Professor Malcolm Smyth and Dr James Kelly Elected Members of the Royal Irish Academy
18 March 2003

For 216 years the Royal Irish Academy has been honouring Ireland's foremost academics by electing them as Members of the Academy on the eve of St Patrick's Day. On Saturday 15 March 2003 ten scientists and ten scholars from the humanities and social sciences were elected.

This year two of the twenty new members elected were Professor Malcolm Smyth, Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science here at DCU and Dr James Kelly, Head of the History, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra.

Professor Malcolm Smyth's research has spanned a wide variety of areas of biological, industrial and environmental importance, such as the development of novel biosensor technology based on enzymes and antibodies, fundamental studies of the mode of action of industrial sealants, and the chemical analysis of important compounds in Various foodstuffs/beverages. He has been recognised by two major awards for such research from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and currently serves on the Editorial Boards of six international Analytical Chemistry journals. He is regarded as one of the world leaders in the development of electrochemical biosensors. He was named in the recent ISI survey of International chemists as being in the top 1% of chemists cited by his peers.

Dr James Kelly is one of the foremost historians of eighteenth century Ireland. All his scholarly work is a monument to his true mastery of the sources. His impressive publications straddle political, economic and social history. His publications include Prelude to Union: Anglo-Irish politics in the 1780s (1992); 'That Damn'd thing called honour: duelling in Ireland 1570-1860 (1995); Henry Flood: patriots and politics in eighteenth-century Ireland (1998), Gallows speeches from eighteenth century Ireland (2001), and a large and diverse range of essays and book chapters. He is currently President of the Irish Historical Society.

The Royal Irish Academy is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. It is the principal learned society in Ireland and has approximately 320 Members elected in recognition of their academic achievement. For further info see www.ria.ie