GRADUATIONS

Queen’s University Class of 2021

Graduation celebrations at Queen’s University Belfast are taking place virtually this summer. In this edition we shine a light on students and their success stories as they graduate during changed times.

Aislinn McAleenan

Aislinn McAleenan is graduating with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD opportunity to continue developing a robot which could revolutionise eye surgery.

Aislinn’s journey at Queen’s started fi ve years ago when she completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She is now graduating with a fi rst-class honours MEng in Mechanical Engineering.

Last year, Aislinn – who is from Newry and Mourne – created an actuator for robotic eye surgery. Starting in October, Aislinn will be carrying on her work on the robot as part of a PhD at Queen’s.

She says: “During my fi nal year I developed a lowcost actuator design which allows for a surgical tool to be translated and rotated during eye surgery with increased accuracy. I hope that it will help to make eye surgery more readily available for patients globally, especially those in developing countries.

“Another project of mine was an idea for an electrical, wearable device which alleviates pain by sending pulses of mild electrical current to the painful area on the body. My idea for the pain management device was shortlisted for ‘What’s The Big Idea’ competition.”

During her Master’s, Aislinn also took part in the Women in Leadership Programme with the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute.

Speaking about her journey as a Queen’s student, Aislinn comments: “I have had so many opportunities to explore all that STEM has to off er and it has been very exciting. My favourite memory is when I represented the University at the International Joint Design Workshop at Tianjin University, China. This was a fantastic experience for me to improve my design skills and meet other students from all over the world.

Anita Dennison

Anita Dennison rom Newry, Co Down, will celebrate graduating from Queen’s University Belfast for the second time with a degree in social work. Anita was inspired to undertake her degree in social work due to her past experiences of being bullied at secondary school. She said: “I was bullied at secondary school, despite the great support I received from my peers and teaching staff . The cyberbullying was the worst as it was anonymous, and it impacted my confi dence the most because I knew it could have been anyone.” Brave Anita decided to create an anti-bully social media campaign in 2012 which she started on Twitter and her own website to share her experience and help others going through what she did. She explained: “I submitted the campaign to my school’s anti-bullying competition and won. I never would have imagined how many people it would have helped, having young people and parents alike commenting and asking for support from around the world. It has been an honour being able to share my story through various means, including a TEDx talk and getting to share the stage with amazing people such as current mental health champion, Professor Siobhan O’Neill. Anita earned several awards for her anti-bullying campaign including the Princess Diana Award, the Spirit of NI Overcoming Adversity Award, and the Points of Light Award from the Prime Minister. She said: “I didn’t start the campaign for recognition, I did it as an outlet to help myself and others. However, I was honoured and fortunate enough to be nominated and win these awards which I will never forget. To be recognised was incredibly touching.”

Bogdan Golumbeanu

Bogdan Golumbeanu will be awarded a First Class Honours (BSc Hons) Economics with Finance from Queen’s Management School. Bogdan Golumbeanu (aged 24) from Bucharest in Romania, came to Queen’s University Belfast after studying Psychology for two years at the University of Bucharest. He said: “Having discovered that I wanted something more quantitative, I decided that pursuing a career in fi nance was the best option for me. “Being at one of the top UK universities, I wanted to make the best out of my experience at Queen’s. I applied to diff erent programmes and experiences to build up my CV and improve my network. “I took part in and was CEO in my fi nal year of the Queen’s Student Manged Fund (QSMF); the Belfast Enterprise Academy; the Queen’s Global Leadership Programme, and the Inspiring Leaders Programme, for which I was awarded the ‘Highly Commended Graduate of the Year’ award for the way in which I improved the activity in the QSMF. At the end of my fi rst year, I was awarded the ‘City Scholarship’, where I travelled to London and worked for a week at Evercore, a leading private equity boutique in Mayfair. During his studies, Bogdan co-founded LightStone Insights, the fastestgrowing fi nancial platform that encourages underrepresented students to consider a career in fi nance. He explained: “The idea for LightStone came off the back of applying for jobs as I faced the challenges of psychometric tests, interviews and rejections. I thought it would be a great idea to help other students facing the same problems. Since then, we have quickly grown to have an international team of 15 talented students and have helped over 1,000 students in their careers while producing research content about global fi nancial markets.”

