Professor Danny McAuley, an intensive care specialist at Queen's University Belfast, has been appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to Northern Ireland's Department of Health, Health Minister Robbie Butler announced on 16 October 2026. The post also leads health and social care research, and the Minister wants Northern Ireland to become a region of choice for clinical trials.
The appointment was set out in a Department of Health press release, which says Professor McAuley "will provide leadership across the healthcare sector enabling the provision of high-quality evidence to improve care for patients and the general population." It fills a post left vacant when Professor Ian Young stepped down to join the UK Food Standards Agency. A start date has not been disclosed.
- Who: Professor Danny McAuley, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
- Announced: 16 October 2026 by Health Minister Robbie Butler. No start date, term or salary was published with the announcement.
- Two jobs in one: the Chief Scientific Adviser also acts as Director of Research for Health and Social Care (HSC R&D).
- Stated aim: to "help leading edge research grow and to make Northern Ireland a region of choice for clinical trials".
- How the post was advertised: a part-time secondment (0.8 of full time) in the Chief Medical Officer Group, for an initial three years with an option to extend by up to two.
Who is Professor Danny McAuley?
According to the Department of Health, Professor McAuley is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen's University Belfast and a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Announcing the appointment, Mr Butler said: "I am delighted to announce Professor Danny McAuley as the Chief Scientific Adviser to this Department." He added that Professor McAuley "joins my Department as part of a long and distinguished career within Health and Social Care."
His research has centred on lung injury in critically ill patients. When Queen's announced in February 2019 that he would become Programme Director of the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme, a partnership between the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council, the university described acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as his major research area. It said he had held research awards from both the NIHR and the MRC and had sat on the NIHR's Health Technology Assessment funding committee. The Department's release does not say whether he still holds the EME role.
He was first author of HARP-2, a multicentre randomised trial run with the Irish Critical Care Trials Group and published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014. The trial tested the cholesterol drug simvastatin in patients with ARDS and found it was safe but did not improve clinical outcomes.
What the Chief Scientific Adviser for Health does
The press release describes the role in broad terms. The Minister said Professor McAuley's "scientific knowledge and expertise will be of immense value to me and others in this Department in formulating and developing policy to enhance the health and wellbeing of patients, and the population more generally." He said that as Director of HSC Research and Development, Professor McAuley "will also be an excellent ambassador for research in Northern Ireland's health and social care sector."
More detail comes from the Department's June 2026 secondment notice for the post, which closed on 31 July 2026. It describes a Grade 5 role in the Chief Medical Officer Group, reporting to the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Michael McBride. The listed duties include:
- giving independent scientific advice to the Chief Medical Officer, the Minister of Health and senior officials;
- acting as Director of Research in Health and Social Care, working with the Public Health Agency on how research funding is prioritised, administered and governed;
- providing scientific advice in an emergency response, including oversight of the Strategic Intelligence Group;
- maximising the impact of health science on "life sciences, innovation, emerging technologies and AI", including collaborations with academia, industry and healthcare providers;
- working with the Executive's Chief Scientific and Technology Adviser and sitting on the Northern Ireland Science and Technology Advisory Network; and
- representing the Department on four-nations committees and deputising for the Chief Medical Officer when appropriate.
The notice also lists the bodies the post holder is expected to work with, including the NIHR, UK Research and Innovation, Research Ireland, the All Ireland Institute of Public Health and "industry and parallel bodies in ROI". The post was offered part time so the holder could keep a connection with other professional roles. These are the terms as advertised; the Department has not confirmed the specific terms of Professor McAuley's appointment.
Why the post was vacant
Professor Ian Young held the role for about ten years after his appointment in November 2015. In December 2025 the Department announced that he was leaving to become Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Food Standards Agency in the new year. Its tribute noted his leading role in the Covid-19 response, his leadership of research and development and his role as Head of Profession for the scientific workforce in health and social care. The Department said then that it would "shortly begin the process to appoint a new Chief Scientific Adviser".
The appointment is also one of the first senior announcements under Robbie Butler, the Ulster Unionist MLA for Lagan Valley, who became Minister of Health on 20 August 2026 after Mike Nesbitt left the post.
