100 Notable alumni of
Queen's University Belfast
Updated:
Queen's University Belfast is 342nd in the world, 116th in Europe, and 27th in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Queen's University Belfast sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Liam Neeson
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actortelevision actorvoice actor
- Biography
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William John Neeson OBE is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed seventh on The Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.
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Ciarán Hinds
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Ciarán Hinds is an Irish actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Persuasion (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Munich (2005), Amazing Grace (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Silence (2016), First Man (2018) and Belfast (2021), the last of which earned him Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor.
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Stephen Rea
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Stephen Rea is an Irish actor of stage and screen. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of international film audiences in Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan's 1992 film The Crying Game, and subsequently starred in many more of Jordan's films, including Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Greta (2018). He also played a starring role in the Hugo Blick 2011 TV series The Shadow Line.
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Simon Callow
- Occupations
- theatrical directorstage actorfilm directorwriteractor
- Biography
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Simon Phillip Hugh Callow CBE is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.
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Hulusi Akar
- Occupations
- politiciansoldier
- Biography
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Hulusi Akar is a retired four-star Turkish Armed Forces general who served as the Minister of National Defense from 2018 to 2023. He previously served as the 29th chief of the Turkish General Staff. Akar also served as a brigade commander in various NATO engagements including the International Security Assistance Force against the Taliban insurgency, Operation Deliberate Force during the Bosnian War, the Kosovo Force during the Kosovo War, as well as overseeing much of the Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
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Seamus Heaney
- Occupations
- playwrightlinguistactoruniversity teacherwriter
- Biography
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Seamus Justin Heaney MRIA was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats", and many others, including the academic John Sutherland, have said that he was "the greatest poet of our age". Robert Pinsky has stated that "with his wonderful gift of eye and ear Heaney has the gift of the story-teller." Upon his death in 2013, The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world".
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Martin O'Neill
- Occupations
- association football managerassociation football playerGaelic football player
- Biography
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Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, OBE is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish League, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham Forest. He won the First Division title in 1977–78 and the European Cup twice, in 1979 and 1980. He was capped 64 times for the Northern Ireland national football team, also captaining the side at the 1982 World Cup.
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Paddy Mayne
- Occupations
- boxerrugby union playersolicitormilitary personnel
- Biography
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Lieutenant Colonel Robert Blair Mayne, DSO & Three Bars, best known as Paddy Mayne or familiarly as Blair, was a British Army officer from Newtownards. He was an amateur boxing champion, qualified as a solicitor and was capped for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions at rugby union before becoming a founding member of the Special Air Service (SAS).
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Patrick Kielty
- Occupations
- Gaelic football playerstand-up comediantelevision presentercomedian
- Biography
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Patrick Kielty is a comedian, presenter and actor from Northern Ireland. He is the host of The Late Late Show on RTÉ One and presents a Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 5 Live. His television credits include the BBC's Patrick Kielty Almost Live and Channel 4's Last Chance Lottery. He has also presented ITV's Love Island and This Morning.
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Christine Bleakley
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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Christine Louise Lampard is a Northern Irish broadcaster. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as The One Show (2007–2010) and Daybreak (2010–2011), while with Phillip Schofield she has presented Dancing on Ice (2012–2014) and This Morning (2013–2016, 2023). Lampard has also presented factual series for ITV including Off The Beaten Track (2013) and Wild Ireland (2015). Since 2016 she has been a presenter of the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women.
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Arlene Foster
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee, DBE, PC, is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who is serving as Chair of Intertrade UK since September 2024. She previously served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and 2020 to 2021 and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2015 to 2021. Foster was the first woman to hold either position. She is a Member of the House of Lords, having previously been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2003 to 2021.
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Mary McAleese
- Occupations
- barristeruniversity teacherpoliticianwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Mary Patricia McAleese is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, having received the nomination of Fianna Fáil. She succeeded Mary Robinson, making her the second female president of Ireland and the first woman in the world to succeed another woman as president. She nominated herself for re-election in 2004 and was returned unopposed for a second term. Born in Ardoyne, north Belfast, she is the first president of Ireland to have come from either Northern Ireland or Ulster.
