Patrick J. Prendergast FIEI, MRIA, FREng is the Provost of Trinity College Dublin. Born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, Prendergast received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford. He then studied at Trinity College Dublin as an undergraduate, completing a degree in mechanical engineering in 1987 and a PhD in 1991. After post-doctoral positions in Italy and the Netherlands, he became a lecturer at Trinity in 1995, and was elected a Fellow of the College in 1998. Together with colleagues from medicine and dentistry, he established the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering in 2002. He served as Dean of Graduate Studies in Trinity from 2004 to 2007, and was appointed Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded an ScD for published works in Bioengineering. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In October 2010, he declared his intention to stand in the forthcoming election for Provost, he was considered an early favourite; a lead he built on to win the election on Trinity Monday of 2011. During his term, Prendergast has focused on the university's rankings and on increasing sources of funding. In September 2016 a "Provost's Council" was created. Consisting of alumni and benefactors of the university, it advises Prendergast on how to advance Trinity's position in the world by financing new projects and initiatives. He was involved in several controversies, most notably over branding and "Take Back Trinity", a student movement to resist commercialisation within the university. In November 2016, it was announced that Trinity College Dublin would be joining the League of European Research Universities. It is the first and only university on the island of Ireland to become a member of Europe’s research universities. In May 2018, Prendergast unveiled plans for a new €60 million Institute in Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies funded by an Irish philanthropic donation and Government funding. He gave a wide-ranging interview with the music magazine Hot Press.
