Mary E. Daly is Professor Emeritus in Modern Irish History at University College Dublin. In 2014 she was elected as the first woman President of the Royal Irish Academy in the Academy's 229-year history. In addition to a career as a teacher and researcher in modern Irish history, spanning more than forty years, she has been Principal of the College of Arts and Celtic Studies at UCD. She is a member of the Irish government's Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations, and in 2015 was appointed as a Commissioner to investigate the history of Ireland's mother and baby homes.
