Team category

Fellows 2021

David Smyth

Head of Northern Ireland for the Evangelical Alliance

David represents the Evangelical Alliance on a range of government, civic and charitable forums.

As a former solicitor, he enjoys the space where law, politics, faith and culture meet.

He lives in County Down and is husband to Judith and father to Maeve, Finn and Isaac.

Dr Kathryn Owen

Senior Public Health Scientist

Kathryn was previously a Democratic Unionist Party councillor since for the district of Rowallane within the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.

Kathryn has been a member of the Democratic Unionist party since 2012. Her key strengths and areas of interest are Health, Science, MOD and Veterans issues.

Dominic O’Reilly

Parliamentary Assistant to Colin McGrath MLA (SDLP)

Dominic was previously a regular contributor to the Faith Matters column of the Irish News and the Irish Catholic.

He self-published his first book Space for Grace: Stories from the Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s University Belfast in 2016.

He has been a member of the SDLP for a number of years and joined Colin McGrath MLA team in 2018.

Ruaidhrí Ó Donnell

Senior Manager at Marshall

Ruaidhrí has experience in political advisory and campaigning including working for the British Labour Party in a number of capacities from advising Shadow Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland and Shadow Cabinet colleagues, to coordinating on the ground campaigning during the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Prior to his current role, he worked for SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP and the Northern Ireland Stronger in Europe campaign.

A native of Derry City, Ruaidhrí is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, BPP Law School and is studying for a MA in Strategic Studies from UCC.

Grainne Mellon

Barrister specialising in human rights law in London

Grainne has previously lectured in International Human Rights Law at the London School of Economics, where she was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Human Rights.

She is the vice chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee and sits on the Advisory Board of the London Irish Lawyers Association.

Peter McReynolds MLA

Alliance Party MLA for East Belfast

Since returning from living in Paris and graduating with a Masters degree in Human Rights Law from the Queen’s University of Belfast, Peter has devoted his life to politics.

He became an Alliance Party Belfast City councillor in 2017, represented the city as Deputy Lord Mayor in 2019 and deputy Group Leader for the Alliance Party on Belfast City Council.

He was elected as an MLA for East Belfast in 2022. He is passionate about environmental sustainability, human rights and economic justice.

Kirsty McManus

National Director at the Institute of Directors

Kirsty was formerly deputy director at the NI Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Her appointment followed a successful career during which she has held senior positions at the Ulster University, Northern Ireland Chamber and Vistage in California.

Kirsty has over twenty years’ experience working in markets such as the United States and Europe. Kirsty has a degree in Information Management from Queens University, an MBA from Ulster University Business School and achieved the IoD Diploma in Company Direction.

Lauren Kerr

Senior Policy Advisor at the Northern Ireland Office

Lauren previously worked for the UUP, leading media and policy plans and output with the party leader and members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

She was also the Ulster Unionist talk co-ordinator and has been part of the UUP negotiation team for processes including Haass/O’Sullivan, Stormont House and New Decade, New Approach.

Richard Johnston

Director of Executive Insight at the Northern Ireland Civil Service
Richard was the deputy director of Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre and a ministerial appointee to the Economic Advisory Group. He was also a member of the Ministerial Advisory Panel on Infrastructure and serves as a Non-Executive Board member in Warrenpoint Harbour and a trustee in Inspire Business Centre. More recently, Richard completed the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship.

Cllr Peter Johnston

DUP Councillor in Mid and East Antrim Borough Council

Peter was previsously Lord Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

He is also a business manager for a power generation company and has travelled extensively throughout the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

In 2010, Peter left Northern Ireland and spent a year working in Nigeria, Dubai, Lebanon, Kuwait and Qatar. Graduating from Queens with a Bachelors in Business Information Technology, he went on to complete his Masters in Marketing from Ulster University.