Orla Feely
University College Dublin (UCD)
president of engineers ireland
Orla Feely
Professor Orla Feely is President of Engineers Ireland, the professional body for engineers working across the full spectrum of the engineering profession in Ireland. Orla Feely is also Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact and a Professor of Electronic Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD).
Orla is from Dublin and her engineering journey commenced with a degree in electronic engineering from UCD, where she graduated with a predominately male class in the 1980s. After graduating, she moved to the University of California, (UC) Berkeley, where she gained her MS and PhD degrees and was awarded the David J Sakrison Memorial Prize for outstanding and innovative research for her PhD thesis. While at UC Berkeley, Orla also won the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award. Her research is in the area of nonlinear circuits and systems. Subsequent to her graduation from UC Berkeley, Orla returned to UCD as a lecturer where she taught a number of students who are now leaders in Ireland’s thriving technology sector, and others who have built their careers in Silicon Valley.
Orla was the first Irish woman to be elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE, – which is the world’s largest technical professional organisation for the advancement of technology. Orla is also a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Director of Ireland’s Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and has served as Chair of the Irish Research Council. She was elected President of Engineers Ireland in June 2021.
