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Karen Rafferty

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Karen Raffferty
Born
Karen McMenemy
Alma materQueen's University Belfast
Known forVirtual reality
Scientific career
InstitutionsQueen's University Belfast

Karen Rafferty (née McMenemy) is the Head of the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Queen's University Belfast. She works with virtual and augmented reality for health care and automation.

Early life and education

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Rafferty is an alumnus of St. Patrick's Girls Academy, Dungannon County Tyrone and studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Queen's University Belfast. After undertaking a year of industrial practice with NIE and in Norway she earned her master's degree with distinction in 1999. She stayed there for her graduate studies, and was a doctoral student specialising in imaging processing.[1] Her PhD was supported by the Civil Aviation Authority to investigate pattern recognition techniques and image processing. Her research involved environmental sensing, and in particular considered the automatic assessment and validation of the performance of airport landing lighting arrays.[2] After completing her PhD, under the guidance of Dr. Gordon Dodds, she worked as a teaching fellow, and completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education in 2005.[1] Rafferty made various innovations in teaching, including introducing computer graphics and animation into the assessment modules of the course in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.[3][4] Since 2000 her research interests have led her to focus most on Virtual and Augmented Reality, especially: how the visual aspects of VR and AR can be enhanced through the interface to other senses.[citation needed]

Research and career

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Rafferty was appointed a lecturer in the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Queen's University Belfast. She became interested in virtual reality and tactile feedback.[2] Her research focuses on health and training and industry and automation.[5] She is involved with Performance without Barriers, a research program that improves access to music and performance.[6][7]

In 2016 Rafferty was made Deputy Head of the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EEECS) at Queen's University Belfast.[8] She was promoted to Head of School in 2018. She serves as the Athena Swan coordinator for EEECS, and has been involved with their Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Inclusion Matters grant.[9][10] She serves as a judge for the Belfast Telegraph IT awards.[11] In 2019 she announced forty full scholarships in cybersecurity at Queen's University Belfast.[12]

Awards and honours

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Her awards and honours include;

Selected publications

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Her publications include;

  • Rafferty, Karen (2014). Engineering Innovative Products Practical Experience. Wiley. ISBN 9781118757734.
  • Rafferty, Karen (2010). "Short, medium and long term load forecasting model and virtual load forecaster based on radial basis function neural networks" (PDF). International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems. 32 (7): 743–750. doi:10.1016/j.ijepes.2010.01.009.
  • McMenemy, Karen (2007). "A hitchhiker's guide to virtual reality". AK Peters/CRC Press. doi:10.1201/b10677. ISBN 9780429108334.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Queen's University Belfast | Profile". www.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Pioneering research | Dr Karen Rafferty | Research | Queen's University Belfast". www.qub.ac.uk. 6 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  3. ^ McMenemy, Karen; Ferguson, Stuart (2005). "Fashionable education: Is RGB the new black?". ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Educators program on - SIGGRAPH '05. New York, NY, USA: ACM. p. 10. doi:10.1145/1187358.1187371. S2CID 18362664.
  4. ^ McMenemy, Karen; Ferguson, Stuart (2009). "Enhancing the Teaching of Professional Practice and Key Skills in Engineering through the Use of Computer Animation". International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Education. 46 (2): 164–174. doi:10.7227/ijeee.46.2.4. ISSN 0020-7209. S2CID 62430084.
  5. ^ "Professor. Karen Rafferty - Queen's University Belfast Research Portal - Research Directory & Institutional Repository for QUB". pure.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Team – Performance Without Barriers". 6 February 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Experience inclusive immersive music !". Tech Education Network. 2 September 2018. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  8. ^ Meet Our Staff, retrieved 30 August 2019
  9. ^ "Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving Reactions to Gender Equality Initiatives Amongst Academics in Engineering and Physical Sciences - Queen's University Belfast Research Portal - Research Directory & Institutional Repository for QUB". pure.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Inclusion Matters - EPSRC announces £5.5 million for projects to address Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - EPSRC website". epsrc.ukri.org. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  11. ^ "New Belfast Telegraph IT Awards are launched". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  12. ^ "University backs cybersecurity sector with 40 scholarships". BusinessCloud.co.uk. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Royal Academy of Engineering Teaching Award 2005 - Queen's University Belfast Research Portal - Research Directory & Institutional Repository for QUB". pure.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  14. ^ "EEECS Most Inspiring and Motivating Teachers". www.qub.ac.uk. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Best Paper Awarded by Springer - Queen's University Belfast Research Portal - Research Directory & Institutional Repository for QUB". pure.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
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