71 Notable alumni of Ulster University
Updated: June 22, 2026 EliteDegrees
Ulster University is ranked #512 in the world and #43 in United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 71 notable alumni from Ulster University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Ulster University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Hugh McKenna
1954-. (aged 72)
nurse
Hugh Patrick McKenna CBE FRCN is a British academic. He was Dean of Medical School Development at Ulster University.
2. Siobhan McDonald
artist
Siobhán McDonald is an Irish visual artist and was born in New York. She holds a bachelor's degree in Art and Design from The Ulster University and a Masters in Visual Arts Practices from Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology 2011.
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3. Kevin Rockett
historian
author
Kevin Rockett is an Irish film historian, writer and scholar specializing in the history of Irish cinema. He is currently an associate professor in Film Studies and head of the School of Drama, Film and Music, at Trinity College, Dublin. He has authored, co-authored, or edited numerous books, including Cinema and Ireland, The Irish Filmography (1996), Neil Jordan: Exploring Boundaries...
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4. Thomas Paul Burgess (Ruefrex)
1959-. (aged 67)
musician
Thomas Paul Burgess is an academic, novelist and musician from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
5. May De Silva
1968-. (aged 58)
politician
May De Silva is a Seychellois law enforcement officer who presently serves as the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles since March 16, 2017.
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6. Dominic Bradley
1960-. (aged 66)
school teacher
politician
Dominic Bradley is an Irish former Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Newry and Armagh from 2003 to 2016. As an MLA, he was the SDLP Spokesperson for Education and for the Irish language.
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7. Raymond Watson
1958-. (aged 68)
artist
Raymond P Watson is a visual artist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He lives and works in Cushendall, in the Glens of Antrim. He studied Media Studies at the University of Ulster, obtaining a BA hons., and Master of Philosophy. He has worked as a Media Studies lecturer at the Belfast Metropolitan College, and worked as a group editor with a...
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8. Alison Kitson
1956-. (aged 70)
university teacher
nurse
Alison Kitson FRCN is inaugural Vice President and Executive Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University South Australia. She is also an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, United Kingdom.
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9. John McCanny
1952-. (aged 74)
engineer
Sir John Vincent McCanny is the emeritus Regius Professor of Electronics and Computer Engineering at Queen's University Belfast, and director of the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology.
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10. Norma Reid Birley
1952-. (aged 74)
academic
Norma Glasgo Reid, Lady Birley was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand. A statistician, and health service researcher, she has also held the positions of director of an academic consultancy firm, Associate Professor of the University of Ulster, and an Honorary Professor of Sussex University. She was appointed to Witwatersrand in 2000, following a 25-year career as...
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11. Andre Stitt
1958-. (aged 68)
performance artist
artist
André Stitt is an artist currently based in Cardiff, Wales, where he is a professor of fine art at the Cardiff School of Art & Design.
12. Mary Whelan
diplomat
Mary Whelan became Irish Ambassador to Austria on 2 October 2014.
13. Liz Breadon
politician
Elizabeth A. "Liz" Breadon is a Democratic member of the Boston City Council who serves the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. She is the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to Boston City Council.
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14. Brian Humphries
business executive
Brian Humphries is an Irish businessman who was the CEO of Cognizant, from 2019 before being fired in 2023, due to severe attrition rates.
15. Jennifer Baker
journalist
Jennifer Baker is a European journalist based in Brussels specialising in EU policy and legislation in the technology sector. She has written for ArsTechnica, ComputerWeekly, Macworld, PC World and The Register. She has been senior presenter on ViEUws and also features as an EU policy and tech expert on BBC Radio as well as Euronews.
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16. Ian Marshall
1968-. (aged 58)
politician
Ian James Marshall OBE is a farmer and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician from Markethill, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland. He is from a unionist background and campaigned against Brexit. He was elected to Seanad Éireann in Dublin in 2018, but lost his seat in the 2020 Seanad election.
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17. George Hamilton
1967-. (aged 59)
police officer
Sir George Ernest Craythorne Hamilton QPM is a Northern Ireland retired police officer. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He was previously the Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for rural policing.
