Patrick J. Prendergast FIEI, MRIA, FREng is an engineer, specialised in bioengineering, and held a named professorial chair and other senior roles prior to his serving as the 44th Provost of Trinity College Dublin, the university's chief officer, for the 2011-2021 term. He has published more than 200 papers and volumes, and been cited widely. Early life and education Born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, Prendergast grew up in the nearby village of Oulart and received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford. He then studied at Trinity College Dublin as an undergraduate, from 1983, completing a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1987 and a PhD in 1991 titled Structural Analysis of the Artificial Hip Joint. He wrote an account of his undergraduate years in Trinity Tales. Trinity College Dublin in the Eighties. Academic career After post-doctoral positions in Bologna, Italy and Nijmegen, 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, and was appointed to a Personal Chair in Bio-Engineering in 2007. He is credited with adding biomechanics as a topic area to Trinity's engineering syllabus, and developing a Masters in Bioengineering. He served as Dean of Graduate Studies in Trinity from 2004 to 2007, and was appointed Vice-Provost / Chief Academic Officer in 2008. Research Prendergast has published more than 200 articles and volumes, including on topics around medical engineering, such as tissue mechanobiology, and design of implants. His work has won funding from Science Foundation Ireland, often as Principal Investigator, as well as from the EU and some industry sources. He was a member of the Glion Colloquium of university Presidents where he published two papers on strategy and leadership. Provostship In 2011, he was elected as the 44th Provost of Trinity College, for a ten-year term. For external purposes, the post is elaborated to Provost and President. During his term, Prendergast has focused on the university's rankings from QS, the Times HES and Shanghai, and on increasing sources of funding. In September 2016 a "Provost's Council" was created, made up of alumni and benefactors of the university, it advises the Provost on how Trinity might advance, for example by financing new projects and initiatives. In November 2016, it was announced that Trinity College Dublin would be joining the