Professor Anita Maguire is Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Head of School of Chemistry and Director UCC’s Future Pharmaceuticals, having completed two terms as Vice President for Research & Innovation (2011-21) at University College Cork. She is a Co-PI and co-theme lead in SSPC, The Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals.

Following studies at UCC (BSc Chemistry 1985, PhD 1989), and postdoctoral research experience in Namur, Belgium then at the University of Exeter, UK, Anita returned to UCC in 1991 to establish an independent research team. In 2004 Anita was appointed as the first holder of the Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCC. Anita leads a research team focusing on synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry, which interacts extensively with the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and internationally. Her research interests include development of new synthetic methodology including the use of continuous flow, asymmetric synthesis including biocatalysis, and the design and synthesis of bioactive compounds.

She is the inaugural Chair of the National Forum on Research Integrity in Ireland established in 2015. She was elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2014, Vice President of the Royal Irish Academy for 2019-22 and chaired the Diversity Committee of the RIA for 2019-2023.

International activities include membership of the ERC Advanced Grants Evaluation panel PE5 – Synthetic Chemistry & Materials (2019 to date) and of the International Advisory Board, EPSRC CDT React, Imperial College London (2019 to date). She was an Adjunct Professor in the University of Bergen, 2011-16.