UCD president announces intention to resign to take up new role in Australia

University College Dublin president, Andrew Deeks, has announced his intention to resign from the position in April 2022.

Prof Deeks said following his resignation, he will take up the role of vice-chancellor at Murdoch University in his hometown of Perth, Western Australia.

In a special bulletin to colleagues, Prof Deeks said Prof Mark Rogers, deputy president and registrar, will become the acting president on his departure and will hold that role until the Governing Authority appoints his successor.

“I have greatly enjoyed my time at UCD, despite the various challenges Irish universities have faced over these eight years,” he said.

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“ I have been constantly impressed by the dedication and commitment of our faculty and staff, by the talent and achievement of our students, by the generous support we have received from alumni and philanthropists, and by the productive partnerships we have formed with companies and organisations.”

Prof Deeks said he and his family have felt “very welcome and at home here in Ireland”.

“However, my 10-year term as president is rapidly coming to an end, and the opportunity to return to my hometown to lead a university which is well-positioned to thrive in this time of disruption and opportunity, a time where the need to build a sustainable global society is increasingly recognised was one I could not pass up,” he said.

Prof Deeks said UCD is “in a strong position academically and financially, with exciting plans for the future, and has come through the trials of the pandemic in good shape”.

He added that while he regrets he will not be there to see the exciting plans come to fruition, he is “confident” they will be delivered in line with the university’s vision for the future.

Prof Deeks took up the role of president on January 1st, 2014, making him the first Australian to lead an Irish university and the first person from outside Ireland to lead UCD since John Henry Newman in 1854.