Posted 06 June 2014
UCD academics elected to Royal Irish Academy
In recognition of their outstanding academic achievements, UCD’s Professor Morgan Kelly (UCD School of Economics) and Dr Iseult Honohan (UCD School of Politics and International Relations) have been elected as members of the Royal Irish Academy. This is the highest academic honour in Ireland, and membership is awarded to those who have achieved distinction in education and research.
Morgan Kelly is Professor of Economics at the UCD School of Economics at University College Dublin. His work on the economics of networks, with applications to threshold effects in economic growth, micro aspects of bank panics, and social and economic roots of crime, has attracted international attention. More recently he has published extensively on economic history, including the demographic history of pre-industrial England, the European “Little Ice Age,” and the causes of the Industrial Revolution.
Iseult Honohan is Senior Lecturer in political theory at University College Dublin. She is internationally recognised for her writing on republican political philosophy and concepts of citizenship and for her role in research on the theory and practice of citizenship with the New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe partnership (NORFACE). She has sustained a commitment to the philosophical and normative dimension of politics through her teaching, research, networks and advice to governments.
“There is a major onus on Irish researchers to ensure that Europe remains a world leader in the twenty-first century. But the emphasis on research that yields a return—in the form of patents, company formation or new drugs—tends to deny researchers the necessary breathing-space, the time to reflect, to allow for the wrong turns, the brilliant idea that collapses, or the unexpected lines of inquiry that might ultimately deliver something different from the original proposal, but something that is much more exciting,” said Professor Mary E Daly, President of the Royal Irish Academy, and UCD Professor of History at the ceremony in Dublin.
“When the Royal Irish Academy elects members, it does so on the basis of a candidate’s publications and research record—the sole criterion is quality. This research may help in the treatment of disease, or it may enhance our understanding of a past civilisation. Members of the Academy should not shirk from their responsibility to let people know that basic research is important and that government support for fundamental research is a hallmark of a civilised society,” she added.
Other academics enrolled at the Royal Irish Academy at the recent ceremony in Dublin include: (sciences) - Professor Andrew Bowie (TCD); Professor Dermot Diamond (DCU); Professor Padraic Fallon (TCD); Professor Rose Anne Kenny (TCD); Professor Anita R. Maguire (UCC); Professor Richard O'Kennedy (DCU); Professor Mani Ramaswami (TCD); and (humanities and social sciences) - Professor Ciaran Brady (TCD); Ms Geraldine Byrne Nason (Department of the Taoiseach); Professor Daniel Carey (NUIG); Dr Iseult Honohan (UCD); Dr Nuala C. Johnson (QUB); Professor Morgan Kelly (UCD); Mr Stephen Kingon (QUB).
Dublin born and educated, Adrian Raftery, Professor of Statistics and Sociology at the University of Washington, was admitted as an Honorary Member. He has recently developed new methods for probabilistic weather forecasting and probabilistic population projections. He has been based at UCD for the Academic year 2013–14.
There are currently 482 Members of the Academy including: Susan Denham (Chief Justice); Luke O’Neill (TCD), one of the world's foremost authorities on the innate immune system; Des Higgins (UCD), an Irish biochemist who holds the unusual distinction of being the most cited computer scientist in the world; T.K. Whittaker (public servant); and Frances Ruane (Director General of ESRI).
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
