Ballyleague-Lanesboro native Professor Brian Fitzgerald has been appointed director of Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre.
Professor Fitzgerald’s father taught at the old Abbey National School in Cloontuskert and the family moved to Wicklow when Brian was young. Speaking to RoscommonDaily.com earlier he said he was proud of his Roscommon roots.
Brian Fitzgerald is widely recognised as a global leader in the study of software development processes and methods. He was one of the pioneers of research into open source software and has been a Science Foundation Ireland “Principal Investigator” since 2002.
He was one of the founding “Principal Investigators” in Lero in 2005. Between 2008 and 2011 he took a break from Lero to serve as Vice-President research at the University of Limerick. Since 2013, Professor Fitzgerald has been Chief Scientist in Lero.
Lero, which is based at the University of Limerick, brings together leading software research teams from many of Ireland’s Universities and Institutes of Technology. The Centre works with industry, state agencies with the overall aim of establishing Ireland as a location synonymous with high quality software development.
Prior to taking up an academic position, Brian Fitzgerald worked in the software industry for 12 years. His experience has been wide and varied, hold roles in finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and , bespoke software development throughout Ireland, Belgium and Germany
Commenting on the news Professor Don Barry, President, UL said “Brian brings to the role valuable industry as well as academic experience. He is a pioneer in research into open source software and is widely recognised as a global leader in the study of software development processes and methods.”
You can find out more about Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre, here.