Ciaran Martin was constitution director at the UK Cabinet Office from 2011, helping to agree the framework for the Scottish independence referendum. Prior to that, he was director of security and intelligence at the Cabinet Office. His public service career has also included a series of roles elsewhere in the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and the National Audit Office.  

Martin received the International Cyber Security Leadership Award at the Billington Cyber Security Summit in Washington DC in September 2019. 

He said: “I’ve a long family association with Queen’s. My mother graduated from here back in the 1950s. More recently, when I was head of the National Cyber Security Centre in London I was delighted to find that Queen’s hosted a centre for research and innovation in secure technology as good as you’ll find anywhere in the world.

"The likes of Professor Sir John McCanney, Professor Máire O’Neill, David Crozier and Dr Godfrey Gaston are the most amazing colleagues. It is such a huge honour to be associated with this university in this way.”