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Annie Mac
- Occupations
- podcastermusician
- Biography
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Annie Macmanus, known professionally as Annie Mac, is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and Future Sounds. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) Lost and Found venues in places like Ibiza.
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Lisa McGee
- Occupations
- playwrightscreenwriter
- Biography
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Elizabeth "Lisa" McGee is an Irish playwright and screenwriter. McGee is the creator and writer of Derry Girls, a comedy series that began airing on Channel 4 in the UK in January 2018. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
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Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Josephine Bernadette McAliskey, usually known as Bernadette Devlin or Bernadette McAliskey, is an Irish civil rights leader and former politician. She served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1974. McAliskey came to national and international prominence at the age of 21 when she became the youngest person ever (at that time) to become a member of the British Parliament. McAliskey broke the traditional Irish republican policy of abstentionism and took her seat in Westminster. McAliskey's ascension came at the outbreak of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict which would come to dominate Northern Ireland for the next 30 years. For the majority of that time, McAliskey would be politically active, advocating for a 32-county socialist Irish republic to replace the two states on the island of Ireland. Originally linked to the People's Democracy group, McAliskey was later a founder of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. However, McAliskey left the party after a year when members voted that its paramilitary wing, the Irish National Liberation Army, did not have to obey the political wing.
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David Trimble
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- Graduated with Bachelor of Laws
- Occupations
- barristerpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC was a Northern Irish politician who was the inaugural First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005 and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 1998 to 2007.
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John Stewart Bell
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- Studied in 1945-1949
- Occupations
- translatorphysicistmathematician
- Biography
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John Stewart Bell FRS was a physicist from Northern Ireland and the originator of Bell's theorem, an important theorem in quantum physics regarding hidden-variable theories.
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Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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Tengku Razaleigh bin Tengku Mohd Hamzah is a Malaysian politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gua Musang from August 1986 to November 2022 and for Ulu Kelantan from August 1974 to August 1986. He is the longest-serving MP to date, serving from 1974 until 2022, for 48 years in a row. He is sometimes referred to as the Father of Malaysian Economic Development for playing a pivotal role in establishing and implementing key foundations and policies in Malaysian economy. A descendant of Malay royalty, he is a great-uncle of the current Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V.
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Naomi Long
- Occupations
- politiciancivil engineer
- Biography
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Naomi Rachel Long MLA is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive since February 2024, having previously served from January 2020 to October 2022. She has served as leader of the Alliance Party since 2016 and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East since 2020.
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Stephen Nolan
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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Stephen Raymond Nolan is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 5 Live. Nolan is the highest earning BBC broadcaster in Northern Ireland. In the 2023–2024 financial year he earned a salary in the range of £405,000-£409,999 for his work on BBC Radio Ulster (which is almost always broadcast on BBC Radio Foyle as well), Nolan Live on BBC One (Northern Ireland) and The Stephen Nolan Show on Radio 5 Live.
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Emma Little-Pengelly
- Occupations
- politicianbarrister
- Biography
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Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician serving as the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland since February 2024. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since May 2022, when she was co-opted (appointed) to replace then-DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who declined to take up his seat following the 2022 election.
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Joe Brolly
- Years
- 1969-.. (age 56)
- Occupations
- barristerhurlerGaelic football player
- Biography
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Joe Brolly is an Irish Gaelic football analyst, former player and barrister who played at senior level for the Derry county team. He is from Dungiven.
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Tim Collins
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril Collins OBE is a retired Northern Irish military officer in the British Army. He is best known for his role in the Iraq War in 2003, and his eve-of-battle speech, which President George W. Bush had displayed on the White House's Oval Office. He is chairman (and co-founder) of intelligence-based security services company Horus Global. Collins unsuccessfully stood for the Ulster Unionist Party in the seat of North Down in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.
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Jim Allister
- Occupations
- politicianbarrister
- Biography
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James Hugh Allister KC is a Northern Irish politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster, Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim, having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.
