Fiona McNeill is a Professor in Computer Science Education (Professor of Computing Education) at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. She earned a BSc from the University of St Andrews, as well as an MSc and a 2006 PhD from the University of Edinburgh for "Dynamic Ontology Refinement" (https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/24966).
McNeill researches computer science and STEM education, focusing particularly on inequalities affecting access to education, and has also contributed to research on data integration and matching as well as Semantic Web technology.[1] She was named a Fellow of the British Computer Society in 2018 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2023. She also serves as co-chair of the British Computer Society's Scottish Computing Education Committee and chairs the BCS in the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Learned Societies' Group.
Career
McNeill gained her PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in 2006, focussing on dynamic data integration and ontology matching.[2] She was a research fellow at Edinburgh from 2005 until 2013.[3] After working as Assistant Professor, and then Associate Professor in Computer Sciences at Heriot Watt University, she was Reader of Computing Education at the University of Edinburgh in 2020. In 2025, she was appointed as Professor of Computing Education at Edinburgh University.
Honours and awards
In 2018, McNeill was elected as a Fellow of the British Computer Society. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.[4] In 2021, McNeill was awarded the University of Edinburgh's Principal's Medal for her development of the Informatics Connect programme, helping students adapt to hybrid education.[5]
Selected publications
In 2007, Fiona McNeill and Alan Bundy published "Dynamic, automatic, first-order ontology repair by diagnosis of failed plan execution" in the International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems. McNeill co-authored "Language and domain aware lightweight ontology matching" with Bella Gabor and Fausto Giunchiglia, which appeared in the Journal of Web Semantics in 2017. In 2021, McNeill, Serdar Abaci, Judy Robertson, and Holly Linklater published "Supporting school teachers' rapid engagement with online education" in Educational Technology Research and Development.