A conversation with Emeritus Professor Kevin Kelly
A conversation with Emeritus Professor Kevin Kelly
From a school leaver at 15 to a global leader in building services engineering, the career of Emeritus Professor KEVIN KELLY represents a landmark narrative of persistence and academic innovation. He speaks to Robbie Cousins about receiving the CIBSE Gold Medal, Ireland’s untapped renewable energy potential, and his career-long mission to create a more inclusive, multidisciplinary profession.
The career of Professor Kevin Kelly, the recent recipient of the CIBSE Gold Medal, represents a remarkable narrative of persistence, academic innovation, and a deep-seated commitment to the evolution of building services engineering. As only the third Irish president in the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers’ long history, following WR Maguire in 1901 and Eoin O Cionna in 1986, Kevin’s tenure and subsequent recognition mark a significant milestone for the Irish engineering community. His journey from an electrical apprentice in the 1970s to a Professor Emeritus and Research Fellow at TU Dublin is not merely a personal triumph but a testament to the transformative power of lifelong learning and the strategic importance of creating flexible pathways and ladders of opportunity within the profession.
A collective success
The award of the CIBSE Gold Medal in 2025 is a pinnacle in a career that has spanned over three decades of service to the Institution. Reflecting on this achievement, Kevin maintains a characteristic humility, likening his role to that of a footballer scoring a goal that was only possible because of the team’s build-up and assists.
He explains that he feels like an imposter receiving the medal until he recognises the work of all those who contributed to CIBSE Ireland and the academic team in DIT, stating that it was the team who earned it.
He adds, “The medal reflects the collective efforts of the academic team at TU Dublin and the CIBSE Ireland region over the last 60 years. In CIBSE Ireland, the build-up began a long time ago with WR Maguire and continued through the work of influential figures like Seamus Homan and Pat Lehane. Pat, in particular, was indispensable to the region’s current success.
“The academic team in the Department of Electrical Services Engineering also broke through academic barriers and the glass ceiling in creating opportunities for electricians to advance entry onto flexible programmes at honours and master’s degree level.”
Incidentally, Kevin was previously awarded the CIBSE Silver Medal in 2016. Recently, the CIBSE Silver Medal was also bestowed on Pat Lehane (2023), Seamus Homan (2018) and John Purcell (2011). Recent Irish recipients of the CIBSE Bronze Medal include Michael Curran (2024), Edward Heavey, Bill Kavanagh and Bill Noone (2016); and Brian Sterling (2015), all evidence of the high performance of CIBSE Ireland.
From apprentice to academic
Kevin Kelly’s own educational journey began under challenging circumstances. Having left school at just 15 years of age in the 1960s, he recalls not responding well to the brutal corporal punishment regime of the time, which did little to entice him toward learning. However, his entry into Kevin Street College in 1971 for his first-year block release course as an electrical apprentice proved to be a turning point. The inspiring staff helped him find a love of learning.
After qualifying as an electrician, he initially spent four years studying at night gaining electrical engineering qualifications to allow him teach, while also gaining practical experience as an electrical design engineer at firms like Varmings and McGrattan & Kenny. By 1983, he joined Kevin Street as a college teacher, joining a team of innovative academic staff.
Pioneering pathways
This background as an apprentice deeply influenced his later work in designing engineering academic programmes. In the early 1990s, when it was nearly impossible to gain an accredited honours degree part-time, Kevin and his colleagues forged a path at Bolton Street, on the honours degree building services engineering programme, graduating in 1992.
From this, and articles by CIBSE, a gap was identified with a lack of electrical services engineering graduates. This led to the development of the first Electrical Services Engineering programmes in Ireland, which he led. These programmes were international pioneers, specifically designed with “ladders of opportunity” that allowed qualified electricians to use their prior learning for advanced entry into degree programmes.
He explains, “The Irish contribution on the international stage has been and continues to be significant. We presented at international conferences, published our work in peer-reviewed journals, and established international collaborations with universities worldwide.
“But the work of Seamus Homan and others in the 60s and 70s, particularly in the setting up of the accredited Building Services Engineering honours degree programme, must also be recognised. This work led to the huge contribution of graduates of that programme. For example, Dr Ruth Kelly Waskett [Past President of the Society of Light & Lighting] and Dr Ciara Aherne (TU Dublin) were young engineers of the year, and both are still contributing with their research and with many other contributions to the industry.”
Kevin continues, “The team that I was part of understood the frustrations of the lack of accredited programmes and opportunities for advancement for qualified electricians. In the 90s, we set up accelerated programmes recognising prior learning (RPL) that became hugely popular. Vincent Kenny was particularly innovative in helping us seamlessly align the part-time and full-time programmes. Our part-time degree programme grew exponentially to meet demand. At its peak, the programme was graduating over 100 electrical services engineers annually, many of whom brought invaluable practical experience to highly challenging engineering problems. There were also a number of graduates and staff who were electricians who achieved PhDs, including Dr Kevin O’Connell, a significant figure in DIT, Dr Keith Sunderland (now Registrar in Engineers Ireland), and others.”
A global voice for Irish engineering
Kevin’s influence in the building services engineering industry eventually reached the global stage when he became the first Irish President of SLL in 2013 and only the third CIBSE President in 2021, following in the footsteps of WR Maguire in 1901 and Eoin O Cionna in 1986.
He takes this opportunity to share an anecdote about Eoin O Cionna to offer insight into the man.
