Emma McKenna (she/her)

Emma McKenna co-ordinates The Science Shop in Queen's University Belfast. She is currently the UK lead on the LOESS Soil Education project. Her career has been shaped by a desire to bring communities and universities together in fruitful collaborative relationships. 

She is a key proponent in developing and enhancing practice in community engaged research and learning (CERL) at a European level. She is a leading member of the Living Knowledge International Science Shop Network, partnering in a range of EC funded projects since 2001. 

Her recent focus has been on re-imagining curricula to support Community Engaged Research and Learning. Between 2015-2018, she jointly led the Horizon 2020 funded project Enhancing Responsible Research and Innovation through Curricula in Higher Education (EnRRICH) which focused on building and sharing models of good practice in curriculum innovation. She also co-ordinating the Erasmus+ project CIRCLET (2019-2022) which supported educators to develop skills for CERL. 

She has been recognised at national level for her educational excellence, including leading The Science Shop team to win a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (2023), being awarded Principal Fellowship of the HEA (2023) and winning a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship (2024).