Patrick is visiting HKUST until September 2007 and is the Jefferson Smurfit Professor of Strategic Management at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland. He was also the Vice-President of the University overseeing Staff and Administration, in the 2004-2006 period. Prior to these appointments he was the Director of the full- time MBA Programme. His research, teaching and consulting interests are in the areas of Strategic Management, Organisational Change and International Business. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Strategic Planning and Policy from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior educational qualifications at bachelor's and master's levels were gained at UCD.

Before entering academia, Patrick worked in a number of financial and corporate strategy roles with KPMG; Jefferson Smurfit Group; The Investment Bank of Ireland and An Post (The Irish Post Office).

In 2002 Patrick was a Visiting Scholar at the Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University. His previous academic appointments have included the University of Pittsburgh, and Nanyang Business School in Singapore. While at Nanyang, he was Director of both the MBA (International Business) and subsequently, the MBA (Strategic Management) Programmes.

Patrick is active in both consulting and executive education. His clients have included: Abbott Laboratories; Bausch&Lomb; BOC Gases; DuPont Asia Pacific; DuPont Korea; Allied Irish Banks; Port Authority of Singapore; Keppel Corporation; Coopers and Lybrand; KPMG, Enterprise Ireland and a number of other small and medium- sized enterprises both in Ireland and Singapore. He is also an associate of the Leadership Forum, a group of academics and consultants focussed on helping companies achieve strategic insight.

He has presented academic papers at over 40 international conferences, has published two books and his articles have been published in journals such as the British Journal of Management; Journal of Small Business Management; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability; Group and Organization Management; Journal of Asian Business; Asia-Pacific Journal of Management; Asia-Pacific Journal of Case Research; Journal of High Technology Management Research; Journal of Technology Management; Journal of Business Strategy; Irish Journal of Management; Irish Marketing Review and Human Relations. Patrick is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Competitive Intelligence and Management and the Journal of Enterprising Culture.

His current research interests revolve around control practices of MNCs; the impact of strategic planning systems on organisational behaviour and performance, and the application of social theory to strategic process research.