Lero appoints chief scientist

Irish software engineering research centre Lero has appointed Prof Brian Fitzgerald as its chief scientist.

Prof Fitzgerald holds the Frederick A Krehbiel II Chair in Innovation in Global Business and Technology at the University of Limerick, where he was also vice-president for research from 2008 to 2011. He is a Lero principal investigator and was founding director of the Lero Graduate School in Software Engineering.

He was formerly at University College Cork, and has held visiting positions in Italy, Austria, Sweden, US and the UK. He holds a PhD from the University of London and his research interests lie primarily in software development, encompassing development methods, global software development, agile methods and open source software. Before joining academia, he worked for about 15 years in the software industry in Ireland and abroad.

As chief scientist, he will support the director Prof Mike Hinchey in setting the scientific agenda of the centre and will work with the research teams to ensure that Lero’s research is of the highest standard.

“I am delighted that Brian has accepted this role,” said Prof Hinchey. “He has made major contributions to Lero’s research since its inception in 2005 and is one of our most distinguished researchers.  I look forward to working with him in advancing Lero’s contributions to software engineering.”

“Lero’s research in software engineering is very important to the progress of the software sector in Ireland,” said Prof Fitzgerald. “I look forward to working with the research teams and our industry partners to advance our capabilities.”