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Nigel Dodds
- Occupations
- politicianbarrister
- Biography
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Nigel Alexander Dodds, Baron Dodds of Duncairn, OBE, PC, is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister serving as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the House of Lords since 2021. He previously served as deputy leader of the DUP from 2008 to 2021 and leader of the DUP in the House of Commons from 2010 to 2019.
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Ian Paisley Jr
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ian Richard Kyle Paisley Jr is a former unionist politician from Northern Ireland. A member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim from 2010 to 2024, and was previously a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Antrim from 1998 to 2010. Paisley is the DUP's Spokesperson for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports. He is a son of the DUP's founder Ian Paisley.
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Nick Ross
- Occupations
- radio personalitytelevision presenter
- Biography
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Nicholas David Ross CBE is an English radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC Television programme Crimewatch, which he left in 2007 after 23 years. He has subsequently filmed a series for BBC One called The Truth About Crime and has made documentaries for BBC Radio 4. He is chairman, president, trustee or patron of a number of charities including the National Fire Chiefs Council, and is President of the British Security Industry Association and HealthSense.
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Sammy Wilson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Samuel Wilson is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Chief Whip of the Democratic Unionist Party in the House of Commons since 2019. Wilson has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Antrim since 2005.
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Eoin MacNeill
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teachercivil servantwriterhistorian
- Biography
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Eoin MacNeill was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1921 to 1922, Minister for Industries 1919 to 1921 and Minister for Finance January 1919 to April 1919. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1927. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Londonderry City from 1918 to 1922 and a Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament (MP) for Londonderry from 1921 to 1925.
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Philip Pettit
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teacherpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Philip Noel Pettit AC is an Irish philosopher and political theorist. He is the Laurance Rockefeller University Professor of Human Values at Princeton University and also Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University.
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Paul Muldoon
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherpoet
- Biography
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Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he has been both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humanities and Founding Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 to 2004 and has also served as president of the Poetry Society and poetry editor at The New Yorker.
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Gavin Robinson
- Occupations
- politicianbarrister
- Biography
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Gavin James Robinson is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party since March 2024. He served as Deputy DUP Leader from June 2023 to May 2024. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast East in the UK House of Commons since the 2015 general election. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2012–2013. Robinson is the DUP Spokesperson for Defence and Home Affairs.
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John Taylor
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John David Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, PC, is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2001, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Strangford from 1983 to 2001. Lord Kilclooney has sat as a crossbench life peer in the House of Lords since 2001. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 1998 to 2007.
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Eamonn McCann
- Occupations
- politicianwriterpeace activistjournalist
- Biography
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Eamonn McCann is an Irish political activist, former politician and journalist from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2016 to 2017. In 2019, he was elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council, remaining in the position until his resignation for health reasons in March 2021.
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Joseph Larmor
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- Studied in 1877
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianmathematicianphysicist
- Biography
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Sir Joseph Larmor was an Irish physicist and mathematician who made breakthroughs in the understanding of electricity, dynamics, thermodynamics, and the electron theory of matter. His most influential work was Aether and Matter, a theoretical physics book published in 1900.
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Andrew Trimble
- Occupations
- rugby union player
- Biography
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Andrew Trimble is a former Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland at international level.
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Conor Murphy
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Conor Terence Murphy is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, who has served as a senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel since January 2025. He previously served as Minister for the Economy of Northern Ireland from 2024 to 2025. He has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Newry and Armagh since 2015, having previously served as the Member of Parliament for Newry and Armagh from 2005 to 2015, observing the Sinn Fein policy of abstentionism.
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Afifi al-Akiti
- Years
- 1976-.. (age 49)
- Occupations
- ʿālimwriter
- Biography
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Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti, also known as Shaykh Afifi, is the KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He is also the Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. He is the first Malay to be appointed to such a position in this university. Elsewhere, he is a visiting professor of Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia. He has also received widespread media recognition across the globe.
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Ramli Ngah Talib
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ramli bin Ngah Talib is a Malaysian politician who was active in the United Malays National Organisation. He served as the 8th Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Perak from 1982 to 1999 and was the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat of the Malaysian Parliament from 2004 to 2008.
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Robert Wilson Lynd
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Robert Wilson Lynd was an Irish writer, editor of poetry, urbane literary essayist, socialist and Irish nationalist.
