Paddy Nixon

Paddy Nixon
6th Vice-Chancellor and President of theUniversity of Canberra
In office 6 April 2020 – 15 December 2023
Chancellor	Tom Calma
Preceded by	Deep Saini
Succeeded by	Lucy Johnston (interim)
5th Vice-Chancellor and President ofUlster University
In office July 2015 – February 2020
Chancellor	James Nesbitt
Preceded by	Richard Barnett
Succeeded by	Paul Bartholomew
Personal details
Born	Liverpool,England
Alma mater	University of Liverpool(BS) University of Sheffield(PhD) Trinity College Dublin(MA)
Profession	Academic Distributed Computing Researcher

Paddy Nixonis acomputer scientistand formerVice-Chancellorand President of theUniversity of Canberra(2020–2023).

From July 2015 to February 2020, Nixon wasVice-Chancellorand President ofUlster Universityand on the board ofUniversities UK,chair ofUniversities Irelandand was on the Northern Ireland Council of theConfederation of British Industry.Prior to that he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at theUniversity of Tasmania.

Background

Nixon is originally fromLiverpoolinEngland.He attendedSt. Anselm's College,obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science fromUniversity of Liverpool,a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering fromUniversity of Sheffieldand M.A. fromTrinity College Dublin.He is an elected Fellow of theBritish Computer Society,theRoyal Society of Artsand theRoyal Society of New South Wales.

Career

Research and teaching

Nixon has held academic positions atTrinity College Dublin,University of Strathclyde,andUniversity College Dublin.While at Trinity College he was Warden ofTrinity Hall, Dublin.

His research specialism is large-scaledistributed systemswith a particular focus on software infrastructure includingpervasive systems,sensor systems,middleware,web services,trust, andprivacy.Nixon has published over 220 publications and edited 9 books.

Nixon wasScience Foundation IrelandResearch 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 theDublin Institute for Advanced Studiesand from 2007 to 2010 he was Academic Director of Intel's Independent Living and Digital Health. He was also instrumental in the establishment UCD'sComplex and Adaptive Systems Laboratoryfocusing on inter-disciplinary research at the intersection of mathematics, computation, and scientific discovery.

Nixon has been a visiting academic / professor atCalifornia Institute of Technology,University of Warsaw,andKaunas University of Technology.

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;a national early stage investor in tech companies in Ireland.

Administration

Nixon was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at theUniversity of Tasmania(2010–2015)and then Vice-Chancellor and President of Ulster University (2015–2020) and University of Canberra (2020–2023). Nixon's sudden departure from the University of Canberra attracted media attention when it was revealed that he received the highest remuneration of any vice-chancellor in Australiaand that the University of Canberra was in financial difficulty.