Welcome to the website of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) which provides information about the many and varied activities that the Academy is engaged in as part of its latest Strategic Plan.

The RIA is committed to serving the public good on the island of Ireland through the Academy’s research and scholarly resources and by drawing on the knowledge and insight of its Members. The Academy wishes to engage with as wide and diverse an audience as possible to share views, promote respectful discourse, preserve our national cultural heritage, and reward research and academic excellence. As part of this mission we invite you to share your views on the functioning and activities of the Academy so we can continue to pursue our core values of excellence, independence, scholarship and collaboration; please email info@ria.ie(link sends e-mail)

Dr Siobhán O’Sullivan, Executive Director

Throughout our website you will find information about our work and activities:

• our Library who preserve a unique collection of medieval Irish manuscripts, national treasures and substantial holdings of later and contemporary materials and make these accessible through digital initiatives where possible. Our oldest manuscript, The Cathach of Colum Cille(link is external)

• our range of publications that include scholarly books, journals, maps, pamphlets and reports that reflect an appropriate blend of scholarly and topical subjects across the breadth of the sciences, humanities and social sciences

•  our major research programmes who play key roles in producing and disseminating new insights into our history and heritage to the world-wide scholarly community and the public through outreach programmes

• our Academy science committees and humanities and social sciences committees who build public engagement and understanding of their disciplines through their events and outputs

• our policy papers that are intended to contribute an independent voice to some of the major public policy challenges on a national and international basis.

• our many events and seminar series that include the Academy’s Discourse series and other public activities

• our support of talented early career scholars and researchers throughout Ireland with a programme of grants

• our reward of excellence in research through a programme of awards, and both national prizes and international prizes