Lero’s Chief Scientist Professor Bashar Nuseibeh has been elected to the Royal Irish Academy for his exceptional contribution to the sciences. Professor of Software Engineering at University of Limerick, Professor Nuseibeh is among 27 new members recognised for their contributions to research and to public service. The new RIA members include Gerard Hogan, Advocate General at the European Court of Justice; Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University and chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group; and pharmacologist Lorraine O’Driscoll who is a leading figure in cancer research.

“These 27 new Members are recognised for their scholarly achievements, typically reflecting many years of research, or for significant contributions to Irish society. They bring international academic distinction to our country and we should be immensely proud of these remarkable women and men. As Members of the Academy, they will strengthen our capacity to provide expert advice on Higher Education and Research policy,” Dr Mary Canning, President of the Royal Irish Academy, stated.

Following his election, Professor Nuseibeh, said: “As an academic, there is no higher honour than being elected to one’s national academy. I’d like to thank the Royal Irish Academy for honouring me, and thank my nominators for the trust. I'd also like acknowledge the supportive environment that the University of Limerick has provided me personally for over a decade, and for the Lero and Confirm Centres in which my colleagues and I work.”

Welcoming the announcement, Professor Brian Fitzgerald, Director of Lero, said: “Election to the RIA is the highest academic honour that the country can bestow on its citizens and it is fitting that Bashar receive this accolade. He is an outstanding researcher, colleague and friend, who has contributed so much to software research, and indeed to Lero over his career so far. He has been instrumental in Lero’s embrace of responsible software engineering and in shaping the centre’s research direction. All of Lero is justifiably proud of Bashar and his accomplishments to date”.

As well as his roles with UL and Lero, Professor Nuseibeh is Professor of Computing at The Open University, UK, an Honorary Professor at University College London, UK, and Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Informatics, Japan. His research addresses the engineering of dependable and usable software that is deployed in societally-significant sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, community policing and sustainable living.

Professor Nuseibeh has received numerous award including a Philip Leverhulme Prize, a Royal Society-Wolfson Merit Award, a Senior Research Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET)  Innovation Award for Cyber Security, and two European Research Council (ERC) grants including an Advanced Grant on “Adaptive Security and Privacy”.

Professor Nuseibeh has served as Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, the Automated Software Engineering Journal, and ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Security and Privacy. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology, the British Computer Society, the Irish Computer Society, and is a Member of Academia Europaea.

The 27 new Members of the Royal Irish Academy are:

Francis Peter Barry (NUIG); Frank Barry (TCD); Ruth Barton (TCD); Joseph Bergin (Manchester University); John Brannigan (UCD); Janice Carruthers (QUB); John Crown (St Vincent's, DCU, UCD); Deirdre Curtin (European University Institute); Philip Dine (NUIG); John Feehan (UCD); Gerard W Hogan (Court of Justice of the European Union); Derek Jackson (UU); Pierre Joannon (Independent scholar); Joseph Keane (TCD); Ed Lavelle (TCD); Anne Magurran (University of St Andrews); N Gerard McElvaney (RCSI); Rory Montgomery (QUB, TCD); Michael Anthony Morris (TCD); Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail (UCD); Philip Nolan (MU); Bashar Nuseibeh (UL); Brian O’Connor (UCD); Lorraine O’Driscoll (TCD); Richard Schoch (QUB); Patrick Sims-Williams (Aberystwyth University); Desmond Tobin (UCD)

There are 637 Members of the Royal Irish Academy including: Nobel Laureates William C. Campbell and John O'Keefe; Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford; Frances Ruane, economist; Philip Lane, European Central Bank; Fabiola Gianotti, Director General CERN; Brigid Laffan, Irish political scientist and Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies; and Geraldine Byrne-Nason, Irelands Permanent Representative to the UN.

The Academy has been honouring Ireland’s leading contributors to the world of learning since its establishment in 1785 and those elected by their peers are entitled to use the designation ‘MRIA’ after their name.

Past Members have included Maria Edgeworth, a pioneer of the modern novel and Nobel laureates: WB Yeats; Ernest Walton, Erwin Schrödinger and Seamus Heaney.