Professor Alan Smeaton admitted to RIA

Professor Alan Smeaton, Professor of Computing at DCU, has been admitted to the Royal Irish Academy in honour of his world-class contribution to science. Election to membership of the Royal Irish Academy is a public recognition of academic excellence and is the highest academic honour in Ireland.

Professor Smeaton leads a group of researchers on the development of theories and technologies to support all aspects of information discovery: helping people to find the right information at the right time. He is internationally recognised for his work on information retrieval, particularly multimedia retrieval and video analysis. His work has contributed important theoretical insights and helped to resolve major technical challenges.

Also amongst those admitted were: Susan Denham, Chief Justice; Nuala O’Loan, former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman; and Michael McElroy, who was one of Al Gore’s advisers on climate change.

Those elected are entitled to use the designation ‘MRIA’ after their name. There are 474 Members of the Academy including: Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, TK Whittaker (public servant) Mary McAleese (President of Ireland 1997-2011), Frances Ruane (DG of ESRI), Maurice Manning (NUI Chancellor), Patrick Honohan (Governor of the Central Bank), and writer and cartographer Tim Robinson.

Members of the Academy from DCU include:

1999 - Dr Daniel O’Hare
2003 - Malcolm Smyth
2004 - Bill Harris, Adjunct Professor
2004 - Professor Eugene Kennedy
2005 - Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski
2006 - Professor Michael Cronin
2007 - Professor Oliver Dolly
2007 - Professor Brian MacCraith
1999 - Professor Han Vos