CERN Director-General Dr Fabriola Gianotti has been awarded an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin (UCD).
Dr Gianotti is Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which Ireland became an Associate Member State of in October 2025.
The Italian scientist was recognised by the Irish institution this month “as a global scientific leader and for her contributions to particle physics and support of Ireland's CERN membership” a spokesperson for the university confirmed.
In 2012 Dr Gianotti first announced the existence of the Higgs boson - one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of recent decades.
Its discovery helped to explain why matter has substance and can form atoms.
University College Dublin has conferred an Honorary Doctor of Science degree on Dr. Fabiola Gianotti, Director-General of CERN (Pic: UCD)Dr Gianotti played a central role in the ATLAS experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which observed evidence of the Higgs boson.
She was elected Director-General of CERN in 2016, making her the first woman to hold the position.
In 2019 she became the first Director-General in CERN’s history to be appointed for a second term.
“UCD has been a member of the LHC experiments since 2003 and has experienced the incredible opportunities CERN presents, not just for scientific discovery, but for technological innovation, training, economic impact and knowledge transfer,” said UCD’s Professor Ronan McNulty.
“In seeking to make these opportunities available across Ireland’s higher education sector, we received strong support from Fabiola Gianotti,” he added.
Described by UCD as a “long-standing advocate for Irish science and Ireland’s involvement in CERN”, Dr Gianotti played an important role in Ireland becoming an Associate Member State – which has in turn opened new opportunities for researchers, students and industry across the nation.
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