Queen's University Belfast

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Institutes and research centres

Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) – A subsidiary of the School of Biological Sciences, IGFS was established in 2013 primarily to research and address key questions about the future of the world's food systems.

The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute For Global Peace, Security And Justice – Established in 2012, the Institute aims to contribute to conflict transformation and social justice.

Institute of Cognition and Culture – Established in 2004, ICC is one of the world's first centres for research in the cognitive science of culture.

Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) – Established in 2003, ECIT aims to commercialize research and expertise in a variety of enabling digital communications technologies at the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EEECS).

Institute of Irish Studies – Established in 1955, the Institute was the first of its kind to be established in the world and is one of the leading centres for research-led teaching in Irish Studies and is an internationally renowned centre of interdisciplinary Irish scholarship.

Institute of Professional Legal Studies (IPLS) – Established in 1977, IPLS provides an internationally recognised and unique one-year postgraduate course for trainee barristers and trainee solicitors.

Institute of Spatial and Environmental Planning (ISEP) – A department of the School of Natural and Built Environment. Established in 2000, ISEP specialises in research projects regarding planning and development courses.

Institute of Theology – This previously consisted of several colleges with a Christian emphasis, including St Mary's (Catholic), Union Theological College (Presbyterian), Belfast Bible College (non-denominational), as well as the Irish Baptist College and Edgehill Theological College (Methodist) colleges in Belfast. Any programmes with a theological emphasis were taught by these five colleges on behalf of the university; the university could confer theology degrees but could not teach the subject itself. The provision of theology came to an end after a previous Professor of Church History was dismissed by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

William J. Clinton Leadership Institute – A department of Queen's Business School. Established in 2011, the Leadership Institute provides leadership development and training courses to private, public and third sectors outside QUB.

Queen's University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH) – a research centre of Queen's Business School. Established in 2012, QUCEH brings together faculty and graduate students working on the economic study of the past from across the university and elsewhere.

Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) – A department of the School of Arts, English and Languages. Established in 2006, SARC has been instrumental in the use of networked music performance as both collaborative and performance tools.

Admissions

The university is designated as a 'high-tariff' institution by the Department for Education, with the average undergraduate entrant to the university in recent years amassing between 140–142 UCAS Tariff points in their top three pre-university qualifications – the equivalent of AAB to AAA at A-Level. Based on 2022/23 HESA entry standards data published in domestic league tables, which include a broad range of qualifications beyond the top three exam grades, the average student at QUB achieved 158 points – the 26th highest in the United Kingdom. There are about 6 applications per place, with about two-thirds of applicants coming from Northern Ireland and most apply for multiple courses. The Sunday Times has described the Queen's admissions policy as "among the most socially inclusive in Britain and Northern Ireland". 99.5% of first degree entrants are from state schools, although this is mainly due to the lack of private schools in Northern Ireland. The university gave offers of admission to 86.1% of its applicants in 2015, the third highest amongst the Russell Group.

In the 2024/25 academic year, the total student population was 24,915, of whom 18,310 were undergraduates and 6,605 postgraduates. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 87:4:9 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 56:44. There was also a total student population of 2,250 at its St Mary's and Stranmillis university colleges as of 2013/2014.

The university was established with the aim of attracting both Protestant and Catholic students. While the university does not publish data on the religion affiliation of its students, Rupert Taylor, who conducted his PhD research on the university during The Troubles, argued in an article published in 1988 that "Whilst in the past, especially before the Second World War, Catholics were under-represented this is not currently the case". Taylor cites data showing that Catholic representation among undergraduates rose from 21.9 per cent in 1958/59 to 27.4 per cent in 1968/69 and 42.5 per cent in 1978/79. By the late 1990s, 54 per cent of Queen's students were Catholics, compared to a 48 per cent share of the Northern Ireland population aged 18–25. The growing share of Catholics in the student population is partially due to the tendency of middle-class Protestants to attend university in Great Britain rather than in Northern Ireland.

In 2009, Queen's signed a joint venture partnership with INTO University Partnerships, creating INTO Queen's University Belfast. The INTO centre is based on campus and provides a foundation year for international students who want to study at the university.

Students' Union

The Students' Union at Queen's (QUBSU) is located opposite the Lanyon Building on University Road, and is provided for under the university's statutes. All students at the university are automatic members of the union, making it one of the largest unions on a single campus in Ireland and the UK. It is administered by the Students' Representative Council (SRC) (elected every October, on a faculty basis) and an executive (elected in March), who manage the operations of the union in conjunction with several full-time staff.

The old union building closed at the end of August 2018 to make way for construction of the new Students' Union building. Interim facilities were provided in other university buildings on Elmwood Avenue and, for the Speakeasy bar, an acquired space on the Lisburn Road (opposite the Medical Biology Centre).

The new Students' Union building, officially named One Elmwood opened to students on 5 September 2022 and houses the Students' Union, Student Guidance Services, the Union bar, and Mandela Hall. It also houses a café called Social and a SPAR retail outlet under the name Union Shop.

