Kerstin Mey

Kerstin Mey (born 1963) is a German academic and president of the University of Limerick. She was the first woman to head a university in Ireland, on an acting basis, and having participated in an international competition, was appointed to the full position with effect from 8 October 2021. She held positions in a number of universities in Germany and the United Kingdom before moving to Limerick in the west of Ireland. She is set to resign from the UL presidency in September 2024 and take up a professorship at the university.

Early life and education
Kerstin Mey was born in East Berlin, Germany in 1963. She attended Humboldt University, where she studied Art and German (language and literature); she ultimately earned a PhD in Art Theory and Aesthetics from the same university.

UK
Mey was the leader of an arts research function at the University of Ulster from 2004 to 2009, and the director for research and enterprise at the University for the Creative Arts from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, she became pro-vice-chancellor and dean of the Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, within the University of Westminster, where she was also professor of Contemporary Art and Theory.

University of Limerick
In April 2018, she became the vice-president for Academic Affairs and Student Engagement for the University of Limerick (UL) as well as the institution's Professor of Visual Culture.

Presidency
In July 2020, Mey was appointed interim president of the University of Limerick. The university ran a global search for the presidency over the following months, and Mey was announced as the winning candidate, and formally appointed to the role at the meeting of its governing authority on 8 October 2021.

In 2023, she attended Ireland's Public Accounts Committee, in what some commentators described as an "inept performance", with one question asked 23 times. In March 2024, the trade union in the university voted "no confidence" in the president, and 10 of the 12 members of UL's executive committee other than Mey, including the deputy president, wrote that "We wish to advise you that we do not consider it is in the best interests of the University of Limerick for you to continue as president", and "We do not have confidence that you will approach this in an appropriate manner", following a "significant overpayment" (around 5.2 million euro) by UL for 20 houses for students, an overspend which, combined with provisions for a recent overpayment for a site in central Limerick, left the university facing a deficit; the development also turned out to lack planning permission for use as student accommodation.

Mey took sick leave from 27 March 2024, and notified the Public Accounts Committee that she would not be able to make a scheduled appearance on 11 April. On 14 June 2024, UL chancellor Brigid Laffan announced Mey would resign from her role as president on 1 September 2024, continuing at the university as a professor.

Other roles
Mey has held a number of positions in education including Director of GuildHE Research, a higher education training cooperative in the United Kingdom, and serving on the Austrian Science Board. Mey is currently on the ISEA International Advisory Committee. She also serves as a member of the board of directors of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Hunt Museum.