Professor David FitzPatrick has been appointed as Interim Provost and CEO, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Professor FitzPatrick joins us from Technology University Dublin, taking up his post on 1 June 2024. 

He will provide leadership for the staff and students on our Malaysia campus. 

Professor FitzPatrick is the inaugural president at TU Dublin, following its designation as a Technological University on 1 January 2019. 

In addition to his highly regarded leadership as Principal of the College of Engineering & Architecture and Dean of Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD), he has excellent academic credentials, considerable experience at executive level, a significant international profile and extensive industry experience, having managed the product development and research of orthopaedic devices for the International division of a major US medical devices organisation. 

UoN Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West said: “We are delighted to welcome Professor Fitzpatrick to the University of Nottingham to lead the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

“As Interim Provost and CEO, David will bring a fresh leadership perspective to the excellent curriculum, research portfolio and student support already in place in Malaysia.

I look forward to working with him and the UNM Management Board as they continue to deliver the outstanding research and student experience that are already hallmarks of UNM.” 

Professor FitzPatrick said: “Having worked across my career with responsibilities for international portfolios, both in industry and academia, I am very much looking forward to joining the university, to working with the Vice-Chancellor and the University Executive Board in Nottingham and Malaysia. 

I look forward to joining colleagues in Malaysia in building on the significant track-record and regional presence already achieved, and furthering their strategic objectives.” 

Professor David FitzPatrick holds a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, and a doctorate in biomechanics from the University of Oxford.

After receiving his doctorate, Professor David FitzPatrick worked in the orthopaedic industry, initially with Howmedica International Ltd. in Limerick, followed by a career with DePuy International in Leeds. His work with DePuy International included managing product development, strategy and research programmes for knee, upper limb, trauma and spinal product lines. 

In 1998, Professor FitzPatrick returned to Ireland to UCD’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2005, Associate Professor in 2010 and full Professor in 2012. He served as Head of the School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering from September 2005 to August 2011, followed by a period as Vice Principal for Internationalisation & Development in the College of Engineering and Architecture.

Having been appointed by UCD as the inaugural Provost of the Beijing-Dublin International College in 2012, he led the development of Ireland’s largest dual-degree programme initiative in China and continued in that role while holding the post of Principal of UCD’s College of Engineering & Architecture and member of UCD’s University Management Team, from 2014 to 2018, taking up his role as President, TU Dublin, on 1 January 2019. 

His research has focussed primarily on areas closely linked to orthopaedic mechanics and medical device design, particularly relating to the knee joint and spine. Professor FitzPatrick has published extensively in peer-review journals and major international conference proceedings.

His work has been recognised with the International Society of Biomechanics Clinical Biomechanics Award (2003) and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI) Haughton Lecture & RAMI Silver Medal (2017).