The Royal Irish Academy elects 28 new members

Posted on: 27 May 2024

Newly elected members from Trinity College Dublin are Professor Ortwin Hess, Professor Poul Holm, Professor Brendan Kelly, Professor Daniel Kelly, Professor Brian Lawlor and Professor Eve Patten.

Ortwin Hess is professorial fellow and holds the chair of Quantum Nanophotonics in the School of Physics. He is a Science Foundation Ireland research professor and editor-in-chief of APL Quantum. His research bridges condensed matter physics and quantum photonics. In recognition of his pioneering work on active quantum nano-plasmonics and optical metamaterials with quantum gain, he was awarded the Royal Society’s Rumford Medal.

Poul Holm is professor of Environmental History and director of the Centre for Environmental History. His research focuses on the human exploitation of the sea, and his current European Research Council-funded Synergy project, ‘4-OCEANS’, will create a world atlas of marine exploitation through the last two millennia. He serves as vice-president of Academia Europaea and chair of the Humanities Class.

Brendan Kelly is professor of Psychiatry, holds advanced degrees in history, psychiatry and law. This interdisciplinary perspective is evident in his extensive publications on the history of psychiatry and mental illnesses in Ireland. As a public intellectual, he has addressed topics such as the impact of Covid-19 on mental health, schizophrenia, and Ireland’s history of institutional confinement, particularly the history of Grangegorman Asylum.

Daniel Kelly holds the chair of Tissue Engineering at Trinity. He has published more than 220 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has successfully supervised over 25 PhD students to completion. He is the recipient of five European Research Council awards, which have led to the development of new biomaterial-based strategies for bone and cartilage repair and innovations in 3D-bioprinting of musculoskeletal tissues.

Brian Lawlor is Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry. He is a leading figure nationally and internationally in the field of dementia research and care. He is a member of the World Dementia Council, and a founding director of the Global Brain Health Institute based at Trinity and the University of California San Francisco.

Eve Patten is professor of English. Familiar in the Irish humanities community as director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, she is recognised internationally as an authority on nineteenth-century Ireland, and for her nuanced explorations of Irish–English cultural dialogue. Her publications include a book about writer Olivia Manning (Cork University Press, 2012), and more recently Ireland, revolution and the English Modernist imagination (Oxford, 2022)

Newly-admitted RIA Members from Trinity, with President of the Royal Irish Academy, Pat Guiry and Professor Martine Smith, the Dean of Graduate Studies at Trinity College Dublin. 

Professor Pat Guiry, President of the Royal Irish Academy, said: “Ireland should be immensely proud of these 28 women and men who have been elected by their peers and have brought international acclaim to our country through their distinct areas of research. As Members of the Royal Irish Academy they will support and strengthen our capacity to achieve our strategic goals and objectives as we look to the launch of our Strategic Plan 2024-2028 in the coming weeks.”

The Academy has been honouring Ireland’s leading contributors to the world of learning since its establishment in 1785 and those elected by their peers are entitled to use the designation ‘MRIA’ after their name. Full citations are available in the Admittance Day Booklet.

The 28 new Members of the Royal Irish Academy are

New Honorary Members: Professor Donald McDonnell, Duke University; Professor Ann Graybiel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Professor James Chandler, University of Chicago; Professor Patrick McGorry, University of Melbourne.

New Members, Science: Professor David Brayden, University College Dublin; Professor Fidelma Dunne, University of Galway; Professor Niall English, University College Dublin; Professor Pilar Fernandez-Ibanez, Ulster University; Professor David Henshall, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Professor Ortwin Hess, Trinity College Dublin; Professor Daniel Kelly, Trinity College Dublin; Professor Brian Lawlor, Trinity College Dublin; Professor Maria McNamara, University College Cork; Professor Caitriona O'Driscoll, University College Cork; Professor John O'Halloran, University College Cork; Dr Tony Scott, University College Dublin.

New Members, Polite Literature & Antiquities (Humanities and Social Sciences): Professor Patrick Clancy, University College Dublin; Professor Porscha Fermanis, University College Dublin; Professor Poul Holm, Trinity College Dublin; Professor Una Hunt, TU Dublin; Professor Brendan Kelly, Trinity College Dublin; Professor Louise Mallinder, Queen's University Belfast; Dr Paul Mullan, The National Lottery Heritage Fund; Professor Gary Murphy, Dublin City University; Professor Eve Patten, Trinity College Dublin; Dr Ruth Patterson, Presbyterian Church in Ireland; Professor Christiane Schönfeld, Mary Immaculate College; Professor Graeme Warren, University College Dublin.

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