The students' union provides services including an advice centre with full-time staff to help with issues such as money problems, accommodation and welfare. Commercial services including a shop, kitchen lounge area and coffee franchise are also provided by the union. The Mandela Hall hosts numerous concerts each year as well as the majority the students' union's club nights. Student Disability, Student Wellbeing, Student Finance, Careers, Learning Development service and other services are also provided.

More than fifty sporting clubs and over one hundred non-sporting societies are recognised by the Students' Union Council and are therefore eligible to apply for an annual grant from the university. The oldest society in Queen's University is the Literary and Scientific Society which focuses on debating political, cultural and social issues within Northern Ireland. Established in 1850 by Edwin Lawrence Godkin, the society has been very successful and produced some of the finest orators within Northern Ireland. The Dragonslayers Gaming Society hosts one of Ireland's largest games conventions, Q-Con, in June of each year, and cultural groups such as An Cumann Gaelach and the Ulster-Scots Society are also present. There are a number of international societies at Queen's, including the International Students Society and the Malaysian Students Society.

The Queen's University Mountaineering Club is notable for producing three Everest summiteers including Ireland's first, Dawson Stelfox. Roger McMorrow and Nigel Hart also summited in May 2007, and were subsequently jointly announced Queen's University Graduates of the year for 2006/07 for their role in rescuing a young Nepalese climber left for dead near the summit.

QUB is one of only 20 universities in the United Kingdom to have an AIESEC local chapter, developing leadership, business and soft skills in highly motivated students, as well as providing international opportunities through their work abroad program.

Sport

Queen's participates in both British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) competitions and events, as well as those of Student Sport Ireland.

The Queen's Physical Education Centre (abbreviated to and known widely as the PEC) is one of the largest sports centres in Ireland or the UK. This building houses many squash courts, several climbing walls and is home to QUB's senior men's and women's basketball teams.

The University Playing Fields, also known as Malone Playing Fields, is located just over 2 miles (3.2 km) from the main campus, comprising 17 pitches for rugby, association football, Gaelic football, hockey, hurling, camogie, and cricket. In addition, there are three netball courts, nine tennis courts, and an athletics arena where the Mary Peters Track is situated. The area and its surrounding forest of Barnetts Demesne are mapped for orienteering.

The university's association football team, Queen's University Belfast A.F.C., play in the NIFL Championship. They have won multiple trophies, including the Irish Intermediate Cup, and the Collingwood Cup on 13 occasions. Queen's Grads F.C. are also affiliated with the university, with teams registered in the Northern Amateur Football League and Down Area Winter Football League.

Queens Gaelic football team compete in the Sigerson Cup and have won the trophy on 8 occasions, with the last victory coming in the 1999/2000 academic year.

Queen's snooker team have won the British intervarsity title on a record nine occasions and are the current champions.

Queen's University Belfast Boat Club is one of the most successful clubs in the university. The QUB boathouse, home of Queen's University Belfast Boat Club (QUBBC) and Queen's University of Belfast Ladies Boat Club (QUBLBC), is located on the River Lagan near Stranmillis. In 2010 they were reigning Irish Champions in men's Intermediate and Senior 8's. They are also reigning Irish University Champions in Men's Senior 8's, Women's Novice 8's and Women's Novice 4's. They are the only rowing club in Ireland to have a full-time rowing coach.

Notable alumni and academics

Queen's has many distinguished alumni, including former president of Ireland Mary McAleese; Nobel Prize winners poet Seamus Heaney and politician Lord Trimble; former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Lord Faulkner of Downpatrick; Lords Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord Hutton and Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, justice of The Supreme Court of United Kingdom; former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly Lord Alderdice and former and current Northern Ireland ministers Sir Reg Empey, Mark Durkan, Nigel Dodds and Conor Murphy, and former Irish Free State minister and prominent Sinn Féin member Eoin MacNeill.

Other alumni include poet Paul Muldoon; actors Liam Neeson and Stephen Rea; comedian and presenter Patrick Kielty; novelists Patrick Hicks and Brian McGilloway; playwright and screenwriter Lisa McGee; broadcasters Nick Ross, Bernadette Collins and Annie Mac; journalist Chris Smith; scientists John Stewart Bell, Frank Pantridge and Thomas Henry Flewett. Other alumni include John Bodkin Adams, Trevor Ringland and David Cullen (2007 winners of the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award), David Case (Air Commodore, the highest ranking Black officer in the British Armed forces), Tim Collins (former Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment), Michael Farrell (an Irish civil rights activist, writer and former leader of People's Democracy), Drew Nelson former Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, and Elizabeth Gould Bell, the first woman to practice medicine in Ulster.

Notable academics who have worked at Queen's include Paul Bew, Baron Bew, Sir David Bates (physicist), Sir Bernard Crossland, Tony Hoare, Michael Mann, poet and critic Philip Hobsbaum, John H. Whyte and poet Philip Larkin was a sub-librarian at the university in the early 1950s.

Four alumni had very long and distinguished careers in East Asia. Sir Robert Hart was the Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Customs for almost 50 years. Sir Hiram Shaw Wilkinson served in British Consular Service in China and Japan for 40 years retiring as Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea. Sir James Russell was Chief Justice of Hong Kong. John Carey Hall served in the British Japan Consular Service for more than 40 years, retiring as consul-general in Yokohama.

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