HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco Visits Trinity College Dublin
Posted on: 06 April 2011
HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, visited the Book of Kells in the Old Library, met with Trinity College students and had an opportunity to engage with the university’s leading research during his visit to Trinity College Dublin recently (April 5th).
The Provost of Trinity College, Dr John Hegarty and his wife Neasa welcomed His Serene Highness to Trinity College on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his parents’ state visit to Ireland.
Commenting on the significance of the visit Dr Hegarty says: “As a young boy in Mayo in 1961 I shared the excitement of the whole county when Princess Grace and Prince Rainier came to visit the birthplace of the Kelly family. Fifty years later I am delighted to welcome their son to Trinity College Dublin and to have a fellowship in Trinity named after Princess Grace. We hope that this connection will continue over the next fifty years, at least.”
HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco tours Trinity College’s Old Library with Provost Dr John Hegarty and Librarian Robin Adams.
On the occasion of his visit the Prince announced that the Principality of Monaco will host a conference under the joint auspices of the Centre for War Studies at TCD, and the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco next Autumn (21-22nd October). The conference titled ‘Ireland in the Decade of the Great War, 1912-1923: Towards a Global Perspective’, which is being organised by Trinity’s Professor of Modern European History, John Horne, will involve historians and international specialists in the field and will look at Ireland during the momentous decade of the Great War in an international perspective.
His Serene Highness also announced the establishment of The Princess Grace Research Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin. The post-doctoral research fellowship is for one year and is currently awarded to Dr Edward Madigan, a scholar of the period of First World War. The fellowship has been privately funded and will continue on a bi-annual basis in different subject areas, subject to funding.
In the course of the visit, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, was informed of Trinity’s cutting edge research during a series of presentations. The executive director of the nanoscience research institute, CRANN, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien described the research which is largely responsible for Ireland’s ranking as 6th globally for nanoscience and 8th for material science. On the 300-year anniversary of Botany at Trinity, Dr Jane Stout, described some of the highlights of its achievements, particularly in the area of biodiversity and ecosystems while a postgraduate from the School of Engineering, Darren Kavanagh described a project ‘The Discovering Sounds Project’. Using audio-visual technology, a refined method of matching written and spoken versions of the challenging text of the old English manuscript, ‘Piers Plowman’, has been created. Finally, the Director of the Science Gallery at TCD, Dr Michael John Gorman, described the award winning gallery’s engagement with science and technology.
Dr Edward Madigan, Princess Grace Fellow