Evidence Synthesis Ireland is pleased to welcome Professor Bronwen Connolly as the Northern Ireland Lead. Bronwen is Professor of Critical Care at Queen’s University Belfast, with over 25 years’ experience as a physiotherapist. She is committed to strengthening evidence synthesis capacity across the Northern Ireland community. Brownen states, “I’m excited to have joined ESI in this role and to be working with the evidence synthesis community here in Northern Ireland. There is huge potential to build on the excellent work already happening across our institutions, and I’m looking forward to strengthening those connections and fostering new collaborations.”
Bronwen Connolly is a Professor of Critical Care at Queen’s University Belfast, where she is Deputy Director of the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, and Honorary Senior Fellow at The University of Melbourne, with over 25 years’ experience as a physiotherapist. Her research interests focus on acute respiratory and rehabilitation interventions in critical illness, the recovery, long-term outcome, and survivorship of post-critical illness patients, and clinical trial methods. Bronwen is currently Co-Chief Investigator of the MARCH trial, investigating the effectiveness of mucoactive drugs, as well as co-Investigator on iRehab and several of the CoReCCT Confederation trials (all NIHR HTA Programme-funded). She also leads PRACTICE, focusing on the development of a core outcome set for trials of physical rehabilitation in critical illness. As of July 2026, Bronwen will commence tenure on the NIHR HTA Clinical Evaluations and Trials Funding Committee. Within the critical care community, her roles include ICS Director of Research and Chair of the UK Critical Care Research Group. As Northern Ireland Lead for Evidence Synthesis Ireland, Professor Connolly is committed to strengthening capacity for evidence synthesis and fostering collaboration.
