Diversity Review for Royal Irish Academy

Professor Yellowlees is a pioneer in the field of solar energy research and a passionate champion for diversity in science. She was Vice-principal of the University of Edinburgh and was the first female President of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2012-14.

Dr Mary Canning, President of the Royal Irish Academy said ‘Diversity is an issue of central importance to the Academy and I am committed to strengthening the diversity of its membership.’

RIA Vice-President Professor Anita Maguire said that ‘an internationally renowned four-person panel will review the existing processes and criteria for the identification and election of new Members to the Academy, identify barriers to increasing diversity and make recommendations to foster greater diversity in future elections of new members’.

The review panel will consider how the Academy assesses academic excellence as the core qualification for membership of the Academy, taking into account international best practice in the understanding and measurement of excellence. Currently one-fifth of Academy Members are female.

The review will be published in December 2021.