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18. Stephen Snoddy
1959-. (aged 67)
exhibition curator
Stephen Snoddy is a British artist and gallery director.
19. Sandra Overend
1973-. (aged 53)
politician
Sandra Overend is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician in Northern Ireland. She served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Mid-Ulster from 2011 to 2017.
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20. Brian Ó Domhnaill
1977-. (aged 49)
politician
Brian Ó Domhnaill is an Irish former Independent politician who served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from August 2007 to March 2020. He previously represented Fianna Fáil.
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21. Wallace Arthur
1952-. (aged 74)
university teacher
geneticist
zoologist
Wallace Arthur is an evolutionary biologist and science writer. He is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of Galway. His most recent book is Parallel Worlds: Evolution of Life Across the Cosmos, published by World Scientific, which focuses on the probable nature of extraterrestrial life, and in particular on the question of whether that life is likely to be...
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22. Eileen Bell
1943-. (aged 83)
politician
Eileen Bell CBE is a retired Alliance Party politician from Dromara, Northern Ireland. She was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 1998 to 2007, and is a former deputy leader of the Alliance Party.
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23. Christina McKenna
1957-. (aged 69)
writer
Christina McKenna is an Irish author and novelist. She has written books that comprise the Tailorstown series.
24. Margaret Molloy
1970-. (aged 56)
Margaret Molloy is an Irish businesswoman. Based in New York City, she is the chief marketing officer and head of new development at Siegel+Gale, a strategy and design firm. Molloy is a member of Global Irish Network, an advisory group to the Government of Ireland. She was formerly the Board Chairperson for the New York Hub of The Marketing Society,...
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25. Ross Wilson
1958-. (aged 68)
sculptor
Ross Wilson is an artist from Northern Ireland. He studied Fine Art at the University of Ulster and at the Chelsea College of Art and Design.
26. William Conor
1881-1968 (aged 87)
painter
William Conor OBE RHA PPRUA ROI was a Belfast-born artist.
27. Alban Maginness
1950-. (aged 76)
barrister
council member
politician
Alban Maginness is a Northern Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 1998 to 2016.
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28. Alastair McIntosh
1955-. (aged 71)
academic
Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish writer, academic and activist.
29. Dolores Kelly
1959-. (aged 67)
politician
Mary Dolores Kelly is an Irish nationalist former politician who served as deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2011 to 2015. She was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 2003 to 2016, and again from 2017 until 2022. She was succeeded by Eóin Tennyson in 2022.
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30. Anne Devlin
1951-. (aged 75)
writer
playwright
short story writer
screenwriter
Anne Devlin is a short story writer, playwright and screenwriter born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was a teacher from 1974 to 1978, and started writing fiction in 1976 in Germany. Having lived in London for a decade, she returned to Belfast in 2007.
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31. Jemma Dolan
1990-. (aged 36)
politician
Jemma Dolan is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 2017.
32. Tara Shine
1999-2002 (aged 3)
researcher
Tara Shine is an Irish environmental scientist, policy advisor and science communicator. Her work considers climate change negotiations and capacity building. She is a former member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Group of Experts. In 2020 Shine was announced as one of the speakers for the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.
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33. Marissa Callaghan
1985-. (aged 41)
association football player
Marissa James Callaghan MBE is a Northern Irish football midfielder who plays for Cliftonville Ladies and formerly for the Northern Ireland national team
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34. Nuala McAllister
1989-. (aged 37)
politician
Nuala McAllister is an Alliance Party politician who has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North since 2022.
35. Jennifer Whitmore
1974-. (aged 52)
politician
scientist
Jennifer Whitmore is an Irish Social Democrats politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wicklow constituency since the 2020 general election.
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36. Tina McKenzie
1973-. (aged 53)
politician
business executive
Tina McKenzie MBE is a business executive and former politician from Belfast in Northern Ireland.
37. Gary Middleton
1990-. (aged 36)
politician
council member
Gary Middleton MLA is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Foyle since 2015. Middleton is the DUP Spokesperson for the North West.
