Professor John O’Halloran, MRIA, is President of University College Cork. He previously served as Deputy President & Registrar and Vice-President for Learning & Teaching. He holds the Chair in Zoology at UCC and previously held academic posts at Colby College in the USA and at the University of Wales. He was elected as a member of the RIA in 2024 and awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2025 for his leadership in advancing sustainability in higher education.

Professor O’Halloran is Founding Co-chair of UCC’s Green Campus Forum. He is Co-chair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Ireland and was Chair of the Board of Fota Wildlife Park from 2018 to 2023. Under his leadership, UCC became the first university in the world to be awarded a Green Flag in 2010 and is now ranked as one of the world’s most sustainable universities.

Professor John O’Halloran has published over 250 papers, several book chapters and edited a number of books and research journals. He has authored a number of technical reports for translation of research to industry, government and other stakeholders. He is a leading Irish ornithologist, recognised internationally for his leadership in ecological research and education. His research, shaped by societal needs, focuses on understanding of natural resource management and the impacts of environmental change, land-use practices and climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems. His research has served both to increase fundamental knowledge of biology and applied ecology, and also to inform sustainable development and land use change. He has been awarded over €10m for research, teaching and conferences. Research students are an important part of John’s academic work and he has supervised or co-supervised 46 PhD and 31 Master’s Students, as well as a large number of undergraduate and Master dissertation projects.

He is joint leader of the Ornithology Research Group at UCC (Ornithology), where he has also led a range of projects on forest biodiversity (PLANFORBIO), forests and water (Forest Ecology) and ecotoxicology. He is dedicated to transferring research from the field, lab and bench to classroom and industry and has completed over 70 research projects (multi-disciplinary, multi-organisation, national and international) since 1989.