Professor Nicholas Canny, President of the Royal Irish Academy, said "It is a testament to Ireland's formidable position in the academic world that the Royal Irish Academy is today able to honour such a variety of exceptional scholars in the Sciences and Humanities. Ireland can be proud of these brilliant women and men who are universally recognised as leaders in the world of learning."

William O'Brien is Professor of Archaeology in UCC. His research interests lie in Bronze Age studies, early metallurgy in Atlantic Europe and all aspects of the prehistory of south-west Ireland. He has recently conducted excavations at the Late Bronze Age hillfort of Cashel Fort, Clashanimud, Co. Cork and completed a project on early settlement landscapes in the Beara Peninsula.

The criterion for election to membership is a significant contribution to scholarly or scientific research as shown in the candidate's published academic work. Membership of the Academy, which is by peer nomination and election, is limited to those scientists and scholars normally resident in Ireland.

About the Royal Irish Academy (RIA)
The Royal Irish Academy is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is the principal learned society in Ireland.

For 223 years membership of the Royal Irish Academy has been keenly competed for, as it is the highest academic honour in Ireland and a public recognition of academic achievement. There are now 404 Members of the Academy, in disciplines from the sciences, humanities and social sciences. Those elected are entitled to use the designation 'MRIA' after their name.

Among the membership of the Academy are many of Ireland's leading scholars, the best known of whom include: Professor Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate; Dr Garret Fitzgerald, economist and former Taoiseach; Professors Tom Cotter and James Heffron, Department of Biochemistry, UCC; and Dr Jennifer O'Reilly, Department of History, UCC.

The Academy has also more than 50 distinguished honorary Members, who in the past have included J.W. Von Goethe, Maria Edgeworth, Albert Einstein and Max Born. Today the Honorary Members include Nobel Laureates, Murray Gell-Mann, Steven Weinberg and Sir Andrew Huxley.

Further information can be found on http://www.ria.ie

Professor Nicholas Canny, President of the Royal Irish Academy with Professor William O'Brien (right).

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