Anita Maguire is Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCC, Head of the School of Chemistry and Director, UCC’s Future Pharmaceuticals. She was UCC's Vice President for Research and Innovation, 2011-2021.

A Co-PI in SSPC, Anita leads a research team focusing on synthetic organic chemistry, which interacts extensively with the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and internationally. 56 PhD students, 6 MSc and 43 postdocs have graduated from her team, many of whom have progressed to careers in the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and internationally.

She is actively engaged in national policy development in research and innovation, especially in relation to PhD education and the university – industry interface. She is the inaugural Chair of the National Forum on Research Integrity in Ireland established in 2015. She was elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2014, Vice President of the Royal Irish Academy for 2019-22 and chaired the Diversity Committee of the RIA for 2019-2023.