Trinity Professor Sinéad Ryan has been appointed by minister Harris to the Irish Research Council.
Ryan is professor of Theoretical High Energy Physics at Trinity. She replaces Professor Kieran Conboy of the University of Galway, who served two two three-year terms on the board of the organisation.
In a statement to Trinity News, Professor Ryan said she was “delighted and very honoured” to join the council.
“The Irish Research Council supports research excellence across all career stages and all disciplines and I look forward to contributing to the council’s unique role in Irish research and innovation,” she continued.
Ryan’s research is in the area of high energy particle physics and with a focus on quantum chromodynamics.
She is chair of the EuroHPC Infrastructure Advisory Group, and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Ryan has also held Distinguished Visiting Professorships at the Institute for Advanced Study at the Technische Universität München in Germany and Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France.
On the appointment, Chair of the Irish Research Council, Professor Daniel Carey, said: “We are delighted to welcome Professor Sinéad Ryan to the Irish Research Council.”
“Professor Ryan brings very valuable expertise to the Irish Research Council at a particularly important time in its evolution in the context of major changes in the Irish research funding landscape,” he added.
In February 2016, Ryan was one of eight Trinity academics honoured by President Micheal D. Higgins for their contributions to scientific research in a celebration of women in science.
The Irish Research Council is a state sponsored organisation that aims to “enable and sustain a vibrant research community in Ireland by supporting excellent researchers in all disciplines”.