SIX CANDIDATES will contest the election to become the next provost of Trinity College Dublin after nominations closed yesterday.
They include Prof Patrick Prendergast, the long-term favourite for the post, and two external candidates, Prof Des Fitzgerald, vice-president of research at UCD, and Prof Robin Coningham, vice-chancellor of Durham University in the north of England. The other candidates are John Boland, professor of chemistry and director of the Crann Nanoscience Institute at TCD; Colm Kearney, professor of international business at TCD, and Jane Ohlmeyer, professor of modern history at TCD.
Most observers see the race as a three-cornered contest between Prof Prendergast, Prof Kearney and Prof Ohlmeyer.
Prof Prendergast, who will step down as vice-provost during the election process, has been the early favourite to take the post. The campaigns of Prof Kearney and Prof Ohlmeyer are said to be gaining strong momentum.
Observers say the electorate – of TCD academics – is highly unlikely to appoint an external candidate. TCD has not appointed an outsider since the late historian FSL Lyons secured the post in 1974.
The election will take place on Saturday, April 2nd, when 694 members of the academic staff, college’s board and university council will vote. The new provost will take up office for a fixed 10-year term in August.
TCD sources say this is the last time the key post of provost will be filled by this internal process. One senior figure said: “It is a throwback to another age. We will get away with it on this occasion. But after that we will have to move to a more modern and open recruitment process.’’ The post of TCD provost is regarded as a “blue chip’’ academic post with a salary of over €200,000 and a residence at No 1 Grafton Street, Dublin, which dates back to 1759.
The successful candidate will come to the post after a period of restructuring in the college, pushed through by current provost Dr John Hegarty. Last year, an internal review by a Swiss-German team of academics found the Hegarty reform programme – which recast age-old academic structures – had failed to boost teaching and learning time and led to the duplication of tasks.
Prof Prendergast was a key figure in the TCD-UCD research merger, the Innovation Alliance. He was also a pivotal figure in the restructuring programme.
Prof Kearney could benefit from widespread unease about the Hegarty reforms. A former senior economic adviser to the Australian government for a two-year period, he believes TCD has been underperforming on its public profile. TCD economist Brian Lucey is acting as his campaign manager.
Prof Ohlmeyer, who is bidding to be become TCD’s first female provost, was centrally involved in the 1641 Depositions project, which digitalised the accounts of Irish Protestants. She is an expert on the New British and Atlantic Histories and has published widely on a number of themes in early modern Irish and British history.
Prof John Boland is the director of the Crann Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices. He received his PhD in chemical physics from the California Institute of Technology. In 2002 he moved to the School of Chemistry at TCD as a Science Foundation Ireland principal investigator. Prof Boland received a BSc degree in chemistry from University College Dublin.
Prof Fitzgerald is the highest paid academic in Ireland with an annual salary of over €263,000. In 2004, he moved to UCD as vice-president for research and professor of molecular medicine. His research interests include vascular biology, with a particular focus on platelets and thrombosis.
Prof Robin Coningham is pro-vice-chancellor at Durham, head of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health, and holds a chair in archaeology in the Department of Archaeology. He studied archaeology and anthropology at King’s College, Cambridge.