Paddy Nixon is a

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

and former

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

and President of the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

(2020–2023). From July 2015 to February 2020, Nixon was

and President of

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

and on the board of

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

, chair of

Universities Ireland Universities Ireland is an organisation that promotes collaboration and co-operation between universities in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was launched in July 2003 by the nine university presidents on the island of Irela ...

and was on the Northern Ireland Council of the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a British business interest group, which says it represents 190,000 businesses. The CBI has been described by the ''Financial Times'' as "Britain's biggest business lobby group". Incorporated by roy ...

. Prior to that he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

Background

Nixon is originally from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He attended St. Anselm's College, obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) in computer science from

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, a Ph.D. in computer engineering from

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

and M.A. from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. He is an elected Fellow of the

British Computer Society image:Maurice Vincent Wilkes 1980 (3).jpg, Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957. The British Computer Society (BCS), branded BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, since 2009, is a professional body and a learned ...

, the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

and the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society traces its ...

Career

Research and teaching

Nixon has held academic positions at

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

, and

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. While at Trinity College he was Warden of

Trinity Hall, Dublin Trinity Hall (Irish language, Irish: ''Halla na Tríonóide'') is the main extramural hall of residence for students of Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. It is located on Dartry Road in the Dartry neighbourhood, part of ...

. His research specialism is large-scale

distributed systems Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different computer network, networked computers. The components of a distribu ...

with a particular focus on software infrastructure including pervasive systems, sensor systems,

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software program that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to imple ...

web services A web service (WS) is either: * a service offered by an electronic device to another electronic device, communicating with each other via the Internet, or * a server running on a computer device, listening for requests at a particular port over a n ...

, trust, and

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

. Nixon has published over 220 publications and edited 9 books. Nixon was

Science Foundation Ireland Science Foundation Ireland (SFI; ) was a statutory body in Ireland. It was an agency of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in th ...

Research 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 the

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...

and from 2007 to 2010 he was Academic Director of Intel's Independent Living and Digital Health. He was also instrumental in the establishment UCD's Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory focusing on inter-disciplinary research at the intersection of mathematics, computation, and scientific discovery. Nixon has been a visiting academic / professor at

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, and

Kaunas University of Technology The Kaunas University of Technology (abbreviated as KTU, ) is a public university, public research university located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Established in 1922, KTU has been seen as one of Lithuania's top science education centers. In 2021, KTU ...

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 In Ireland, the National Digital Research Centre is a national accelerator programme for entrepreneurs. It is delivered by a consortium led by Dublin-based Dogpatch Labs, and supported by multiple venture capital firms. It offers a "mentorship- ...

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

Administration

Nixon was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the

(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 Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Paddy Academics from Liverpool English computer scientists Researchers in distributed computing Vice-chancellors of Ulster University Alumni of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Liverpool Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool Academic staff of the University of Tasmania Academic staff of the University of Canberra