THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY IS IRELAND'S LEADING BODY OF EXPERTS IN THE SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

The Royal Irish Academy/Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann champions research. We identify and recognise Ireland’s world class researchers. We support scholarship and promote awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society. We believe that good research needs to be promoted, sustained and communicated. The Academy is run by a Council of its members. Membership is by election and considered the highest academic honour in Ireland.

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John Hegarty

BSc, MA, PhD(NUI), ScD

Provost Emeritus, Professor of Laser Physics TCD

Member ScienceElected in 1992

John Hegarty has 40 years of experience in research, education and university leadership spanning Ireland and the US. Following a PhD in Physics from University College Galway in 1975, he spent ten years carrying out research in the US, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. In 1986, he was appointed Professor of Laser Physics at Trinity College where he co-founded Optronics Ireland(1989), a national inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional research programme, and campus company Eblana Photonics(2001). Following periods as Head of the Physics Department and Dean of Research, he was appointed President/Provost of Trinity College in 2001 for 10 years, a period of significant expansion in research and collaboration across disciplines and institutions. He co-founded Innovation Advisory Partners(2012), and acted as Senior Advisor to the President of Skoltech, a start-up university in Moscow(2012-15).  He is currently chair of the Irish Times Trust and member of the Irish Times Board, and chair of the Council of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.  He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, Fellow of the Institute of Physics and has Honorary Degrees from UCD, QUB and UU. He has published 130 research papers and 1 book, He. holds three patents. 

Tabhair tacaíocht do thodhchaí an léinn in Éirinn

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