Alanna Morrison

Alanna Morrison, 21, from Banbridge graduates with a BSc Degree in Microbiology from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. Alanna has played a crucial role in Northern Ireland over the past year in local eff orts to tackle the current pandemic. She began working at Randox at the start of the pandemic to carry out Covid-19 bioassays, the biochemical tests that determine if a swab sample is positive or negative for SARSCoV-2 virus. She said: “The testing process was intense as I would be doing 96 tests at a time. On my fi rst day in the lab, I thought it would take me a year to be able to do the tests on that scale smoothly, but I was able to reach that level after three days.

“To meet the demand for testing, I worked 12-hour days and night shifts. It was incredibly diffi cult and pressured, but a great experience and very memorable, I have made great friends while working in the labs.

“The responsibility was heavy for the role, as for every sample, there was a person on the other end who was likely very worried about their result. I felt a great sense of purpose as this role was key in the pandemic response and I was able to use the skills and knowledge I had gained from being a student at Queen’s to help society through this worrying time.”

Alanna has also had to overcome serious illness to get to where she is today, having dealt with misdiagnosed gallbladder disease that progressed and controlled her life for two years.

“I felt University wasn’t an option for me, but I turned it around during my A levels, got into Queen’s University and have now completed my degree and I’m looking forward to graduating.”

Elizabeth Buick Alison McAllen and Emma McAllen

Sisters Alison (28) and Emma McAllen (23) from Cookstown both graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medicine from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. Alison started Queen’s back in 2011 and completed a Master of Science degree in Mathematics before pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. She said: “When I was completing my Mathematics degree, I realised my true passion was to become a doctor. I was lucky enough to be able to share this experience with my sister Emma who was also beginning her journey at Queen’s to become a doctor.

“Some of our highlights at Queen’s are the times we travelled to Belfast on a Sunday night together, being able to practice our OSCEs with each other which helped us prepare for the clinical and communication aspects of becoming a doctor and helping each other study for our exams.

“We enjoyed being in the same lectures, and because of our surnames, we were in the same tutorial groups at Queen’s. It was fantastic to be able to share our experiences of becoming doctors together. I am so proud of us both graduating today.”

Both Alison and Emma are excited to begin work this August in Belfast City Hospital as junior doctors. Alison is starting in nephrology while Emma will start working in medical oncology.

Elizabeth Buick graduates with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Adult Nursing from Queen’s University Belfast. Overcoming adversity and with great determination, it has taken Elizabeth over seven years to get to where she is today. She said: “At times I cannot believe it, as I was not very academic at school and always thought of myself as “not very smart”. I left school with two GCSEs and as the saying goes, if I can do it anyone can! “I did my access course while working part time in Hazelwood Integrated College and although there were times I wanted to give up, I kept going. It was tough at times especially as I have four children, but I kept at it in the hope that I would be lucky enough to get into Queen’s University.” Elizabeth was successful at the mini multi-interviews and couldn’t wait to start her course in September 2016. However, sadly this was not to be as Elizabeth had to defer for two years following a breast cancer diagnosis just two weeks before starting. She also contracted sepsis during her treatment which was life-threatening. “I had my surgery and treatment in Belfast City Hospital and to this day I am so grateful to them for the care and treatment I received. They are really dedicated, and I am so lucky to have been looked after by them. They saved my life not just once, but twice, and to this day I am truly grateful.

“The thing that kept me going throughout the treatment was that I was going to start a degree in nursing, and this gave me a focus and a goal. I deferred for two years and the support I received while I was ill from Queen’s staff , friends and family was amazing. I am also grateful for the support from my wonderful family and friends and everyone at Hazelwood and Whitehouse Presbyterian Church.”

