Director: Dr Vincent McKee B.A. (Hons), M.Phil., Ph.D.
Dr Vincent McKee is the founder, Director and principal driving force behind ICUT (UK). Aged 51 years, a native of Co. Down, Northern Ireland, Dr McKee has lived in Coventry for some 32 years. A former Students Union President at Coventry University (previously Polytechnic) in 1981-82 and leading lay Roman Catholic, he contested the Coventry South parliamentary seat for the Liberal Democrats at the 2001 and 2005 British general elections, and Coventry North East in 1992. He is also Head of Policy with Coventry Liberal Democrats.
Dr McKee’s specialist interests lie in Politics and History. His M.Phil. was awarded in June 1988 by Birmingham Polytechnic/CNAA (now Birmingham City University) for a Contemporary Political History thesis titled ‘Right wing Factionalism in the British Labour Party, 1977-87’, while his Ph.D. in Politics was awarded by London Guildhall University (since renamed London Metropolitan University) in June 1996 for a thesis titled ‘British Social Democratic Factionalism, 1981-96’. He has taught at all levels of Secondary, Sixth Form and University education over the past 23 years and lectured at South Bank University, London in 1993-94. More recently he was a visiting lecturer in Comparative Politics at the University of Westminster. Dr McKee is also a governor of two Coventry primary schools.
Since 1997, Dr McKee has been Visiting Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines, a post he holds to this day. From 1995-2003 he was Politics/History Tutor with the National Extension College, Cambridge, who published his text book, British Political Parties at the Millennium (1999) which remains in use by students. In addition, Dr McKee has written a book, Gaelic Nations: Politics of the Gaelic Language in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the Twentieth Century (Bluestack Press, 1997), and has just completed another book on the politics of post-war British Conservative factionalism, that is due publication in 2010. Dr McKee has had many academic papers published over the years in political science and contemporary history, and has also been a political journalist. He currently writes regularly for the The Tablet, Church Times and Belfast-based Irish News, while contributing occasionally to The Independent and Guardian, and has further writing plans.
Dr McKee believes that the success of ICUT working with students and post graduates over the past four years indicates positive potential for the future. With a wealth of talent available in all major subjects, through graduates and post graduates of the major British, Irish and many overseas universities, we can provide various corporate, commercial and public sector organisations with professional training and help. ICUT seeks to provide specialist support at competitive prices to enable small, as well as large bodies, to avail from the reservoir of academic and professional talent that we have recruited to our ranks. The affordable hire of talent could make a real difference to the prospects of so many British corporate interests in what is emerging as a competitive and increasingly specialised commercial world.