Our guest at Wexford Rotary on Monday 20th October was Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost of Trinity College. Patrick was accompanied by his mother Mary.
Originally from Oulart, Patrick attended St Peter’s College and then went to Trinity in 1983 as an undergraduate student. After post-doctoral positions in Bologna, Italy and Nijmegen, The Netherlands, he was appointed to the engineering faculty in Trinity College Dublin in 1995, ultimately becoming Professor of Bioengineering, and Director of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering. During this period he published several hundred articles related to implant design and tissue mechanobiology, and supervised 40 graduate students. He has held Visiting Professorships at many universities and has also served on the boards of several companies.
Patrick Prendergast was elected by academic staff and student representatives as the 44th Provost of Trinity College Dublin coming into office on August 1st, 2011, after having served as the Vice-Provost & Chief Academic Officer (2008-2011) and Dean of Graduate Studies (2004-2007). The Provost is the Head of the University, equivalent to President or Rector in other universities.
In his presentation to Wexford Rotary, Dr Prendergast emphasized the importance of focusing on the core mission in education and research, and of the importance of Trinity’s role in contributing to the public good through educating for active citizenship and innovation.
Dr Prendergast holds a BA, BAI, PhD, and ScD degrees, all from Trinity College Dublin. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA), a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering (FIAE) and in 2013 was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in the UK.