Four contenders have so far confirmed that they will be applying for the position, after applications closed at 12pm today.
Prof Sarah Alyn-Stacey, a newcomer to the race, confirmed to this newspaper earlier today that she had put her name forward for the position of provost.
Three other Trinity top professors – Prof Jane Ohlmeyer, Prof Linda Doyle and Prof Linda Hogan – have also in recent weeks announced their intentions to run for the top job.
Other candidates may also have run, and not announced their intentions. However, this has yet to be confirmed.
Applications for the position of Provost closed today at midday, and interviews for the position will take place over the course of December and January by the Interview Committee, which has been appointed by the College Board.
Prof Ohlmeyer was previously the director of the Long Room Hub until earlier this year, having been elected in 2015. She is also a Fellow and is an expert in early modern Irish and British history, holding the title Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History at Trinity. She is also the chair of the Irish Research Council.
It is Ohlmeyer’s second time running for the position of Provost having run unsuccessfully in 2011.
Prof Linda Doyle recently stepped down from her position as the Dean of Research, a role she has held since January 2018. Doyle, one of Ireland’s leading researchers, was the first woman to take up the role in almost a decade. Doyle was the founding Director of CONNECT, a Science Foundation Ireland research centre focused on telecommunications.
Doyle is also known for her work promoting women in engineering and computer science and has been involved in such initiatives as Girls in Tech, Teen Turn and HerStory.
Prof Linda Hogan, currently Professor of Ecumenics, is a former Vice-Provost of Trinity.
Hogan served as Vice-Provost for five years, from 2011 to 2016, during which time she faced the fallout of the 2008 financial crash and its impact on higher education.
In 2013, it was reported that Pope Francis had considered appointing Hogan the first female cardinal of the Catholic Church, after she was nominated by Fr James Keenan, a professor of theology at Boston College.
Hogan is a member of the Irish Council for Bioethics and has been a Board member of the Coombe Hospital, Science Gallery and Marino Institute of Education. She has also served as a consultant for a number of national and international organisations.
Alyn-Stacey is an associate professor in Trinity’s French department, and teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, also sitting on the College Board, University Council, Standing Committee of Fellows and Finance Committee, four of the College’s most senior influential bodies.
In 2017, Alyn-Stacey was named a Knight of the National Order of Merit by French ambassador to Dublin Jean-Pierre Thébault. Membership to the National Order of Merit is awarded by the French President.
She is the director of the Trinity Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, a research centre which she founded in 1999. In 2001, Alyn-Stacey established the centre’s MPhil in Medieval Language, Literature and Culture.
Provost Patrick Prendergast will finish his term on July 31st, and the next head of Trinity will take charge the next day.
The brief of the job is vast: a 10-year term of office at the helm of Ireland’s most prestigious university, leading its academic, administrative and financial affairs.
The road to the job is a long one: applicants must go through an interview process before being elected by academic staff – as well as a handful of student votes – and appointed by College Board, the chief governing body of the College.
Campaigning will then begin on February 5th and end on April 7th, with elections taking place on April 10th. The elected candidate’s name will then be brought to Board for approval.
