Mary Flynn has led the Knowledge Transfer Centre at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) since 1994. She facilitates the transfer of expertise from QUB to private businesses. In November 2014, Flynn was awarded an MBE for her services to higher education in Northern Ireland. On March 26, 2015, Flynn and her family received the MBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony was a memorable experience and great recognition for Flynn and the work of the Knowledge Transfer Centre at QUB.

1. “Mary Flynn
has led the Knowledge
Transfer Centre at QUB since 1994,
providing a very useful bridge
between academic departments
and businesses, and facilitating
the transfer of expertise from the
universities and colleges to the
private sector. She is highly
respected by everyone she works
with, including company partners,
academic staff and
government advisers.”
“I was given six weeks’ notice of my trip
to the Palace on Thursday 26 March,
and since I was allowed to bring three
guests, I was accompanied by my
husband Gerry, and my two daughters
Fiona and Rachel. The ceremony itself
was a bit like a graduation, and the 100
recipients on the day were presented
with their awards by Prince Charles. He
had a brief conversation with me about
my work and the reason for the award,
and he asked me ‘Is that about getting
the research out to industry?’ so he
obviously understood what I told him!
“The most exciting part of the day for my
daughters and colleagues in my team
back at the office was the unplanned
video bombing of Dame Joan Collins as
we meandered in the queue for the
photographer as she was being
interviewed on the national lunchtime
news. There was great hilarity, and
many Facebook and Twitter
communications from those who saw it. I
cannot believe she is 82 years old – she
skipped up the palace staircase past me
like someone half her age! Afterwards,
we had a very posh lunch at the Savoy,
where we in our finery attracted a lot of
attention and admiration from the staff
and other guests.
“All in all we really enjoyed the whole
occasion – it was a wonderful and
memorable experience.”
We all have our rituals for ringing in
the New Year with close friends and
family on the eve of 31 December
each year. However, the New Year’s
celebrations began a little early for our
Head of KTP, Dr Mary Flynn, and her
closest friends, family and colleagues.
On 30 December 2014, the Queen
announced her New Year’s Honours
list of recipients, including our own Dr
Mary Flynn who was awarded a new
Member of the Civil Division of the
Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire (MBE) for her services to
Higher Education. Immediately after
the announcement was made public,
Minister Dr Stephen Farry
congratulated New Year’s Honours
recipients from local universities and
further education colleges, saying:
As 2014 came to a close, 2015 came
knocking loud and proud as it marks
the 40th anniversary of KTP. What’s
more, KTP at QUB entered the New
Year with a whopping forty KTPs, too!
It was 26 March 2015 when Mary and
her family arrived at Buckingham
Palace to meet the Queen and receive
her MBE Medal of Honour.
On behalf of KTP
and QUB, we
couldn’t be more
proud of our well-
deserved Head!
Dressed to the nines,
Mary posed for a picture
with her MBE outside the
Palace.
Inside this issue
NEWSLETTER │ KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS
www.qub.ac.uk/ktp
A Great Start to 2015 for
KTP at Queen’s University Belfast
1. Celebrations
2. News & Events
3. New KTP Associates &
Current Contacts
Issue 2 │ June 2015
Memoirs Made by
an MBE Named Mary
“I was absolutely delighted to have
been awarded an MBE in the 2015 New
Year Honours for services to Higher
Education in Northern Ireland for my
work in KTP and building business
networks with Queen’s. It as an
outstanding endorsement for the great
work the team I lead at Queen’s does in
facilitating the engagement of
companies with our researchers. We
have had more than 350 KTPs since I
came to Queen’s 21 years ago in 1994,
and we have been number 1 in the UK
for many of those years for our
participation in KTPs, realising impact
for our researchers, creating graduate
jobs, and, most importantly, having a
major impact on the NI economy.
“I received a letter in November telling
me about the award, under strict
confidence. I didn’t tell anyone except
my husband, and only told my children
and my two brothers when the press
contacted me for a statement on the
afternoon of the day before New Year’s
Eve. In the days following the
publication of the list, I was quite
overwhelmed by all the really nice
messages I received from the current
and previous Vice-Chancellors, First
Minister, MLAs, KTP community across
the UK, colleagues in Queen’s past and
present, local and national government
sponsors, as well as many from family
and friends. I have saved them all in my
MBE scrapbook!

