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International Women's Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
Abertay has achieved double success in the Athena SWAN Charter, recognising our work within the university to advance gender equality. Consequently, over half our staff are women, and 60% of our Executive team are female.
In honour of International Women's Day, we are highlighting just a few of the inspiring women who work here.
Whatever their role, all of the women here at Abertay do an incredible job, so this is our chance to say a big thank you.
Professor Alice Brown CBE FRSE AcSS
University Chancellor
Professor Brown is a Scottish academic who is Emeritus Professor of Politics of the University of Edinburgh.
She left school at fifteen to work in the private sector, later attending Stevenson College to take her Highers. In 1983, she graduated from the University of Edinburgh with first-class Honours in economics and politics and then completed her PhD there. She became a lecturer at the University of Stirling before joining the Economics Department at the University of Edinburgh and moved to a post in the Department of Politics at the same University.
She was promoted to Senior Lecturer and then Professor, and appointed as a Vice-Principal of the University of Edinburgh. She was also Co-Director of the University’s Institute of Governance.
She has played an active role in public life in Scotland and the UK, having held public appointments and served on a wide range of public bodies and organisations.
Her contribution to public life was recognised in the Queen's Honours list in 2010 when she was awarded a CBE.
Professor Liz Bacon
Deputy Principal & Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor Bacon joined Abertay University as Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) in 2018.
A former President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Professor Bacon is also currently President of EQANIE (the European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education) and a past Chair of the BCS Academy of Computing and the CPHC (Council of Professors and Heads of Computing) national committee. She is also a Trustee of the Bletchley Park Trust.
As the Professor of Computer Science at Abertay, Professor Bacon’s research interests include computing policy, smart systems, security and technology enhanced learning.
She is passionate about the development of her discipline and is keen to inspire more people to choose computing as a career. She has a particular commitment to supporting women in entering and progressing within the profession.
Andrea Cameron
Dean of the School of Applied Sciences
Andrea Cameron is responsible for managing Abertay's School of Applied Sciences, which delivers programmes and applied research in the areas of forensics, psychology, engineering, food science, sport, and health sciences.
A nurse and sport and exercise scientist, Andrea joined Abertay in 2003 and has held several roles since then. These include Lecturer in Health and Sport Physiology, Programme Leader (Sport and Exercise) and Director of Academic Programmes. She has won awards for her work on enhancing student employability.
She works with a number of charitable organisations within Dundee as well as the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation.
Professor Ruth Falconer
Head of the Division of Games Technology and Mathematics
Professor Falconer currently teaches Data Structures and Parallel Programming (GPGPU) having previously taught 3D graphics, statistics and programming to a range of cohorts.
She has a BSc in Physics and PhD in Ecological Modelling. Her ongoing research interests are the development of modelling and visualisation frameworks to understand complex systems.
She developed the first theoretical model and visualisation framework for indeterminate organisms. These modelling and visualisation skills have been applied across disciplines to develop interactive visual simulations of urban sustainability, heat loss and gain from built environment and precision agriculture.
Her interests include applying games technology covering games engines, graphics hardware and related infrastructure, to develop playable models of complex systems. Current areas of application are the Water-Energy-Food-nexus, Microbial Ecology and Health and Social Care. She is also interested in the broader applications of game technology to develop intuitive systems models.
As an editorial board member for Scientific Reports, she has over 55 peer reviewed articles and secured research income over £1M. She is a Co-I and PI on several RCUK and charity-funded grants.
Dr Kathy-Ann Fletcher
Lecturer in the Division of Accounting Business and Management
Doctor Fletcher has been a Lecturer here at Abertay since December 2018.
She gained her PhD and taught Marketing at the University of East London. In her previous career, she was a marketing consultant and project co-coordinator within the advertising industry.
Her research interests include consumer behaviour, consumerism, social/digital media, brand communities and brand relationships.
Professor Vera Kempe
Professor of Psychology and Language Learning
Professor Kempe researches first and second language learning and processing. Her current research interests include evolution and function of child-directed speech, cross-linguistic comparisons of morphology acquisition, dialect processing and the interplay between emotion and communication.
With Patricia J. Brooks, she has co-authored the textbook 'Language Development' and co-edited the 'Encyclopedia of Language Development'. She currently leads a Leverhulme Trust-funded 3-year project on literacy acquisition in situations of dialect exposure.
In her current role as Leader of the Society Theme at Abertay she is involved in fostering inter-disciplinary links between Behavioural Science and Game Design.
Helen McMorris
Teaching Fellow in the Division of Psychology and Forensic Sciences
Helen McMorris is currently a Teaching Fellow in forensic science, with particular interests in fingermark development and wildlife crime. She is module leader for Forensic Human Identification (FOR205).
She completed her BSc (Hons) in Forensic Sciences in 2012 followed by 3 years working for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) as a fingerprint examiner. She then returned to Abertay in 2015 to study for a part-time PhD. Her area of research is investigating the ability to improve the detection of human involvement in cases of wildlife crime with particular focus on raptor (feather) persecution.
Professor Nia White
Dean of Research and the Graduate School
Professor White is responsible for strategy, leadership and operational management of the University Research and Knowledge Exchange activity, and a member of the University Research Executive.
A graduate of University College Cardiff (BSc Hons Microbiology) and the University of Wales College of Cardiff (PhD SERC/CASE ICI Biological Products), she gained post-doctoral experience at the University of Wales College of Medicine before joining Abertay as a researcher in 1992.
Her roles since then include Lecturer in Environmental Microbiology, SIMBIOS Researcher, Honorary Research Fellow of the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Masters Programme Leader, and Head of the School of Science, Engineering and Technology.
She is now Head of the University Graduate School. She has over 20 years of research experience in Microbiology and Mycology, and is Chair of the University Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team.
