DCU's president: Dr Ferdinand von Prondzynsyi; the college's second president, appointed in 2000 for a 10-year term.

Age: 47

Education: 1960-72: schools in Germany; Headfort College, Kells, Co Meath. From 1974-78: Law School TCD (BA, LLB); 1978-82 Christ's College, Cambridge (PhD)

Publications: include Employment Law in Ireland (Sweet and Maxwell) and Freedon of Association and Industrial Relations: A Comparative Study (Mansell).

Ambitions: "I want DCU to be seen as an ambitious university. None of Ireland's universities can claim to be competing internationally because they are under-resourced. My intention is that DCU will be recognised as a definite leader in the fields it specialises in." Also wants DCU to become an institution with "highly energised and motivated staff".

Biggest headache: difficulties recruiting staff, due to salaries being tied to public service norms. Also would like Irish universities to work in close collaboration. "I would love to see CHIU (Conference of Heads of Irish Universities) re-energise and re-invent itself. That's not a criticism of how it's currently being run but (a criticism) of the universities."

Family: married to novelist Heather Ingman. They have two sons, aged 12 and 10 years.

Lives: on-campus in a four bedroom, cut-stone house, with a one-acre garden, a stone's throw from his office in Albert College.

Compiled by Anne Byrne