2. Nov 2014: National
KTP Week
Universities across the UK raised
awareness of KTP programmes to
students, academics and companies
throughout the first week of November
2014. Our Associates were challenged
with Apprentice-style ‘KTP Sweet
Shop’ team challenges of competitive,
yet collaborative, sales of retro candy-
filled packets (branded with KTP, of
course), as well as raffle tickets. Not
only were our Associates successful in
educating QUB students about the
valuable career opportunities offered
through the KTP programme, but the
total combined funds of £683.60 were
donated to Leukaemia & Lymphoma
NI.
Although individuals of the winning
team won Amazon vouchers, all
participants were rewarded with a
celebration including pizza and sweets
as a thanks for their time, collaboration
and hard work. Everyone seemed to
enjoy getting to know the other
Associates and mingling with the staff.
Thanks to all who helped make our
National KTP Week 2014 such a hit.
The bar is set high, but we are up for
the challenge in late 2015!
Feb 2015: Engineering
Career Recruitment Fair
KTP was present at the two-day
Engineering Career Recruitment Fair,
which was hosted by the Student
Guidance team in the Ashby building.
News & Events: Keeping Up With KTP
2
Engineering students and
graduates were eager to
collect KTP swag bags filled
with info sheets, notepads,
yoyos and pens, as well as
other KTP goodies. More
importantly, students
registered their interest to learn more
about future opportunities with KTP!
March 2015: Pedometer
Challenge
In February, our Contracting team hosted
a R&E Directorate-wide morning event, in
support of the campus-wide Wellbeing
Initiative. R&E staff offered four varieties
of smoothies made
from fresh produce!
The highlight of the
event was the chance
to blend your smoothie
by cycling on a
stationery bicycle!
Due to the excitement from the non-
coffee morning event, KTP stepped up to
the Directorate-wide month-long
pedometer challenge, while helping the
University raise money for Tiny Life
Charity! Staff from all offices within R&E
mixed to create four teams with varied
physcal abilities. Staff members of KTP
joined teams appropriately
named “Happy Feet” and
“Red Hot Chilli Steppers
2.”
The combined steps made
by all R&E staff was
5,145,000, with “Happy
Feet” leading the way with
1,427,000! Thanks to the
University-wide challenge,
QUB successfully raised
over £1,000 to provide
support for preemies.
June 2015: NI Graduate
Recruitment Fair
Graduates from various universities and
institutions from the UK & the Republic of
Ireland are invited to attend the NI
Graduate Recruitment Fair to access a
wide range of opportunities, including
KTP programmes on Tuesday, 9th June
2015 from 11:00am-3:00pm in the Whitla
& South Dining Halls at QUB.
KTP@QUB Recent
News
 March 2015
Former KTP Office
Administrator, Gillian Luke,
accepted a post in the Centre of
Medical Education.
 May 2015
Michelle Graham, former KTP
Finance Officer, accepted a new
challenging role as a Programme
Administrator within Commercial
Development of the Research &
Enterprise Directorate.
KTP Office Administrator, Kerry
Smyth accepted a temporary
role with the School of Law.
Please join us in wishing these
ladies well in their new career
developments & future endeavors!
KTP 40th Anniversary
 Save the Date: 1 Oct
KTP turns 40 this year—
and, to celebrate we will be
hosting a special event in the
evening of Thursday, 1 October
2015 in the Whitla Hall at QUB to
mark this milestone!
It is our hopes to invite all
Associates of the past and
present to join us in a big
celebration!
If you have any current
contact information of previous
Associates (e.g. email,
employer, married name, etc),
please contact
businessnetworks@qub.ac.uk
For now, hang
tight… More
details coming soon!
Coming Soon!
 New Website Designs
Our KTP and Research &
Enterprise websites will have a
new look soon!

3. Recent KTP Appointees
What has been the biggest highlight of your KTP?
“In my short time at IPC I have been lucky enough to be entrusted with a wide variety of
engineering and business related tasks. Being able to get firsthand knowledge of the finer
details of the injection moulding process has definitely been the biggest highlight so far. I
have learnt things about this process that I could never pick up from literature. Seeing the
introduction of new mould tools and being at the machine when problems are being
diagnosed has taught me so much about the character and properties of polymer
materials.”
33
Rudi Lohe
Travan Engineering
What are the key benefits of being a KTP Associate?
“The KTP project offers me a chance to gain some crucial experience as a business analyst. Having
looked at many other graduate jobs before getting my KTP it was clear to see that they lacked the
structure and learning and development opportunities. It also has a dedicated training budget so I
will be able to further my training and level of qualification. Also for me personally I would have been
unable to make the step to a Business Analyst without more experience in the industry so this is a
unique opportunity for me.”
Current KTP Contacts
KTP@qub.ac.uk @KTPatQUB
028 9097 2568www.qub.ac.uk/ktp 63 University Road
Belfast, BT7 1NF
KTP & Business Networks
Lorraine Marks
KTP Manager
l.marks@qub.ac.uk
+44 028 9097 3970
Dr Mary Flynn MBE
Head of KTP
m.flynn@qub.ac.uk
+44 028 9097 3314
Hugh Henry
IPC Mouldings
How is your KTP making a difference to your company?
“The implementation of my project first and foremost should increase the revenue achieved
with the existing equipment by reducing the machine downtime. A further advantage of off-
line programming is that data management is easier because all programmes are stored in
one place. That reduces errors during programming and handling programmes because it
allows having only one program on the machine tool at any time and the programmes can be
generated and downloaded for different CNC machine control systems without having to re-
write the program itself.
“Once the software package is implemented it is easier to get the ASI 9100 certification
because the issues regarding traceability of manufacturing processes have been addressed.
Having achieved the ASI 9100 certification should allow the business partner to attract new
customers and widen the range of components produced.“
James McClelland
Hallmark Solutions