Lorraine Hanlon

Lorraine Hanlon is Full Professor of Astronomy at University College Dublin (UCD) and  Director of UCD’s Centre for Space Research. She did her undergraduate (BSc) and graduate (MSc and PhD) degrees in Experimental Physics and was a research fellow at the European Space Agency (ESA) Technology Research Centre in the Netherlands for 3 years, conducting research in high energy astrophysics. She joined the academic staff of UCD in 1996, serving as Head of the School of Physics between 2008 and 2011. Lorraine has served on numerous national and international committees related to space research, most recently as Chair of ESA’s Astronomy Working Group.  She also serves as science advisor to the Irish delegation to the ESA Science Programme Committee. Lorraine is the Endorsing Professor for EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first satellite, developed by an interdisciplinary team of UCD students and staff with the support of ESA’s ‘Fly Your Satellite!’ programme. EIRSAT-1 was successfully launched on December 1st 2023 and is now in low Earth orbit.