What it means for clinical trials and life sciences in Northern Ireland
The Minister's stated aim of making Northern Ireland "a region of choice for clinical trials" is the line most relevant to industry. The Chief Scientific Adviser sits where health research funding, health and social care services and government policy meet, so the post holder can influence how quickly trials are approved, staffed and run in local hospitals. Companies and researchers can follow active studies through our clinical trials finder.
The appointment lands in a busy month for Northern Ireland's health science policy. On 7 October the Department of Health and the Department for the Economy launched the Academic, Health and Economic Partnership (AH&EP), which aims to help health and social care, universities and industry develop, test and scale innovations. A week earlier, The Irish News reported that Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald had confirmed £11.7 million from UK Research and Innovation's Local Innovation Partnerships Fund for iPHARMA, a Queen's and Ulster University project to give companies facilities and expertise for developing and manufacturing new medicines. It is the first project from the £30 million allocated to the Belfast-Derry innovation corridor.
The Department's release does not mention the AH&EP, iPHARMA or any life and health sciences strategy, so how the new adviser will work with them has not been set out. The job description does, however, give the post a formal role in linking health science with life sciences, innovation and industry. Recent sector moves include the Millicent Pharma investment in Larne and the region's digital care record, covered in our encompass case study.
The appointment at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Appointee | Professor Danny McAuley |
| Announced by | Health Minister Robbie Butler, 16 October 2026 |
| Linked role | Director of HSC Research and Development |
| Reports to | Chief Medical Officer (per the secondment notice) |
| Advertised terms | Part-time (0.8 of full time), Grade 5, three years with an option of up to two more |
| Start date | Not disclosed |
| Predecessor | Professor Ian Young, in post from November 2015, left for the Food Standards Agency |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Who is Northern Ireland's new health Chief Scientific Adviser?
A: Professor Danny McAuley, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Queen's University Belfast and a consultant in intensive care at the Royal Victoria Hospital. His appointment was announced on 16 October 2026.
Q: What does the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health do?
A: The post holder gives scientific advice to the Minister and the Chief Medical Officer, leads health and social care research as Director of HSC R&D, and links health science with life sciences, innovation and industry, according to the Department's job description.
Q: When does Professor McAuley start?
A: The Department has not published a start date. Its June 2026 notice said the successful candidate was expected to be released within eight weeks to take up the post.
Q: Is this the same as the Executive's Chief Scientific and Technology Adviser?
A: No. That is a separate, cross-government role held by Professor Helen McCarthy since 2024. The health adviser is expected to work closely with her.
Q: Who held the post before?
A: Professor Ian Young, who was appointed in 2015 and left to become Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Food Standards Agency.
Conclusion and Outlook
Professor McAuley takes on a role that combines scientific advice to government with leadership of the region's health and social care research system, and the Minister has tied it to a clear goal of attracting more clinical trials. Key details, including his start date and the terms of his appointment, have not yet been published, and nor has any plan for how the post will connect with the new AH&EP or iPHARMA. Priya Life Science will report on the first priorities he sets for HSC research and on any changes to how trials are run in Northern Ireland as they are announced.
Sources
- Department of Health NI, Health Minister announces new Chief Scientific Adviser, 16 October 2026
- Department of Health NI, Secondment opportunity notice: Chief Scientific Advisor for Health, June 2026
- Department of Health NI, Prof Ian Young to step down as DoH Chief Scientific Adviser, 11 December 2025
- Department of Health NI, New Chief Scientific Advisor appointed, 2 November 2015
- The Irish Post, New chief scientific adviser appointed to help lead Northern Ireland's healthcare sector, 20 October 2026
- Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Professor appointed to prestigious National Institute for Health Research role, 13 February 2019
- McAuley DF, Laffey JG, O'Kane CM, et al., Simvastatin in the acute respiratory distress syndrome, New England Journal of Medicine, 2014;371(18):1695-1703
- The Executive Office, Ministers announce appointment of Chief Scientific and Technology Adviser, 26 June 2024
- The Irish News, iPHARMA: £11.7m awarded to university-led project to accelerate pharmaceutical innovation in Northern Ireland, 30 September 2026
- ITV News UTV, Robbie Butler named as new Northern Ireland health minister, 20 August 2026
Cover image: Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, where Professor McAuley is a consultant in intensive care medicine. Photo by Joehawkins, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