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Eoin Ó Broin
- Occupations
- politicianstring playercolumnist
- Biography
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Eoin Ó Broin is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and writer who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Mid-West constituency since the 2016 general election.
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Nell McCafferty
- Occupations
- journalistwomen's rights activistplaywright
- Biography
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Ellen Pamela McCafferty was an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner, and feminist. She wrote for The Irish Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press, and The Village Voice.
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Eamon Martin
- Occupations
- Catholic bishopCatholic priesttheologianphilosophermathematician
- Biography
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Eamon Columba Martin KC*HS is an Irish Catholic prelate from Northern Ireland who has served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland since 2014.
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Brian Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore
- Occupations
- judge
- Biography
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Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, PC, was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge. He held office as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. In 2009, he was the last person to receive a law life peerage under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. At the time of his retirement on 30 September 2020, he was the longest-serving justice of the Supreme Court, and the court's last original member.
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Diane Dodds
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Diane Jean Dodds, Lady Dodds of Duncairn, MLA, is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Northern Ireland constituency from 2009 to 2020. She previously sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2003 to 2007 as MLA for West Belfast. In 2020, Dodds returned to the Assembly as MLA for Upper Bann and is the DUP's Spokesperson for Education and Skills. She is married to Lord Dodds, and as such she is styled as "The Right Honourable The Lady Dodds of Duncairn".
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Stephen Farry
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Stephen Anthony Farry is a Northern Irish former politician who was the deputy leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from December 2016 to September 2024. Farry was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Down from 2019, until he lost his seat to independent unionist Alex Easton at the 2024 general election.
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Mark Durkan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mark Durkan is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002, and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2001 to 2010. He contested the Dublin constituency for Fine Gael at the 2019 European Parliament election.
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David Humphreys
- Occupations
- lawyerrugby union player
- Biography
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David Humphreys MBE is an Irish former rugby union player. He played 72 times for Ireland, scoring 560 points, including 6 tries, and at the time of his international retirement was Ireland's most capped out-half. He played his club rugby for London Irish and Ulster, winning the 1998-99 Heineken Cup, the 2004 Celtic Cup and the 2005–06 Celtic League with the latter. Since retiring as a player he has served as director of rugby for Ulster and Gloucester, as a performance consultant with the Georgian Rugby Union, and Director of Performance Operations with the England and Wales Cricket Board. Since June 2024 he has been Performance Director of the IRFU.
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W. Brian Arthur
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
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William Brian Arthur is a Belfast-born economist credited with developing the modern approach to increasing returns. He has lived and worked in Northern California for many years. He is an authority on economics in relation to complexity theory, technology and financial markets. He has been on the external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and a Visiting Researcher at the Intelligent Systems Lab at PARC. He is credited with the invention of the El Farol Bar problem.
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Christopher Stalford
- Occupations
- politiciancouncil member
- Biography
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Christopher David Matthew Stalford was a Northern Irish politician who was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast from the 2016 election until his death in 2022.
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Austin Currie
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Joseph Austin Currie was an Irish politician who served as a Minister of State with responsibility for Children's Rights from 1994 to 1997. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency from 1989 to 2002, representing Fine Gael, and as a Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (MP) for East Tyrone from 1964 to 1972, representing the Nationalist Party and later the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
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Jonathan Scott
- Occupations
- photographerzoologisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Jonathan Scott is an English zoologist, wildlife photographer and television presenter specializing in African wildlife.
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Claire Sugden
- Occupations
- politiciancouncil member
- Biography
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Claire Sugden is a Northern Irish politician who was the Minister of Justice in the fourth Northern Ireland Executive from May 2016 to March 2017. She is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry, having been co-opted to the position after the death of David McClarty in 2014, and won election to the seat in 2016, 2017 and 2022. She is an Independent Unionist, and is considered to be one of the most socially liberal unionist MLAs in the Assembly.
