She was the first woman to head a university in Ireland,[1] on an acting basis, and having participated in an international competition, was appointed to the full position with effect from 8 October 2021.
[3] During her time at Warwick, she studied for a PG Dip in European Cultural Policy and Administration and was awarded a short-term fellowship at the Henry Moore Institute Leeds for a research project on contemporary sculpture.
[1] As pro-vice chancellor she co-led an ambitious academic transformation programme with the embedding of the university-wide electives and graduate attributes in the undergraduate curricula across the institution.
[10][12][16] The university ran a global search for the presidency over the following months, and Mey was announced as the winning candidate, and formally appointed to the role at the meeting of its governing authority on 8 October 2021.
[20] Mey introduced innovative professional role profiles to the HE sector in Ireland[21] and facilitated the bottom-up development and implementation of a pioneering, systemic and mission-based Sustainability Framework to 2030.
[27] To address mainly legacy issues, Mey attended Ireland's Public Accounts Committee in 2021,[28] 2022[29] and as well as 2023[30] in what some commentators described as an "inept performance", with one question asked 23 times.
[34] On 14 June 2024, UL chancellor Brigid Laffan announced Mey would resign from her role as president on 1 September 2024, continuing at the university as a full professor of Visual Culture.
Between 2008-9 she steered the Ormeau Baths Galleries, the then premier venue for contemporary art in Belfast, Northern Ireland, through a complex transition phase as Chair and acting CEO.