Prof O’Kane is a Professor of Operations Management. Previously he was the Dean of two Business Schools in the UK. Prior to this, he was an Associate Dean, Reader, and Head of Department in three other Universities.

Prof O’Kane has worked in Higher Education for 30 years, 12 years in an Engineering and Computing school and 18 years in four Business Schools. Prior to academia he worked in the defence industry where he developed signal processing mathematical models for H.F. radar systems. James is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Operational Research Society. His PhD is in Business Modelling and Artificial Intelligence applied to Flexible Manufacturing Systems and his main research interests are operations management, including business modelling and business improvement, business information systems and A.I.- based systems.

Prof O’Kane has extensive PhD and DBA supervision and examination experience and he has many years’ experience of leading and managing international partnerships. He also acts as an international accreditation panel member for a Middle East education ministry.