Paul O'Donovan
Biography
Paul O’Donovan is Academic Secretary & Assistant Registrar at UCC and leads the Office of Academic Affairs and Governance. He was appointed in 2012, reports to the Deputy President & Registrar and has a strategic focus on academic governance, institutional reform, inter-institutional relations and academic policy development. He is a member of the Academic Council (Senate) and responsible for its operation and the transaction of academic business across the University. He is also a member of each of the four College Councils and the University Academic Leadership Forum.
Paul joined UCC from the Welsh Government where he was Head of Strategic Policy at the Department for Business, Enterprise, Technology & Science. He has held a number of senior positions within the Welsh Government and the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), in the areas of economic development, enterprise, food and agriculture, European policy and funding, state aid, business support, skills and inward investment.
Prior to the WDA, he worked for ADAS Consulting with a range of clients from small businesses to corporates and public bodies including the European Commission, the United Nations and the governments of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the UK. Paul has contributed to several Tempus/Erasmus+ projects, most recently the multi-year Erasmus+ UniGov project on “Improving Governance Practies at Palestinian HEIs”.
He has external roles as a Member of Senate of the National University of Ireland and as Chairperson of Corcadorca Theatre Company. He is a former board member of the European Association for Regional Development Agencies (EURADA) and of the Wales Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) responsible for monitorig implementation of EU structural funds in Wales.
Paul holds a BSc from UCC, an MBA from Cardiff Business School, is an alumnus of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education / Advance HE Top Management Programme and has taken executive education at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.