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38. Günter Meyer
1946-. (aged 80)
geographer
university teacher
Günter Meyer is a German Geographer and Orientalist. He is chairman of the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES) and director of the Center for Research on the Arab World (CERAW) at the University of Mainz. Meyer focuses mainly on the Political Geography of the Arab World, and the economic as well as urban development in the Middle East,...
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39. Órlaithí Flynn
1988-. (aged 38)
politician
Órlaithí Flynn is an Irish politician and MLA who represents Belfast West in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
40. Anna Lo
1950-2024 (aged 74)
autobiographer
social worker
politician
Anna Manwah Lo, or Anna Lo Man-wah, MBE was a Northern Irish politician of the Alliance Party. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast South from 2007 to 2016 and was a former president of the Alliance Party.
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41. Niall Ó Donnghaile
1985-. (aged 41)
politician
Niall Ó Donnghaile is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician who served as a senator for the Administrative Panel from 2016 to 2024. He was the Leader of Sinn Féin in the Seanad from June 2020 to January 2024. He previously served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2011 to 2012 and a councillor on Belfast City Council from 2011...
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42. Gerry Anderson
1944-2014 (aged 70)
radio personality
Gerald Michael Anderson was a Northern Irish radio and television broadcaster for BBC Northern Ireland. Renowned for his unique style and distinctive sense of humour, Anderson often referred to himself on his show, as "Turkey Neck", "Puppet Chin" or "Golf Mike Alpha".
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43. Roberta Blackman-Woods
1957-. (aged 69)
politician
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods is a British academic and former Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Durham from 2005 to 2019.
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44. Colin Davidson
1968-. (aged 58)
painter
Colin Davidson is a Northern Irish visual artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. An artist who works in themes, his recent large-scale head paintings have been exhibited worldwide. Since 2021, he has been Chancellor of Ulster University.
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45. Gerry Carroll
1987-. (aged 39)
politician
Gerry Carroll is a People Before Profit politician and socialist activist from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast West since 2016. Carroll also served as a Belfast City Councillor for the Black Mountain DEA from 2014 until 2016.
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46. Paula Bradshaw
1972-. (aged 54)
politician
Paula Jane Bradshaw is an Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician. She has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast since the 2016 election and in 2024 was appointed Alliance Party Chief Whip.
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47. Basil McCrea
1959-. (aged 67)
engineer
politician
Basil McCrea is a former Northern Irish politician. He was the party leader of NI21 from 2013 until it disbanded in 2016. He was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2007 to 2016.
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48. Michael Riley
1962-. (aged 64)
television actor
film producer
actor
film actor
Michael Riley is a Canadian actor.
49. Conor Murphy
1963-. (aged 63)
politician
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 served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Newry and Armagh from 2015 until 2025, having previously served...
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50. Gregory Campbell
1953-. (aged 73)
politician
Gregory Lloyd Campbell CBE is a British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Londonderry since 2001. As of 2024, Campbell is Northern Ireland's longest-serving current MP. He is the DUP Spokesperson for International Development.
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51. Michelle Gildernew
1970-. (aged 56)
politician
Michelle Angela Gildernew is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2017 to 2024, after previously holding the seat from 2001 to 2015.
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52. Mark Durkan
1960-. (aged 66)
politician
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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53. Carla Lockhart
1985-. (aged 41)
politician
council member
Carla Rebecca Lockhart is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann since the 2019 general election. She currently serves as the DUP spokesperson for environment, food and rural affairs. She was previously a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Upper Bann from 2016 to 2019.
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54. Oliver Jeffers
1977-. (aged 49)
author
writer
artist
children's writer
visual artist
Oliver Brendan Jeffers MBE is an Australian-born Northern Irish artist, illustrator and writer. He went to the integrated secondary school Hazelwood College, then graduated from the University of Ulster in 2001. He relocated back to Northern Ireland in the early 2020s after a spell living and working in Brooklyn.