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Reg Empey
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey, OBE, best known as Reg Empey, is a Northern Irish politician who served as the acting First Minister of Northern Ireland in 2001. He was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010 and served as chairman of the party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
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John Alderdice
- Occupations
- psychiatristpolitician
- Biography
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John Thomas Alderdice, Baron Alderdice is a Northern Ireland politician. He was the Speaker and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2004 and 1998 to 2003, respectively. Alderdice was the leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from 1987 to 1998, and since 1996 has sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat.
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Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
- Occupations
- university teachercomposerpianistethnomusicologist
- Biography
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Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin was an Irish musician, composer, academic and educationalist.
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Zoe Salmon
- Occupations
- television presenterbeauty pageant contestantlawyer
- Biography
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Zoe Salmon is a television presenter from Northern Ireland who hosted the children's television programme Blue Peter from 23 December 2004 to 25 June 2008. She also appeared on Dancing on Ice in early 2009. She was the 1999 Miss Northern Ireland.
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Donie O'Sullivan
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- Graduated with master's degree in political science
- Occupations
- television producercorrespondentreporterjournalist
- Biography
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Donie O'Sullivan is a senior correspondent working for CNN in New York City. Born in Ireland, he holds both Irish and US citizenship.
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Sir John Parker
- Occupations
- entrepreneursupervisory boardengineer
- Biography
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Sir Thomas John Parker is a British businessman. He is chairman of Laing O'Rourke and former chairman of Pennon Group, a director of Carnival Corporation & plc and lead non-executive director at the Cabinet Office. He has been a director or chairman of numerous other public companies including Airbus, Anglo American plc, Babcock International, British Gas, DP World, Lattice Group, National Grid plc and Ombu Group. He is a past president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, patron at the Centre for Process Innovation and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford.
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Órfhlaith Begley
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Órfhlaith Acife Begley is a Sinn Féin politician from Northern Ireland. She is Member of Parliament (MP) for West Tyrone, having first won the seat in a by-election on 3 May 2018. Prior to her political career, Begley was a solicitor.
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Chris Hazzard
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Christopher John Hazzard is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down since the 2017 United Kingdom general election, when he defeated incumbent Margaret Ritchie of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Due to Sinn Féin's policy of abstentionism with regard to the Westminster Parliament, Hazzard has not taken his seat.
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Jim Wells
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Jim Wells is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety from 2014 to 2015. He additionally served on an interim basis as deputy speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly between 2006 and 2007.
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Máirtín Ó Muilleoir
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, author, publisher, and businessman, who served as the 70th Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2013 to 2014.
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Robin Eames
- Occupations
- priestpolitician
- Biography
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Robert Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames, is an Anglican bishop and life peer, who served as Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.
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Michelle McIlveen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Michelle McIlveen MLA is a Northern Irish unionist politician, serving as General Secretary of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since 2008. she is the party's Spokesperson for Environment, Climate and Fisheries. She served as Minister for Education from June 2021 to October 2022, and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Strangford since 2007.
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Martin McAleese
- Occupations
- dentistpolitician
- Biography
-
Martin McAleese is an Irish politician, dentist and accountant who has served as the Chancellor of Dublin City University since August 2011. He served as a Senator from 2011 to 2013, after being Nominated by the Taoiseach. He is the husband of the 8th President of Ireland, Mary McAleese.
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Joanne Hogg
- Occupations
- musician
- Biography
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Joanne Hogg is a Northern Irish musician, best known for her work as the lead singer and songwriter with the Celtic Christian progressive rock band Iona.
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Ernest Blythe
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ernest William Blythe was an Irish journalist, managing director of the Abbey Theatre, and politician who served as Minister for Finance from 1923 to 1932, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1927 to 1932 and Minister for Local Government from 1922 to 1923. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 1934 to 1936. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Monaghan constituency from 1921 to 1933 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Monaghan North from 1918 to 1922.
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Cormac McAnallen
- Years
- 1980-2004 (aged 24)
- Occupations
- Gaelic football player
- Biography
-
Cormac McAnallen was an Irish Gaelic footballer who played for the Eglish St Patrick's club and the Tyrone county team.
