Sheila Willis

Last updated
Sheila M. Willis
Born(1952-06-11)11 June 1952
Alma materUniversity College Dublin
Known forDirector General of Forensic Science, Ireland
Scientific career
InstitutionsForensic Science Ireland
Thesis  (1977)
Doctoral advisors Anthony Manning

Sheila Willis (born 11 June 1952) is an Irish forensic scientist and was director general of Forensic Science Ireland from 2002 to 2016.

Contents

Early life and education

Sheila M. Willis was as an undergraduate at University College Dublin and subsequently carried out postgraduate research supervised by Anthony Manning for the award of PhD in 1977. [1]

Career

Her first employment was as a chemist at Clondalkin Paper Mills. She was subsequently employed in as a civil servant in the Irish forensic science laboratory and promoted, reaching the position of laboratory director. She was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland from 2002 to 2016. [2] She developed the analytical facilities as well as recruiting a multidisciplinary team. This included DNA profiling analysis and initiating a national Irish DNA database in 2015 [2] as the technology developed. [3] Her final achievement before retiring was overseeing the foundation of a new purpose-built Forensic Science Laboratory building near Celbridge, Co Kildare. [1] [2]

Willis has been chair of the Association of Forensic Science Providers and has advised the UK and Irish governments. [1] Standards and ethics for reporting forensic data and she chaired the group that produced the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes guidelines for evaluative reporting. [4]

She is an honorary professor at the University of Dundee and member of the advisory board for the university's Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science. [5] . Willis is an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forensic Research , [6] published by Hilaris, a subsidiary of the notorious predatory publisher, OMICS Publishing Group. [7]

In 2024 she was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific, interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili. [8]

Awards and honours

Willis was the recipient of the Boyle Higgins gold medal and lecture award from the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland in 2013. [9] She received the UCD Alumni Award in Science in 2017. [10] In 2019 Willis was awarded an honorary DSc by University College, Dublin. [1] Willis was president of The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences from 2020 until 2022. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland</span> Irish medical professional training body and higher education institution

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a not-for-profit medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. It was established in 1784 as the national body for the surgical branch of medicine in Ireland, with a role in supervision of training, and as of 2021 provides a broad range of medical education in multiple countries.

Hugh Redmond Brady is an Irish academic, the 17th President of Imperial College London, and a professor of medicine. He was the 13th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol. He is also President Emeritus of University College, Dublin (UCD), having served as UCD's eighth President from 2004 to 2013.

O'Donnell + Tuomey is an architectural practice based in Dublin, Ireland, described by the authors of Architects Today as one of "the godfathers of contemporary Irish architecture". O'Donnell and Tuomey were the recipients of the 2015 Royal Gold Medal, awarded by the RIBA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome</span> Scottish forensic anthropologist

Susan Margaret Black, Baroness Black of Strome, is a Scottish forensic anthropologist, anatomist and academic. She was the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University and is past President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. From 2003 to 2018 she was Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee. She is President of St John's College, Oxford.

Margaret Mary Murnane NAS AAA&S is an Irish physicist, who served as a distinguished professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, having moved there in 1999, with past positions at the University of Michigan and Washington State University. She is currently Director of the STROBE NSF Science and Technology Center and is among the foremost active researchers in laser science and technology. Her interests and research contributions span topics including atomic, molecular, and optical physics, nanoscience, laser technology, materials and chemical dynamics, plasma physics, and imaging science. Her work has earned her multiple awards including the MacArthur Fellowship award in 2000, the Frederic Ives Medal/Quinn Prize in 2017, the highest award of The Optical Society, and the 2021 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics.

Orla Hardiman (BSc MB BCh BAO MD FRCPI FAAN FTCD MRIA is an Irish consultant neurologist. She was appointed Professor of Neurology by Trinity College University of Dublin in 2014, where she heads the Academic Unit of Neurology, housed in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute. She leads a team of over 40 researchers focusing on clinical and translational aspects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and related neurodegenerations. She was the Health Service Executive National Clinical Lead for Neurology between 2019 and 2024. Hardiman has become a prominent advocate for neurological patients in Ireland, and for patients within the Irish health system generally. She was a co-founder of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, an umbrella organisation for over 24 advocacy groups in Ireland.

John J. Kelly is a senior Irish academic. A professor of chemical engineering, he was for a period dean of the Faculty of Engineering at University College Dublin. He was executive director of the Ireland Canada University Foundation, chairman of the Scholarship Board of the O'Reilly Foundation, and president of Independent College Dublin, and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Friends of Bethlehem University in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce William Stillman</span> Australian biochemist and cancer researcher

Bruce William Stillman, AO, FAA, FRS is a biochemist and cancer researcher who has served as the Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) since 1994 and President since 2003. He also served as the Director of its NCI-designated Cancer Center for 25 years from 1992 to 2016. During his leadership, CSHL has been ranked as the No. 1 institution in molecular biology and genetics research by Thomson Reuters. Stillman's research focuses on how chromosomes are duplicated in human cells and in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae; the mechanisms that ensure accurate inheritance of genetic material from one generation to the next; and how missteps in this process lead to cancer. For his accomplishments, Stillman has received numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize in 2004 and the 2010 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, both of which he shared with Thomas J. Kelly of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, as well as the 2019 Canada Gairdner International Award for biomedical research, which he shared with John Diffley.

