Global citizen, experienced leader

MU welcomes its 5th President, Professor Eeva Leinonen

By Peter McGuire

As Ireland’s fastest-growing university prepares to mark its 25th anniversary, a new President has taken the helm.

On 1st October, 2021, Professor Eeva Leinonen, the first female President of Maynooth University, took over the reins from Professor Philip Nolan. During his 10-year term, Prof Nolan introduced major changes that allowed students to mix and match subjects from different areas, strengthened the university’s research profile and oversaw an expansion of the campus. These were among the factors that attracted Prof Leinonen to the Presidency.

“I immediately got a sense that Maynooth University is special,” says Prof Leinonen, who was born and raised in Finland. “There is a strong sense of collegiality among the staff. It has the most diverse third-level student population and is a national leader in access and widening participation. It is the only comprehensive university in this locality and region. It is a civic university and, importantly for me, connected to its student, academic, local and regional communities.”

Over the past decade, curriculum reforms at Maynooth placed an emphasis on innovation and interdisciplinary approaches so that students could study arts and science subjects together. This has allowed, for instance, a student to take philosophy alongside physics, or an elective module on poverty and inequality.

“This is one of Maynooth’s great strengths,” says Prof Leinonen. “The curriculum is flexible and that is attractive to students for their future lives and careers.”

This video has been disabled until you accept marketing cookies.Manage your preferences here or directly accept targeting cookies

She was also drawn to Maynooth because of its growing international research links and strategic investment in research through institutes and research centres. Among these are the Arts and Humanities Institute, the Hamilton Institute (which bridges maths researchers with ICT, biology and other disciplines), the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute and Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health Research.

Prof Leinonen has extensive experience of curriculum reform and working at the highest levels of a university. She served as Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire, before taking over as Vice Principal (Education) at King’s College London. From there, she became Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Wollongong in Australia and, until being appointed President of MU, oversaw major initiatives as Vice-Chancellor at Murdoch University in Perth. With so much experience, what stood out for her about Maynooth University?

The University’s strategy for diversity, equality and inclusion is exemplary. My connection to inclusive education goes back to my brothers and I being the first in our family to go university, so we have experienced education as a social equaliser. Because of a university education, we were all able to achieve our aspirations

Her interest in inclusion also extends to neurodiversity. As an academic, her speciality is in linguistics and psychology, with her research crossing borders to work with other scholars on pragmatic language development in children and, in particular, contextual processing deficits of children and young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

“There are different types of students with different types of needs, and universities have an obligation to ensure they are included in learning,” she says.

In the past decade, there has also been growing awareness within the higher education sector of the obstacles facing female academics. While a majority of those attending third-level education are now women, they remain under-represented at higher levels of universities.

This is changing: in 2018, Maynooth University was awarded Bronze Athena Swan status in recognition of progress it has made on gender issues, and Prof Leinonen says she is keen for further progress to be made. At the same time, third-levels around Ireland are reflecting on what the pandemic means for learning, teaching and research.

At the same time, third-levels around Ireland are reflecting on what the pandemic means for learning, teaching and research.

Different alumni will engage differently and some will be more involved than others. What we do know from previous alumni surveys is that they have a strong and warm relationship with Maynooth, had a good experience here and felt it was a close-knit community. Some will continue to keep that connection, whether by offering mentorship or employment opportunities, serving on advisory boards or giving back philanthropically

“Maynooth University will celebrate 25 years as an autonomous institution next year. This presents us with a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what has gone before and what the next 25 years look like,” she says. “In 2022, we will be taking a look at our strategic plan. The progress of the current plan has been impressive and we have strong foundations to build on. My first task in this process is to listen to the university and our communities. What are they proud of? What do they find challenging? What are their aspirations for the next five, 10 or more years? What kind of role should Maynooth play in the regional, national and international context?”

This consultation will include reaching out to the university’s alumni community, and Prof Leinonen is looking forward to speaking with them on how they want to stay connected to their alma mater.

“I have always loved engaging with alumni because it is really empowering to be in a room full of people who are graduates of the university you are leading. They can be good sounding boards for new ideas. They can be the greatest supporters and advocates of your university, and I love hearing of their experiences and pathways.”

Professor Eeva Leinonen

Born and raised in Finland
Most recently Vice Chancellor and President at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
Academic research focus: pragmatic language processing deficits in children and young adults with autistic spectrum disorders
Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) at the University of Wollongong
Vice-Principal (Education) and Professor of Clinical Linguistics at King’s College London
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Head of School of Psychology, Head of School of Humanities, Director of Health and Human Sciences Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire
Speaks and writes about higher education topics, including institutional leadership, curriculum and technology enhanced learning
Actively involved in national and international higher education policy discourse and implementation through roles on numerous boards and advisory bodies