The first ever woman president of an Irish university has been appointed at University of Limerick.
Professor Kerstin Mey will take up the position on an interim basis.
She will succeed Dr Des Fitzgerald, who is set to retire as President on September 1st.
Professor Kerstin Mey was born and raised in Berlin, and has previously worked in universities in Germany and the UK.
She said she is “proud and really humbled" to be appointed to the new role in Limerick, having joined the university staff two years ago.
She said: "We aim to be an inclusive University that continues to widen access to higher education and fosters opportunity, that values diversity and strives to fully implement our human rights and equality policy.
"The appointment of a woman president signals another step towards gender equality in higher education."
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris welcomed the appointment.
He said: "This is an historic appointment.
"I want to state my commitment to the roll-out of the senior academic leadership initiative in higher education set in place by the last Government, to increase the number of women at professor level in our universities."
A full-time new UL President will be appointed following an international recruitment process, which management expects will take up to 18 months.
