RIA presents Professor Anne Fuchs with Gold Medal for Humanities
13 February 2025
The (opens in a new window)Royal Irish Academy has presented (opens in a new window)UCD Professor Anne Fuchs with a coveted Gold Medal, Ireland’s highest scholarly accolade.
Acclaiming Ireland’s foremost thinkers in the humanities, social sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, life sciences, engineering sciences and the environment and geosciences, only two such medals are awarded by the Academy each year.
A passionate supporter of early career researchers, Professor Fuchs received her Gold Medal for her work in the humanities, with the RIA citing her ground-breaking scholarship on German cultural memory, time and temporality in modernist and contemporary literature as having paved the way for new research directions, not only in German Studies but also in interdisciplinary areas.
This spring, she was honoured at a special ceremony alongside fellow recipient Professor Seamus Martin, Smurfit Chair of Medical Genetics at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, who was awarded the Gold Medal in Life and Medical Sciences.
“I am truly honoured to receive the 2025 Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in the humanities," said Professor Fuchs.
"By awarding this gold medal to a scholar in German Studies and Modern Languages, the RIA recognises the breadth of humanities disciplines and their indispensable role in creatively addressing the enormous challenges of the 21st century in dialogue with Science Technology Engineering Mechanics (STEM) and the social sciences.”
President of the Royal Irish Academy and Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry at UCD, (opens in a new window)Professor Pat Guiry added: “The Gold Medals are a prestigious honour bestowed on exceptional researchers in higher education across Ireland.
"The 2025 awards are a testament to the dedication, passion, and intellectual contributions to their disciplines demonstrated by Professor Fuchs and Professor Martin. Their research continues to shape the future of their respective fields, and it is an honour to recognise them with these prestigious awards.”
RIA President Professor Pat Guiry, Gold Medal awardees Professors Anne Fuchs, UCD, and Seamus Martin, TCD, and Colin Hunt, CEO of AIB
Elected to the RIA in 2009, Professor Fuchs is Chair of the Irish Humanities Alliance and Director of UCD Humanities Institute, and a member of numerous national and international policy committees.
Prior to her current role at UCD, Professor Fuchs held the Chair of German at University of Warwick and University of St Andrews, and a personal Chair in German at UCD.
She is the tenth UCD academic to receive the RIA’s highest accolade since their inception in 2005.
Previous Gold Medal winners:
- 2005: Professor John Dillon & Professor Michael Coey,
- 2006: Professor Peter Neary & Professor James Dooge (UCD)
- 2007: Professor George Eogan (UCD) & Dr John Fuller Atkins
- 2008: Professor David Livingstone & Professor Charles Hepworth Holland
- 2010: Professor Cormac Ó Gráda (UCD) & Professor Samson Shatashvili
- 2011: Professor William Schabas & Professor John O Scalan (UCD)
- 2012: Professor Luke O’Neill & Professor Dermot Moran (UCD)
- 2013: Professor Colin O’Dowd & Professor Rob Kitchin
- 2015: Professor Philip Lane & Professor Alan Smeaton
- 2016: Professor Louis Cullen & Professor Fergus Shanahan
- 2017: Professor Malcolm MacLachlan & Professor John Walsh (UCD)
- 2018: Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty (UCD) & Professor Stephen J. Smartt
- 2019: Professor Richard English & Professor Vincent Fusco
- 2020: Emeritus Professor Mary E. Daly (UCD) & Professor Daniel Bradley
- 2021: Professor Ruth Byrne & Professor Jennifer C. McElwain
- 2023: Professor Jane Ohlmeyer & Professor Jonathan Coleman
- 2024: Emeritus Professor Brigid Laffan (UCD) & Professor Máire O’Neill
The RIA Gold Medals were established in 2005 to acclaim Ireland’s foremost thinkers and acknowledge the global impact of their work.
Recipients are judged by their peers to have made outstanding contributions in the fields of the humanities, social sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, life sciences, engineering sciences and the environment and geosciences.
The RIA is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences.
It is the principal learned society in Ireland and its members are elected in recognition of their academic achievements.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Caroline Byrne, UCD Research and Innovation)
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
