Kieran McGeown

Dr Kieran McGeown is a highly respected and well-known name within the UK, and elsewhere in Europe, for his work within the specialist academic area of Science, Technology, and Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.He is presently the Director of the STEAM Research Centre & Course Team Leader for the Design and Technology programme in St Mary’s University College, a college of Queens University Belfast.

Dr Kieran is also an external examiner at Nottingham Trent University for both the PGCE (Design and Technology) and the BSc (Design and Technology) programmes and a member of the Board Of Governors and Finance Committee for St Ronan’s College, Lurgan.

Dr Kieran is also a member of the Northern Ireland Engineering Policy Group (EPGNI) of The IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology). The IET is a very important body in terms of influencing policy decisions made by government.
The current work themes of the panel include:

• NI energy and the environment
• NI IT Skills
• Matching school, FE and HE output to the NI workplace needs

Dr Kieran currently serves on the Research, Research Ethics and Learning and Teaching committees of St Mary’s University College.

Dr Kieran is also one of two Fellowship Councillors of the RSA in Ireland. The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce): an enlightenment organization committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges. Through its ideas, research and 27,000-strong Fellowship it seeks to understand and enhance human capability so we can close the gap between today’s reality and people’s hopes for a better world. Dr Kieran believes therefore effective LISTENING is very important in all this area.
Dr Kieran is also the current Liaison Officer for the  Arkwright Scholarships Trust(AST) in Northern Ireland.

Research Interests

STEM education for both teachers and pupils.

At present Dr Kieran is currently a lead researcher for a collaborative STEM based research project with  St Mary’s and Stranmillis University Colleges, both based in Belfast (NI), titled Strictly Come Dancing with Robots

This research project will involve seven local primary schools and upwards of 400 pupils over the time period February – August 2017. This research project will provide opportunities to bring together primary schools from across the education spectrum to engage in programming robots and drones. The associated research focus is on the impact of practical activities upon academic achievement, with additional assessment of ‘right-brain’ and ‘left-brain’ learning preferences; the pilot study has already delivered some significant results.
Dr Kieran has a keen research interest in the development of effective interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary pedagogical strategies for STEM education.

Dr Kieran strongly believes Listening is a very important skill for person to have success in his educational career which he has felt while doing research for so many years. He further believes that the pupil voice should be listened to very carefully in order to ensure that the quality of of teaching and learning is of the highest order.