Three Trinity College Dublin academics were elected as members of the Royal Irish Academy on Friday May 31st last in recognition of their academic achievement.  The new members include Professor Michael Gallagher, Professor Kevin Devine and Professor Peter Simons.

The Trinity academics were honoured for their world-class contribution to science and the humanities. Also amongst those admitted was Chief Justice and former Pro Chancellor of the University, Susan Denham. Membership of the Royal Irish Academy is the highest academic honour in Ireland and a public recognition of academic achievement. It has been keenly competed for over the past 228 years. There are now 474 members of the Academy, in disciplines from the sciences, humanities and social sciences. 

Professor Michael Gallagher, Professor Kevin Devine, President of the RIA Luke Drury and Professor Peter Simons after the ceremony at the RIA. 

Kevin Devine is Professor in Genetics at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics and Head of the School of Genetics and Microbiology. He is an expert on the regulation of cell wall synthesis in bacteria. He has recently published on the systems biology of Bacillus subtilis (in Science), on the regulatory circuits that control cell wall synthesis and on resistance to the antibiotic vancomycin.

Michael Gallagher is Professor of Comparative Politics. He has published extensively in Irish and comparative politics. His research has focused in particular upon elections, electoral systems and political parties, and he has published articles on politics in a range of contexts, from Japan to Laois. He is a former president of the Political Studies Association of Ireland.

Peter Simons is Chair of Moral Philosophy and Head of School of Social Sciences and Philosophy. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the Academia Europaea. He specialises in metaphysics and ontology (pure and applied), philosophical logic and the history of philosophy in Austria and Poland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.