The Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock, TD, today announced the appointment of Professor Orla Feely as Chairperson of the Irish Research Council. The Minister also appointed Professor James Gleeson to the Council.
The Irish Research Council was established in March 2012 following the merger of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology.
Minister Sherlock said that "Ireland’s higher education and research system is undergoing a period of transition. The Research Council is a key stakeholder in that process. Job creation is dependent on the education of a cohort of high quality researchers across a broad spectrum of disciplines from engineering to the social sciences,"
“I am working closely with the Irish Research Council to expand Ireland’s research capabilities with particular focus on Industrial PhD's, and supporting researchers early in their careers.”
“I am delighted that Professor Feely has taken on this challenging task. I look forward to working with her and the Irish Research Council.”
Professor Feely replaces Professor David Lloyd as Chairperson, following his appointment as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia.
The Minister paid tribute to him, saying: “Professor Lloyd provided excellent leadership to the Council during his tenure and also to the broader research agenda.
“He has done great work and he will be missed. I congratulate him on his new position as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia. This new position is a testament to the esteem in which he is held both here and abroad.”
In announcing the appointment of Professor James Gleeson to the Council, Minister Sherlock said “Prof. Gleeson has a strong track record in mathematics research and will provide a valuable contribution to the future work of the Irish Research Council.”
ENDS
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Note for Editors:
Orla Feely received a B.E. degree in electronic engineering from University College Dublin in 1986, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1990 and 1992. She joined UCD in 1992 and is Professor in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering. Her research interests lie in the area of nonlinear dynamics of electronic circuits. Prof. Feely is a Fellow of the IEEE, in recognition of her contributions to nonlinear discrete-time circuits and systems. She received the Best Paper Awards of the International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications, 2007, and the European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design, 1997.
James Gleeson received a BSc in Mathematical Sciences from UCD in 1994, and an MSc in Mathematical Physics from the same institution in 1995. He was awarded an NUI Travelling Studentship, and graduated from Caltech with a PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1999. Following a one-year postdoc in Arizona State University, he returned to Ireland to take up a postdoc in University College Cork. In 2001 he was appointed to a lecturer position, and gained promotion to senior lecturer in 2006. From September 2007 he has held the Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics at the University of Limerick. He has published over 30 journal papers and has twice been awarded Science Foundation Ireland PI awards. His current research interests include stochastic dynamics, complex systems and mathematical modelling of large-scale networks.