Trinity College Dublin Announces New Fellows and Scholars

Posted on: 09 April 2013

Trinity College Dublin today (April 8th) celebrated the beginning of the annual Trinity Week with the announcement of two Honorary Fellows, 15 new Fellows and 90 new Scholars of the College. The ceremony is one of the oldest and most colourful at Trinity College and marks the beginning of the annual Trinity Week, a long established celebration of College life.

The announcement was made by the Provost of Trinity, Dr Patrick Prendergast, surrounded by members of the Board of the College in full academic gowns on the steps of the Public Theatre.   Students and staff celebrated the occasion with colleagues, friends and families in Front Square.

Scholars are students who have demonstrated exceptional knowledge and understanding of their subjects and are elected annually in various subjects as the result of an examination held in the week before the start of Hilary term.

Research achievement or scholarship of a high order is the primary qualification for Fellowship, along with evidence of the candidate’s contribution to the academic life of the College and effective record of teaching.

Honorary Fellowships were also awarded to Professor Christopher Dobson, Master of John’s College, Cambridge and Professor Patrick O’Meara, former Master of Van Mildert College, Durham University and formerly of Trinity’s Russian Department. Professor O’Meara taught for 30 years at Trinity where he   was Senior Lecturer followed by Associate Professor.

Professor Dobson was appointed John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical and Structural Biology at the University of Cambridge in 2001 and Master of St John’s College, Cambridge, in 2007. Trinity College Dublin and St John’s College Cambridge maintain extremely close historical and collegial links ? Professor Dobson’s nomination as Honorary Fellow of the College is a mark of these continuing links.

This year to celebrate Trinity Week, the Faculty of  Arts Humanities and Social Sciences  has put together a week of exciting events including a series of academic, film, poetry, musical and theatrical events around the theme, The Irish Diaspora: Social, Cultural and Economic Perspectives.    Trinity Week will run from April 8th-12th April, events are free and open to the public. A full programme of events can be found on www.tcd.ie/trinityweek.