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Jack Kyle
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- Graduated with laurea in medicine
- Occupations
- humanitarianphysicianrugby union player
- Biography
-
John Wilson Kyle OBE, most commonly known as Jack Kyle, was a rugby union player who represented Ireland, the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians during the 1940s and 1950s. Kyle was a member of the Irish team that won the grand slam in the 1948 Five Nations Championship. In 1950, Kyle was declared one of the six players of the year by the New Zealand Rugby Almanac. Kyle is a member of the International Rugby Hall of Fame and was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame before the two halls merged to form the current World Rugby Hall of Fame. He was named the Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player by the Irish Rugby Football Union in 2002.
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Clare Bailey
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Clare Bailey is a Northern Irish activist and former politician who was the Leader of Green Party Northern Ireland from November 2018 to August 2022, having been deputy leader of the party from 2014 to 2017. Bailey was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 2016 to 2022.
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William George Aston
- Occupations
- writertranslatordiplomatlinguist
- Biography
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William George Aston CMG was an Anglo-Irish diplomat, author, and scholar of the languages and histories of Korea and Japan.
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Monica McWilliams
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Monica Mary McWilliams is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician.
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Ty McCormick
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Ty McCormick is an American author, foreign correspondent, and magazine editor. He is currently a senior editor of Foreign Affairs, the magazine published by the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2015 to 2018, he was the Africa editor at Foreign Policy magazine. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.
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Desmond FitzGerald
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomatpoet
- Biography
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Desmond FitzGerald was an Irish revolutionary, politician, and poet, known for his role in the Irish independence movement and for his ministerial roles in Irish governments; he was Director of Publicity from 1919 to 1921, Minister for Publicity from 1921 to 1922, Minister for External Affairs from 1922 to 1927 and finally Minister for Defence from 1927 to 1932. Born in London to an Irish family, FitzGerald moved to Paris in his early twenties, where he became involved in the Imagist group of poets. In 1913, FitzGerald returned to Ireland and the next year became active in the Irish Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation that sought Irish independence from Britain. FitzGerald partook in the Easter Rising of 1916 in Dublin and was subsequently imprisoned for two years by the British.
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Gay Mitchell
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Gabriel Mitchell is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for European Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1992 to 1993. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency from 2004 to 2014 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-Central constituency from 1981 to 2007.
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Nelson McCausland
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Nelson McCausland is a Northern Irish columnist and former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who was Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (2009–2011) and subsequently Minister for Social Development (2011–2014) in the Northern Ireland Executive.
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Jonathan Bell
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jonathan Fergus Bell is a former Northern Irish unionist politician.
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Maurice Hayes
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Maurice Hayes was an Irish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of the 21st and 22nd Seanads. Hayes was nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in 1997 and re-nominated in 2002. He also served, at the Taoiseach's request, as Chairman of the National Forum on Europe in the Republic of Ireland.
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Chris Henry
- Occupations
- rugby union player
- Biography
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Chris Henry is a former Irish rugby union rugby player. He played for Ulster and Ballymena Rugby Club.
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Robert Henry Charles
- Occupations
- university teacherBible translatortranslatortheologian
- Biography
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Robert Henry Charles, FBA (Cookstown, 6 August 1855 – Westminster, 1931) was an Irish Anglican theologian, biblical scholar, professor, and translator from Northern Ireland. He is known particularly for his English translations of numerous apocryphal and pseudepigraphal Ancient Hebrew writings, including the Book of Jubilees (1895), the Apocalypse of Baruch (1896), the Ascension of Isaiah (1900), the Book of Enoch (1906), and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (1908), which have been widely used. He wrote the articles in the eleventh edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) attributed to the initials "R. H. C."
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Simon Hamilton
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Simon Hamilton is a Northern Irish businessman, consultant and former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician. Hamilton served as the Economy Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2016, until its collapse in January 2017. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 2007 to 2019.
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Nuala McKeever
- Occupations
- actorcomediantelevision producer
- Biography
-
Nuala McKeever is an actress from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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Caoimhe Archibald
- Occupations
- politicianpathologist
- Biography
-
Caoimhe Archibald is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, who has served as the Minister for the Economy in Northern Ireland since February 2025. She previously served as Minister for Finance, and has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry since May 2016.
