Provost's Biography

Dr Patrick Prendergast
Provost of Trinity College Dublin

Patrick Prendergast was elected by academic staff and student representatives as the 44th Provost of Trinity College Dublin coming into office on August 1st, 2011, after having served as the Vice-Provost & Chief Academic Officer (2008-2011) and Dean of Graduate Studies (2004-2007). The Provost is the Head of the University, equivalent to President or Rector in other universities. In his inaugural address he emphasized the importance of focusing on the core mission in education and research, and of the importance of Trinity's role in contributing to the public good through educating for active citizenship and innovation.

From Oulart in Co Wexford, Dr Prendergast first came to Trinity in 1983 as an undergraduate student. After post-doctoral positions in Bologna, Italy and Nijmegen, The Netherlands, he was appointed to an academic post in Trinity College Dublin in 1995. He has held Visiting Professorships at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Poland, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Technical University of Delft and, in 2008, at University Politicnic of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona.

He was formerly Professor of Bioengineering, and continues to contribute to teaching and research: he is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biomechanics. He has published widely on the subject of medical device design and mechanoregulation of tissue phenotype, see personal webpage. He served on the board of several companies, most recently ClearStream Technologies plc. He was appointed by the Minister for Health to the Board of Tallaght Hospital in 2011, and he was appointed by the European Commission to the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in 2012.

Dr Prendergast holds a BA, BAI, PhD, and ScD degrees, all from Trinity College Dublin, and is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA) and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering (FIAE).