Chloe, Kevin and Liam.
Professor Ciaràn O’Cathàin, President of AIT, stated: “I’m very pleased for Professor Rowan where this prestigious appointment attests to the quality, impact and internationalisation of frontier research conducted in AIT that will support and enable advancement of the new Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (TUS:MW), which commences on October 1 this year.
“I wish Prof Rowan and his collaborative partners in the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa every success with this important humanitarian research,” Professor O’Cathàin concluded.