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55. Omid Djalili
1965-. (aged 61)
comedian
television actor
film actor
voice actor
stand-up comedian
Omid Djalili is an English comedian, actor, and writer of Iranian descent. He began his career at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has gone on to become a touring comedian with a substantial list of film and television appearances.
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56. Gary Lightbody
1976-. (aged 50)
blogger
songwriter
guitarist
singer
Gareth John Lightbody OBE is a musician from Northern Ireland. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has also founded the musical supergroups the Reindeer Section and Tired Pony.
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57. Kate Hoey
1946-. (aged 80)
politician
Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey, better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 to 2001. During the 1970s Hoey was involved in radical far-left groups but by the end of the decade became involved with the Labour...
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58. David Holmes
1969-. (aged 57)
film score composer
disc jockey
composer
recording artist
record producer
David Holmes is a Northern-Irish musician and composer. He worked as a DJ before releasing several solo albums that incorporated elements of trip hop, big beat, rock and electronic music. In the late 1990s, he also began composing film scores, establishing a long-standing collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh that includes Out of Sight (1998) and the Ocean's trilogy.
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59. Tommy Bowe
1984-. (aged 42)
television presenter
rugby union player
Gaelic football player
Thomas John Bowe is an Irish television presenter and former rugby union player from County Monaghan, Ireland. He played on the wing for Ulster, Ospreys, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
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60. Paul Givan
1981-. (aged 45)
politician
Paul Jonathan Givan is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he has served as Minister of Education since 3 February 2024. Givan has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley since 2010.
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61. Victor Sloan
1945-. (aged 81)
photographer
Victor Sloan MBE is a Northern Irish photographer and artist.
62. James Nesbitt
1965-. (aged 61)
stage actor
television actor
comedian
actor
film actor
William James Nesbitt is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof (1987, 1989) to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). He got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams...
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63. Rolph Payet
1968-. (aged 58)
civil servant
Rolph Antoine Payet FRGS is a Seychellois international policy expert, researcher and speaker on environment, climate and island issues, and was the first President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Seychelles. He was Minister of Environment and Energy in the Cabinet of Seychelles from 2012 to 2014. He is currently United Nations Executive Secretary for the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm...
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64. Giles Scott-Smith
1968-. (aged 58)
historian
university teacher
Giles Scott-Smith is a Dutch-British academic. He is a professor of international relations and new diplomatic history at Leiden University and serves as the dean of Leiden University College The Hague.
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65. Martin Parr
1952-2025 (aged 73)
actor
cinematographer
director
photojournalist
deltiologist
Martin Parr CBE was an English documentary photographer and photojournalist. He was known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world.
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66. Stephen Martin
1966-. (aged 60)
businessperson
Stephen Martin is a British businessman. He served as the chief executive officer of the Clugston Group construction and civil engineering company from 2006 to 2016. He was the director general of the Institute of Directors from February 2017 to early 2019.
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67. Anne Carlisle
1956-. (aged 70)
academic
Anne Carlisle OBE is a British educator.
68. John Dallat
1947-2020 (aged 73)
teacher
politician
John Dallat was an Irish politician in the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) who represented East Londonderry in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 to 2016, and then from 2017 until his death in 2020.
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69. Brian Friel
1929-2015 (aged 86)
theatrical director
politician
writer
playwright
translator
Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett,...
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70. Seán Gallagher
1962-. (aged 64)
businessperson
reality television participant
Seán Gallagher is an Irish businessman and former reality television personality. He was a co-founder in 2000 of Smarthomes, which after initial success, failed in 2008–2010, and Gallagher departed in 2010–11. He was a panellist on RTÉ's Dragons' Den from 2009 to 2011. Gallagher was an active member of Fianna Fáil for 30 years, from 1981 to 2011, and sat...
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71. Hélène Conway-Mouret
1960-. (aged 66)
politician
Hélène Conway-Mouret is a French academic and politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who has been serving as a member of the Senate between 2011 and 2012, and since 2014, representing the constituency of French citizens living abroad. She is Minister delegate for Foreign Affairs in charge of French citizens living abroad from 2012 to 2014 and Vice-President of the...
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