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Pádraig Ó Tuama
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- Graduated with Master of Theology
- Occupations
- presentertheologianpoet
- Biography
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Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet, theologian and conflict mediator.
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Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden
- Occupations
- historianpolitician
- Biography
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Alistair Basil Cooke, Baron Lexden, OBE, is a British historian, author and politician who sits as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords.
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Richard Davies
- Enrolled in Queen's University Belfast
- 1984-1988 graduated with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
- Occupations
- physician
- Biography
-
Richard Andrew Davies CStJ CF is a British-born New Zealand doctor. He is the viceregal consort of New Zealand as the husband of Dame Cindy Kiro, who has been the Governor-General since 21 October 2021. Davies previously served as a member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council from 2005 to 2007, and represented the Falkland Islands at the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization meetings in 2006 and 2007.
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Neasa Hourigan
- Occupations
- architectpolitician
- Biography
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Neasa Hourigan is an Irish Green Party politician who was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central constituency from 2020 until 2024. She was Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight from September 2020 until being suspended from the parliamentary party in March 2023.
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Kate Devlin
- Occupations
- archaeologistcomputer scientistartificial intelligence researcher
- Biography
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Kate Devlin, born Adela Katharine Devlin is a Northern Irish computer scientist specialising in Artificial intelligence and Human–computer interaction. She is best known for her work on human sexuality and robotics and was co-chair of the annual Love and Sex With Robots convention in 2016 held in London and was founder of the UK's first ever sex tech hackathon held in 2016 at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is Senior Lecturer in Social and Cultural Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London and is the author of Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots in addition to several academic papers.
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John Larkin
- Biography
-
John F. Larkin KC, is the former Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
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Frederick G. Donnan
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicistprofessorchemist
- Biography
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Frederick George Donnan was a Ceylonese-born British chemist who is known for the Gibbs–Donnan effect describing ionic transport in cells. He spent most of his career at University College London.
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Toiréasa Ferris
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Toiréasa Ferris is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician who has served as a Kerry County Councillor for Tralee from 2003 to 2019.
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Margaret Ritchie
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Margaret Mary Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, is a Northern Irish politician who was the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2010 to 2011. She was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2012, and was the Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2007 to 2010. Ritchie was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down from 2010 to 2017. She became a life peer in 2019 initially as a non-affiliated member, and then from October 2021 as a Labour member.
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Donal McKeown
- Occupations
- Catholic priestCatholic bishop
- Biography
-
Dónal McKeown is a Roman Catholic prelate from Northern Ireland who has served as Bishop of Derry since 2014.
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Órlaithí Flynn
- Years
- 1988-.. (age 37)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Órlaithí Flynn is an Irish politician and MLA who represents Belfast West in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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Edwin Lawrence Godkin
- Occupations
- writerjournalisteditor
- Biography
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Edwin Lawrence Godkin was an American journalist and newspaper editor. He founded The Nation and was the editor-in-chief of the New York Evening Post from 1883 to 1899.
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Fionnuala Ní Aoláin
- Occupations
- university teacheradviserjurist
- Biography
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Fionnuala Ní Aoláin is an Irish academic lawyer specialising in human rights law. She was the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism for the United Nations Human Rights Council from August 1, 2017 - November 2023.
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Francis Campbell
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Francis Martin-Xavier Campbell is a British diplomat and academic. Since January 2020, he has been the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia. From 2014 to 2020, he was the Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University, Twickenham. From 2005 to 2011, he was the British Ambassador to the Holy See. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.
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Brian Ervine
- Occupations
- songwriter
- Biography
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Brian Ervine is a Northern Irish playwright, songwriter, teacher and former Ulster loyalist politician, based in Belfast. The Northern Irish playwright St John Ervine (1883–1971) was a distant relative. As a politician, he served as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 2010 to 2011, having succeeded Dawn Purvis. Ervine's wife, Linda, serves as the Irish Language Officer at Turas, an Irish-language programme notable for its location in east Belfast.
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John Newell Jordan
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Sir John Newell Jordan GCMG GCIE KCB PC was a British diplomat.
