About European Relations and Public Affairs

As Director of European Relations and Public Affairs, Dr Jean van Sinderen-Law is responsible for establishing and nurturing key relationships for University College Cork, Ireland (UCC) with the European Institutions, Universities, Governments and agencies to advance UCC's education, research and public engagement missions.

Jean van Sinderen-Law, Associate Vice-President, Director of European Relations and Public Affairs

Dr Jean van Sinderen-Law graduated from UCC with a Bachelor of Science degree and a PhD in Microbiology. In 2018 Jean was appointed as Associate Vice President/Director of European Relations and Public Affairs. Formerly she held the roles in UCC of EU Projects Officer, Research Support Officer, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Associate Vice President/Director of Principal Gifts, each of which has been a new role created in response to changing economic/Government circumstances in which the University sector operates. Prior to her commencement on staff at University College Cork Jean held an EU funded Marie Curie post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. 

As Director of European Relations and Public Affairs, Jean is responsible for establishing key partnerships for the University with the European Institutions, Universities, Governments and agencies to advance UCC’s education, research and public engagement missions. These partnerships bring new ideas and new practices to the University which cultivate work ready and world ready graduates through postgraduate research and training, staff and student mobility, investment and the delivery of excellence in teaching, cultural, sporting and social programmes. Such partnerships enable input to policy and funding opportunities in a timely and planned manner resulting in harnessing of new opportunities, not only for the University but for its partners and stakeholders nationally and internationally thus contributing to economic, social and cultural growth. 

Jean served as a Governor of UCC and also was elected as a member of the Senate of the National University of Ireland. She is a founding member of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA) and the European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship Association. She is a Trustee of CASE Europe (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education), an organisation with a global membership of 3,500 educational institutions. 

Jean has worked in a pro bono capacity for several charitable organisations including the Haven Partnership in Haiti, the Hope Foundation in Calcutta, Concern in Addis Ababa and Our Ladies Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin. She serves on the board of management of Presentation Brothers School, Cork, is a trustee of the Tomar Trust engaged in the business of philanthropy and is a non-executive director of Egerton Capital Equity Fund. 

Jean was selected as the Women Mean Business (WMB) Businesswoman of the year in Ireland in 2010. 

Her “otherness” is as an actress for which she has trained and has considerable experience in film, television and theatre.

Contact Jean van Sinderen-Law

• Associate Vice President,
• Director of European Relations and Public Affairs
• Office 2.01D, Floor 2,
• Boole Library
• University College Cork,
• Ireland.
• Telephone: 353 21 4902205
• Cell phone: 353 87 4158621