The election of 58 new scholars, 15 fellows, five professorial fellows and two honorary fellows was announced this morning on the steps of the Public Theatre, as part of the historic Trinity Monday celebrations.
Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast, while announcing the recipients, said: “This is always a special day for Trinity, celebrating the academic achievement of our new Fellows and Scholars.”
The 58 scholars come from a variety of disciplines, and include an increase in the number of two subject moderatorship (TSM) scholars, from two in 2018 to seven this year.
Seven Medicine students – Colleen Clinton, Damien Doherty, Callum Franklin, Holly Healy O’Connor, Jonathan Jeger, Muhammad Mahmoud, and Ruán Ó’Conluain – received Scholarship (Schols), the highest number from any subject. Science followed with five scholars – Katy Beckett, Cillian Gartlan, Amandine Hong Minh, Julia Jackson, and Niamh Morris – while four Law students, four Engineering students, and three Computer Science students were all awarded scholarships.
The number of scholars elected is down from 73 last year, with 55 scholars elected in 2017.
Schols is awarded by the College to mainly second year students on the basis of a set of “searching” exams sat after Christmas. Students must achieve an overall first in these exams, to be entitled to “the most prestigious undergraduate award in the country,” of which benefits include free on-campus accommodation and a waiving of all tuition fees for the five year term of the scholarship.
A minority of Schols recipients are known as Foundation Scholars and join the Provost and Fellows to constitute the corporation of the College. As the number of Foundation Scholars cannot exceed seventy, successful students surpassing this number are awarded non-Foundation Scholarship.
In addition, the Honorable Mrs Justice Susan Denham and former College Archivist and Librarian Peter Fox were awarded Honorary Fellowships in today’s ceremony. Denham is a graduate of Trinity and Columbia University in New York. In 1991 she became a judge of the High Court and in 1992 was appointed the first women to the Supreme Court. In 2011, she was the first woman to become Chief Justice of Ireland from 2011 to 2017. Denham also served as Pro-Chancellor of College from 1995 to 2010.
Peter Fox is a graduate of King’s College London and moved to Ireland in 1979 on his appointment as the Deputy Librarian at Trinity. Fox subsequently became Trinity’s Librarian and College Archivist. He oversaw the building of the Hamilton Library and the remodelling of the Old Library to create the present exhibition space and Book of Kells Treasury. In 1994 Fox moved to the University of Cambridge, and became the University Librarian and Fellow of Selwyn College. In 2009, he was awarded a Visiting Fellowship in the Trinity Long Room Hub to work on the history of the College Library. His book, Trinity College Library Dublin: A History was published in 2014.
Meanwhile, five new professorial fellows and 15 new fellows were also announced by Prendergast today. The recipients come from a range of disciplines including Nursing and Midwifery, Business, Engineering, English, and Computer Science.
The ceremony marks the first day of Trinity Week and Trinity Term, a long established tradition in College. A number of events are taking place this week to celebrate Trinity Week based on the theme of “Silence”.
The full list of those awarded can be found here.
