Professor Orla Feely Takes the Reins as President, UCD
2nd May 2023
This week, the new President of University College Dublin (UCD), Professor Orla Feely, takes the reins.
“As I start my term as president of University College Dublin, I’m feeling very honoured and also very excited. I think it’s an enormously exciting time for UCD, for Ireland and for the world.
The work we do in this university can make a real difference to the world in so many areas of great concern and challenge,” she said.
In February, the Governing Authority of University College Dublin approved the appointment of Professor Feely.
“Professor Orla Feely is an outstanding university leader with a distinguished academic track record in research and teaching who has already greatly contributed to the reputation of University College Dublin as a centre of excellence for research and education for our students, faculty and staff,” acknowledged the Chair of the Governing Authority, Marie O’Connor on the announcement.
Professor Feely holds a BE degree from University College Dublin and MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where her PhD thesis won the DJ Sakrison Memorial Prize for outstanding and innovative research.
While at UC Berkeley, Professor Feely also won the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award. Her research is in the area of nonlinear circuits and systems, and she has been awarded research grants and prizes from a number of national, international and industry sources. She served as Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact at UCD from 2014 to 2023.
Professor Feely is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Engineers Ireland and the Irish Academy of Engineering. She has served as President of Engineers Ireland, and as Chair of the Irish Research Council, the EU Advisory Group on Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions and the IEEE Technical Committee on Nonlinear Circuits and Systems. She has also served as Board Member and Deputy Chair of the Higher Education Authority in Ireland, as Vice-President for Resources and Treasurer of CESAER (the Conference of European Schools of Advanced Engineering Education and Research), and as a member of a number of Editorial Boards.
Professor Feely is a member of the judging panels for the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, one of the largest and most successful school science fairs in the world, and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.
Also taking up her new post this week is Professor Helen Roche who has been appointed interim UCD Vice-President for Research, Impact and Innovation (VPRII). She also joins the University Management Team.
Welcoming Professor Roche’s appointment, Professor Feely said:
“Research and innovation are central to our university. They add to the bank of knowledge that leads to discovery.
They disrupt current tenets and make a difference to society through the application of new thinking and the development of talent. And they inform our teaching so that we pass on the principle of critical thinking to the next generation of creators.”
You can read more on Professor Roche’s appointment here>>
