Factfile:

Professor Eamonn A. Murphy, University of Limerick

Professor Eamonn A. Murphy is Boart Longyear Professor of Quality and Applied Statistics in the department of mathematics and statistics at UL.

Born: Limerick, 1948 Education: Sexton Street CBS Limerick; qualified as a primary school teacher; St Patrick's College, Dublin 1979; graduateship of the Institute of Mathematics 1980; MSc from UL and PhD (maths education) from UCD.

Research: 1999 recipient of the UL excellence in research award. Has secured more than €1 million in research funding. Currently writing a book on enhanced reliability models for electronic systems, with Finn Jensen. 1995, winner with PhD student James Prendergast of the outstanding paper award at IEEE conference in Nevada. Instrumental in securing the Nokia Global Quality Research Centre for UL.

Teaching: in 1998, he was recognised as a faculty member who "demonstrated exceptional teaching ability". Responsible for the mathematical content of all degree programmes offered by the college of business in UL.

Industry links: has consulted on more than 60 manufacturing design projects in 40 companies in Ireland, Britain and Hungary. Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre, and co-founder of the National Centre for Quality Management.

International links: chairman of the academic board of the European Foundation for Quality Management.

Family: married to primary school teacher Marie; five children.