On graduating, she said: “I never thought that I was good enough to be seated in a lecture hall and now here I am about to graduate as a nurse.

“Life has many ups and downs but the people we get to meet on those journeys really help us to become the people we are today. I still have lots to learn and as they say in nursing, every day is a learning day.

“I hope my story inspires other people out there who need to know that they can do this too.”

Law graduates Aimee Fullen and Rosie Rothwell.

QUB GRADUATIONS

Queen’s University will be holding virtual graduations this year, but graduating students still had the opportunity to hire gowns for pictures outside the famous Lanyon building at Queen’s. With the glorious weather, family and friends were able to create some memorbale photo opportunities to mark this special milestone.

Michaela Colgan (BSc Business Management) pictured with her sisters Sinead and Rachel, and mum Rosemary from County Down.

.Caitlin Cullen (BA History) with sister Meabh Cullen.

Corrie Doran (BSc Geography) with family Melissa, Rich and Tracy from Bangor.

. Medicine graduate Emma Kernohan

from Ballymena with brother Angus. David Irvine and daughter Lois Irvine (BSc Economics) from Ballymoney.

Medicine graduates Helen Graham, Rebecca Quinn, Megan McKenna and Katie Steele. Graduate Eoin Byrne (BSc Physics) from County Tyrone with family Katie, Edel, Josephine Quinn, Sean, Liam and Aoife Byrne.

Sinead Burns and daughter Caitlin Burns from Banbridge. Medicine graduate Ellen McCullagh with family left-right Maura, Darragh, Peter, Tomas McCarron and sisters Anna and Grace from Tyrone.

BSc Biological Science graduates Rose Agnew, Ryan Millar and Heather Cross. Carly McAlister (BA Criminology & Sociology) with grandad Tommy Patterson. Aoibhinn Hume (BA with Irish) from Donegal with Marie Hume.

Housemates graduating in Medicine Kate McCooe, Erin O’Kane and Ciara Casey. Law graduate Aoife Jones and boyfriend James Jordan (BSc Biological Science). QUB 3rd year student Leo Li with international business Masters graduate Alicia Ruan.

Rhys Thompson (BSc Psycology) and Chloe McCormick. Ryan Lynn, Jo Lillie, Miranda McConnell and Gareth Gordon gaining BSc (Computer Science).

St Mary’s teaching graduates Julie Bogan, Alice Soult, James McCartan and Eimear Doyle.

Thomas Thompson celebrates his Phd Pharmacy graduation.

. Theology graduate Lauren Linton with family left-right Steph and Dexter,

parents David and Caroline and grandparents Gerry and Bert Spence.

Gareth McCormac (BEng Aerospace Engineering) with family Luca, Gemma and Esme from Moira. Dominik Seiler with Medicine graduate Michelle Ryan from County Cork. Caitlin Toye (BSc maths, stats and operational research). With boyfriend Josh Graham.

Aaron McLean gaining BSc fi rst class honours (Actuarial science) with parents Julie Ann and Barry from Antrim. Engineering graduate Josh Harbinson from Holywood with parents Jeremy and Cheryl and girlfriend Sophie Keown.

Law graduates Kate McCandless and Rachel McCullough.

Katie Quinn (BSc Human Biology) and Sara Keenan (BA English & Creative Writing). Pharmacy graduate Sarah Wallace with family Brian, Chloe, Emily and Linda McStea.

Lydia Quinn (BEng Computer Science) with grandmum Margaret O’Hanlon from Tyrone. Corinna Clegg (BA English & Spanish) and boyfriend Cameron McDonald (BSc Finance).

Anna Coulter (BA English & Linguistics) with parents Heather and Harry from Carrickfergus.

Medicine graduates Helen Graham, Rebecca Quinn,Rachel Kearney (Early teaching studies) Megan McKenna and Katie Steele.and Sé Irwin (BSc Computing & IT). First class honours graduate Rory Campbell BSc Finance) with parents Frances and Conor.