A physicist, Prof John Hegarty, has been elected the 43rd Provost of Trinity College after significantly outpolling his four opponents. Dr Hegarty was challenged strongly in the last fortnight by the current Vice-Provost, Prof David McConnell, and an economist, Prof Frances Ruane.
Although the final results were not disclosed, it is understood Prof Hegarty beat Prof McConnell in the final round by about 280 votes to 170.
Prof Ruane was third, Dr Micheal Mac an Airchinnigh, a computer science lecturer, was fourth, and Prof Patrick O'Meara of the Russian Department was fifth.
The election took place in private with 520 permanent staff eligible to vote. Each round entailed a new vote, and the candidate with the lowest number was eliminated until two remained. Staff then voted for one of the two. It is understood Prof Hegarty (52) was considerably ahead in each round.
Many academics were surprised that Prof Ruane finished third. There was a lot of support for her in the last fortnight. Prof McConnell, a governor of The Irish Times Trust Ltd, put in a strong performance and surprised many academics by beating Prof Ruane. He received the support of the students' union and also polled well within his own science faculty.
As Trinity's dean of research, Dr Hegarty benefited from his high profile, according to college sources. He knew many staff members, and his success in getting valuable research grants was seen as an asset.
He will take up the £100,000a-year post at the start of August and will hold office for the next decade. Along with his wife and two sons, he will live in the Provost's House at 1 Grafton Street. From Claremorris, Co Mayo, Prof Hegarty spent several years studying for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. He also has a PhD from NUI Galway and has been at Trinity since the mid-1980s.
Between 1992 and 1995 Prof Hegarty was head of the Department of Physics. He has also been a post-doctoral fellow at the University of WisconsinMadison and a researcher at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey.
He has produced over 140 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals and has spent many years researching the use and effects of lasers.
Since 1998 he has been a member of the Higher Education Authority which controls the funding of universities. He has also been involved in highlighting the importance of thirdlevel research as part of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities.
After the result was declared on Saturday, Prof Hegarty was congratulated by the former President, Mrs Mary Robinson, also from Co Mayo, who is Chancellor of Dublin University.
Trinity College Dublin Students' Union has welcomed the election of Prof Hegarty.
Its education officer, Ms Averil Power, said the professor's commitments on the maintenance grant, a student centre, access for disadvantaged students and student accommodation displayed an awareness of the main problems facing students.
"We appreciate his statement that he will use his position as Provost to publicly highlight these issues and put pressure on the Government to effect change, and look forward to working with him to that end," she said. Prof Hegarty succeeds Dr Thomas Mitchell.