Professor Norman Black received a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a PhD degree from the Queen's University of Belfast in 1980 and 1984 respectively. He worked for British Telecom for 14 years before joining the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, in 1985 as a lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, becoming Professor of Digital Communications in 1995. From 1994 to 1999 he was Director of the Northern Ireland Bioengineering Centre (NIBEC), and in 1999 became the Head of Medical Informatics at the University of Ulster. In 2000 he was appointed Dean of Informatics and in 2004, Dean of Engineering. He was appointed Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Development and Student Services) in 2006 and on 1 April 2008 took up the role of Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation).
Norman has extensive research experience, having been President of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine (ESEM). He is currently a council member of TeleHealth and eHealth and a founder member of the Institute of Telemedicine. Norman continues to be active in research and his research interests include biomedical engineering, medical informatics, telemedicine, data fusion, and bioengineering education.