Professor Janice Carruthers and Professor Richard Schoch, both from the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s, were admitted alongside 27 new members for 2021 through a remote Admittance Ceremony on 21 May 2021.

The members were admitted in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements.

Professor Janice Carruthers is a world-leading expert on the French language and on Language Policy. She is a sociolinguist whose research focuses on the linguistic structure of oral varieties of French, on the temporal system of the language and on linguistic variation and change in French. As Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Priority Area Leadership Fellow for Modern Languages, Professor Carruthers leads a large research project on Language Policy, and she recently led the Queen’s strand (which focused on France and Ireland) in an AHRC project on Multilingualism. 

Professor Carruthers said: “I am very honoured to be elected to the Royal Irish Academy and look forward to contributing to its all-island community of researchers. It has never been more important for public policy, north and south, to be informed by excellent research across the humanities and sciences.”

Professor Richard Schoch is an internationally recognised scholar of theatre history and Shakespeare in performance. He recently led the AHRC-funded project 'Performing Restoration Shakespeare', run in partnership with Shakespeare's Globe in London and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. The author of six monographs, and recipient of fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust and the Stanford Humanities Center, Schoch received the Brockett Prize from the American Society for Theatre Research and has been shortlisted for the Freedley Award (Theatre Library Association) and the Theatre Book Prize (Society for Theatre Research). His book The Secrets of Happiness, written for a popular readership, has been translated into six languages. 

Professor Schoch commented: “It’s a great honour to be elected to the Royal Irish Academy and to join its membership of distinguished scholars in humanities and sciences from throughout the island. The Academy’s mission to support excellent research and to promote the many public benefits of that research is one that we fully share here at Queen’s. I look forward to working with other Academy members in contributing to research-led public debate and engagement.”

Congratulating both academics on this accolade, Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor at Queen’s said: “I warmly congratulate both highly esteemed colleagues, Professor Carruthers and Professor Schoch from the School of Arts, English and Languages, on this great honour. Queen's is renowned for its world-leading research which is addressing major societal issues and change and I am delighted that both academics have been recognised by the Royal Irish Academy for their outstanding academic research and achievements.”

Rory Montgomery, Honorary Professor of Practice at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s, was also admitted to the Academy. Honorary Professor Montgomery is a former Irish diplomat who served as Permanent Representative to the EU, Ambassador to France and Second Secretary General at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade.  

The Royal Irish Academy is an all-island independent forum of peer-elected experts. Membership of the Academy is the highest academic honour in Ireland.

The academic body promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences, as well as to public service and has been honouring Ireland’s leading contributors to the world of education and learning since its establishment in 1785.

Past members of the Royal Irish Academy include Nobel laureates WB Yeats, Ernest Walton, Erwin Schrödinger and Seamus Heaney.

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