Sheila O'Donnell is an Irish architect who co-founded the O'Donnell & Tuomey partnership in 1988. Her work has been cited as "thoughtful and inspired, rigorous and whimsical" by her Honorary Fellowship sponsor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvonne Farrell</span> Irish architect

Yvonne Farrell is an Irish architect and academic. She is the co-founder, together with Shelley McNamara, of Grafton Architects, which won the World Building of the Year award in 2008 for their Bocconi University building in Milan. The practice won the inaugural RIBA International Prize in 2016 for their Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología building in Lima, Peru, and was awarded the 2020 Royal Gold Medal. In 2017 she was appointed, along with Shelley McNamara, as curator of the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2018. She won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2020, also with McNamara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Philbin</span> Irish chemist (1914–2005)

Eva Philbin was an Irish chemist who became the first woman president of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University College Dublin</span> Public research university in Ireland

University College Dublin is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest university, and amongst the most prestigious universities in Ireland. Five Nobel Laureates are among UCD's alumni and current and former staff. Additionally, four Taoisigh and three Irish Presidents have graduated from UCD, along with one President of India.

Vincent Christopher Barry was a scientist and researcher from Ireland. He is known for leading the team which developed the anti-leprosy drug clofazimine.

Sheila Christina Tinney was an Irish mathematical physicist. Her 1941 PhD from the University of Edinburgh, completed under the supervision of Max Born in just two years, is believed to make her the first Irish-born and -raised woman to receive a doctorate in the mathematical sciences.

Niamh Nic Daéid is an Irish forensic scientist, and the Professor of Forensic Science and Director of Research at the University of Dundee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethna Gaffney</span> Irish professor and scientist (1920–2011)

Ethna Elizabeth Gaffney was an Irish professor and scientist. She was the first female professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, holding the position for over twenty years from 1967–1987.

Professor Philip Nolan is the Director General of Science Foundation Ireland since January 2022 and has been appointed as the chief executive designate for the new Research and Innovation Ireland agency. He previously served as chair of NPHET's Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group from March 2020 to February 2022, president of Maynooth University from August 2011 to October 2021, deputy president of University College Dublin for academic affairs and registrar from 2004 to 2011, and was a medical and surgical intern at St. Vincent's University Hospital from 1991 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Teeling</span> Irish zoologist and geneticist

Emma Caroline Teeling is an Irish zoologist, geneticist and genomicist, who specialises in the phylogenetics and genomics of bats. Her work includes understanding of the bat genome and study of how insights from other mammals such as bats might contribute to better understanding and management of ageing and a number of conditions, including deafness and blindness, in humans. She is the co-founder of the Bat1K project to map the genomes of all species of bat. She is also concerned with understanding of the places of bats in the environment and how to conserve their ecosystem.

Teresa "Tess" Lambe OBE is an Irish scientist working at Oxford University's Oxford Vaccine Group. She is one of the co-developers of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine against the new coronavirus causing COVID-19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Collins (librarian)</span> Irish librarian

Sandra Collins is an Irish mathematician and leading academic librarian, who is the university librarian of University College Dublin, Ireland's largest university, since 2022. She was director of the National Library of Ireland from 2015.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "University College Dublin honorary conferring". UCD President's Office Oifig an Uachtaráin UCD. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Former Director General of Forensic Science Ireland". 18 September 2022.
  3. ↑ O'Keeffe, Cormac (18 May 2017). "DNA database". Irish Examiner.
  4. ↑ "NI RSC Talk - A life of Crime by Prof Sheila Willis". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  5. ↑ "Dr Sheila Willis". University of Dundee. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  6. ↑ "Dr. Sheila M Willis | Hilaris SRL". www.hilarispublisher.com. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  7. ↑ Siler, Kyle; Vincent-Lamarre, Philippe; Sugimoto, Cassidy R.; Larivière, Vincent (28 October 2021). "Predatory publishers' latest scam: bootlegged and rebranded papers". Nature . 598 (7882): 563–565. Bibcode:2021Natur.598..563S. doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02906-8 . hdl: 1866/25816 . PMID   34703002. S2CID   239999772.
  8. ↑ "Using science to help solve crime".
  9. ↑ "Institute Awards". Institute of Chemistry of Ireland. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "UCD Alumni Awardee".


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.