Neil J Rowan PhD MSc DSc has over 3 decades of academic experience and is internationally recognised as a leading scientists in the fields of microbial and sterilization science, biotechnology and sustainability. He was recently awarded a higher Doctorate of Science Degree from University of Strathclyde (Glasgow) for outstanding contributions to these disciplines. He was inaugural director of Bioscience Research Institute for 13 years and lectured in Department of Nursing at TUS. Neil has supervised 43 PhDs (academics, industrialists and clinicians), 14 MSc by Research and mentored 18 Postdoctoral Researchers. He has mentored 24 first time PhD supervisors. He holds Honorary Professorship in Biomedical Science at College of Medicine and Health (University of Galway) since 2012, and Adjunct Professor in Biotechnology at University of KwaZulu Natal (South Africa). He evaluates for Professorial Appointments at Universiti Malaya (South Africa) (Top 50 Globally in QS rankings). He holds fellowships to Institute of Food Science and Technology (UK) and Institute of Biology. He supports and leads on outreach educational programmes to secondary schools.
He was co-founder of Roberston Electronic Sterilization Laboratories at Strathclyde University where he was a Senior Lecturer and his research was rated top of scale (5* UK RAE). He is member of distinguished United Nations’ Panel for Effects of Nuclear War (2025-2027); National Science Advice Forum for Irish Government (2026-2029); and Scientific Committee of Food Safety Authority of Ireland (2026-2031). He has generated over 43M euro in research funding since 1996 and evaluates grant proposals for the European Commission. He has a strong social media presence with ca. 20k followers on Linkedin. He has published ca. 300 papers with a h factor of 57. He frequently appeared on the Standford list of top 2% scientists globally. He is Principal Investigator for first IMTA Bioeconomy Demonstration site at scale in peatlands and PI for new RINN Centre for Medical Device Innovation and Research (University of Galway).