A researcher at University of Limerick has been elected as a fellow of the International Core Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Professor Lionel C Briand, Director of Lero, the Research Ireland Research Centre for Software based at UL and Professor of Software Engineering at UL’s Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, is among 23 distinguished scholars elected to the Fellowship of Core Academy in recognition of their outstanding contributions to research, scholarship and academic leadership.
A leading scholar in software engineering, Professor Briand has been recognised for his influential work on software testing, verification and validation, model-based engineering, software dependability, and the application of AI to software quality assurance.
Election to the Fellowship of Core Academy is a lifetime distinction conferred upon individuals whose achievements have made significant and enduring contributions to their fields. It is merit-based, requiring a record of distinction in research, education, or leadership.
An independent, not-for-profit organisation based in Hong Kong, the Academy supports international, cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research across all fields of knowledge, recognises excellence in scholarship, and promotes global academic cooperation.
The Academy said its new cohort of Fellows reflects its mission to promote global scholarly cooperation and its commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration at a time when global challenges increasingly require cross-disciplinary approaches.
As of 2026, the Academy includes more than 250 elected Fellows, including Nobel Laureates, and more than 600 members across more than 60 countries and regions from diverse cultures, nationalities, disciplines, and professional backgrounds.
Professor Briand began his role as Director of Lero and Professor of Software Engineering at University of Limerick’s Department of Computer Science and Information Systems in January, 2024. He has a shared appointment as Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
His globally renowned scholarship lies at the intersection of rigorous software engineering research and the practical demands of trustworthy digital systems. His work has addressed the validation and verification of software, model-based testing, requirements analysis, software quality assessment, and the use of artificial intelligence and search-based methods in software engineering.
He has also contributed significantly to the development of empirical methods in the discipline, helping to strengthen software engineering’s methodological foundations while keeping close contact with real industrial environments.
Over 30 years, Professor Briand has run research projects with companies in the automotive, satellite, aerospace, energy, financial, and legal domains.