2017 Press Releases
RIA elects President from UCC
Professor Peter Kennedy, a world expert in wireless communications, was elected as the 56th President of the Royal Irish Academy recently.
Kennedy who is Professor of Microelectronic Engineering at UCC, succeeds historian, Professor Mary E Daly who was elected as the Academy's first female President in 2014. He is the first President from UCC.
Congrats to UCC Profs John Cryan, Barry O'Sullivan and Fergus Shanahan on their election as members of the Royal Irish Academy. pic.twitter.com/4rrIcV1b70
— UCC Ireland (@UCC) March 24, 2017
Three UCC academics were also elected members of the RIA. They include John Cryan, Professor and Chair, Anatomy and Neuroscience, Barry O'Sullivan, Professor and Head of the Dept of Computer Science and Director of Insight Centre for Data Analytics and Fergus Shanahan, Professor of Medicine and Director of the APC Microbiome Institute.
Congratulations to CONNECT Investigator Prof Peter Kennedy @TyndallInstitut @UCC on election as President @RIAdawson https://t.co/AyQeXBefQK
— CONNECT Centre (@connect_ie) March 23, 2017
The Royal Irish Academy, established in 1785, is Ireland's leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities.
Kennedy said ‘I am honoured to be elected President and I see the all-island Academy playing a key advisory role in Ireland's response to the challenges and opportunities of Brexit’.
A graduate of UCD and the University of California at Berkeley, Kennedy is one of Ireland's leading engineers whose research has been funded by Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council.
He received the inaugural Parsons Award in Engineering Sciences in 2001 and was elected as a member of the Academy in 2004. He won UCC's Invention of the Year Award in 2011 and led the development of the US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards in 2014/15, an initiative of the Royal Irish Academy and the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.
Professor Patrick M. Shannon was also elected as Secretary. Shannon is the founder of the Marine and Petroleum Geology research group in UCD. His main research is in the areas of basin analysis and marine and petroleum geology, with special reference to the Irish offshore.
Past presidents of the Royal Irish Academy include: TK Whitaker (1985-7) and James Dooge (1987-90). The Royal Irish Academy is Ireland's leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities. It is led by over 470 of Ireland's leading academics. Members include President Michael D. Higgins, Mary McAleese, Mary Robinson, Roy Foster, Louise Richardson, Patrick Honohan and Frances Ruane.