Perfil
Sir John O’Reilly is a leading British engineer and academic in Information and Communications Technology. He earned a BTech in Electronic Engineering from Brunel University (1969) and a PhD from the University of Wales, Bangor (1982). His academic appointments have included University College London (UCL), the University of Essex, and Bangor; he remains a Visiting Professor at both UCL and the University of Huddersfield. His technical expertise has been complemented by experience in industry with Ultra Electronics, British Telecom, and technology SMEs (IDB Ltd, CAST Ltd), as well as early work in UK government research at the Royal Radar Establishment and the Post Office Research Centre.
He served as Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (2001-2006), Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University (2006-2013), and Director General for Knowledge and Innovation in the UK government (2013-2015). He later chaired ERA Foundation Ltd (2016–2019) and has been a Royal Commissioner for the Exhibition of 1851.
Internationally, he chaired the external review committee for the Carnegie Mellon University Portugal (CMU-PT) Program, led Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates as President (2022-2024), and served on Singapore’s Quality Assessment Framework panel for universities. Since 2011 he has chaired both the Science and Engineering Advisory Council of A*STAR, Singapore, and NICC (Standards) Ltd.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering; an International Fellow of the Académie Hassan II des Sciences et Techniques; a former President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and of EUREL; and an Honorary Fellow of both the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institution of Chemical Engineers. His many honors include the J.J. Thomson Medal (IEE), Portugal’s Ciência Medal (2019), and Singapore’s Honorary Citizen Award (2019). John O’Reilly was created Knight Bachelor for contributions to science conferred by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II in 2007.
