Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture 2026

About the Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture series
Now in its 24th year, the Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture series began in 2001 to honour our late colleague Sir Bernard Crossland, one of the UK and Ireland’s most respected engineers.

Sir Bernard Crossland, was one of the UK's most eminent engineers. He was appointed to the chair of mechanical engineering at Queen's University Belfast in 1959 by Sir Eric Ashby (later Lord Ashby), a reforming vice-chancellor who, like Crossland, was a passionate believer in the importance of technological education for society. Both shared the view that engineers were often more widely informed than students of the humanities. 

He was one of the four expert technical assessors for the investigation into the fire at King's Cross underground station in 1987, which had caused the deaths of 31 people. The resulting Fennell Report recommended a thorough overhaul of fire detection and prevention measures, and an extension of the ban on smoking in sub-surface areas to all parts of the underground system.

Sir Bernard assumed the posts as head of department (1959-82), dean (1964-67), and pro-vice-chancellor (1978-82) in Queen’s University Belfast. In 1982 he resigned the headship of the department and took up a research chair. Two years later he retired. 

Retirement for Crossland meant a quarter of a century of engineering research, industrial consultancies and dedicated public service. He was a member of numerous committees and councils supporting economic development and education in Northern Ireland. 

Crossland had become a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1942. Forty-four years later, he was elected president. He had a pivotal role in the establishment of the Irish Academy of Engineering, and his awards included the James Watt international gold medal (of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers) and the Kelvin gold medal (of the Institution of Civil Engineers). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1979 and knighted in 1990. In February 2010, he received the Royal Academy of Engineering Sustained Achievement award.

Sir Bernard Crossland died 17 January 2011.

About the speaker
Professor Orla Feely is President of University College Dublin. She holds a BE from UCD and MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the IEEE, Engineers Ireland and the Irish Academy of Engineering. Professor Feely currently serves as President of CESAER (the Conference of European Schools of Advanced Engineering Education and Research), and has previously served as President of Engineers Ireland; Chair of the Irish Research Council, the EU Advisory Group on Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions and the IEEE Technical Committee on Nonlinear Circuits and Systems; and as Board Member and Deputy Chair of the Higher Education Authority.