“When I became Chair of CIBSE Ireland in 2005, Eoin approached me at the AGM with a ‘to-do list’ for the committee. It was quite long. As a new incoming chair with the usual trepidation one feels in a new position, I said to Eoin, who was quite elderly by then, that I would try to get it completed by the end of my year. ‘Oh no,’ he said, ‘You cannot wait until then, as I may be no longer around.’ Well, I just broke down in laughter, and so did he. I completed his list by half year, and he was still around for many years after that. With many more lists annually, I am sure.”
Kevin observes that while CIBSE was historically UK-centric, or even London-centric, the Institution has shifted toward a more broadly based international organisation with over 23,000 members in over 100 countries. He credits this transition to dynamic leadership and greater recognition of contributions from Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the Middle East, citing research output that provided cutting-edge solutions during the pandemic.
“23,000 members in over 100 countries speaks for itself. I think that over the last few years, particularly under the hugely dynamic CIBSE CEO, Ruth Carter, there has been greater recognition of the Irish contribution and of international contributions generally.
“The current Chair of CIBSE Ireland, Laura McMahon, and the executive committee continue to keep Irish engineering at the heart of the global Institution.”
A sleeping frog
Central to Kevin Kelly’s vision for the future of the industry is his response to the challenge of climate change, which he famously illustrates through the “sleeping frog” analogy.
He explains, “While a frog might jump out of boiling water if placed in it, it will fall asleep and perish if placed in water that is slowly heated. This is what is happening with the response to climate change.”
He is critical of the Irish government’s pace, suggesting it has been “asleep at the wheel” regarding Ireland’s vast wind energy potential.
“The engineering community needs to take a leadership role, acting as both advocates for renewable energy and experts in the design and retrofitting of buildings. Legislation must be brought forward for the greater good of the community, even when it challenges local interests, to capitalise on Ireland’s position as a potential energy-rich nation.”
His commitment to modernising the industry extends to how engineers are trained to work together. As the former Head of the School of Multidisciplinary Technologies at TU Dublin, Kevin championed modern methods of construction that emphasise collaborative team-based learning.
“Dr Avril Behan led a hugely popular Master’s programme in BIM and modern construction methods from 2014, after the economic crash. It was Springboard-funded, allowing anyone out of work in the sector to achieve a Master’s degree and upskill in modern construction. It was hugely popular and combined architects, structural engineers, building services engineers, surveyors and contractors in project-based learning teams. A multidisciplinary approach not only improves industry efficiency but also leads to better building designs that reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. For passive design to work, there must be buy-in from the entire design team, including architects and structural engineers.”
However, it was not only at the upper level that the new school innovated, but it also combined all of the seven accredited honours degree engineering programmes at first-year level.
“We combined all first-year students into a common entry system, and students could explore various engineering disciplines in first year before specialising later. This proved hugely popular with students, and the programme has gone from strength to strength, led by Kevin Gaughan, who has been course leader throughout that time.”
Breaking the “Sea of Dudes”
Perhaps one of Kevin Kelly’s most vocal stances is his defence of inclusivity and diversity, particularly when he hears the term ‘woke’ used pejoratively.
“Being woke is simply being aware of the difficulties others face, particularly minorities. To be woke, one needs emotional intelligence. It is not something negative, but something that is very positive. We must not lose this battle for equity.
“Today, Trump and seemingly a huge number of people in the United States have declared themselves anti-woke. Even the Calibri text font is banned in US government documents because it is ‘too woke’. Spare me!
“Women, too, unfortunately, are still a minority in “a sea of dudes”. This is despite women outnumbering men in the population. This is particularly the case in engineering, where the proportion of women is only 10% to 15%.
“Diversity is not just a moral imperative but a practical necessity for business survival. The best and most effective teams are diverse because business problems are multifaceted and require varied perspectives to solve them.
“If a team is composed only of middle-aged, white, heterosexual males, the solutions will inevitably be limited and lack imagination.
“Take the car industry as one example. It designs its cars for men. The research around car accidents centres on the use of the average man in the driving seat, when half of drivers are probably women. What a great selling point for manufacturers selling women cars to be able to say that the research focused on women as drivers. Of course, that could only happen if women were part of the research and project teams in the car company.”
During his CIBSE presidential year, Kevin Kelly oversaw the flourishing of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) panels within CIBSE, which he believes are essential for the Institution to remain agile and connected to the external environment.
Data centres and our ‘Goldilocks’ climate
Kevin Kelly also applies this nuanced thinking to contemporary infrastructure challenges, such as the rise of data centres in Ireland. While acknowledging the concerns surrounding their high electrical consumption, which is approaching 25% of the national total and increasing, he offers a perspective rooted in global efficiency rather than just Irish emissions. “Ireland’s ‘Goldilocks’ climate—not too hot and not too cold—is ideal for the “free cooling” required by data centres, making it one of the most energy-efficient locations globally for such facilities. If data centres are a global necessity, they should be located where they require the least energy, and perhaps the associated emissions should be viewed as a shared global responsibility rather than solely an Irish burden.”
SDAR Journal
Throughout his career, Kevin Kelly has remained a champion of mentorship and professional development, qualities highlighted in the citation for his gold medal. His legacy is defined by his ability to bridge the gap between academia and industry, as evidenced by his founding and editing of the ‘Sustainable Design and Applied Research Journal’ (SDAR Journal).
“With SDAR, we wanted to publish applied research and cutting-edge ideas that were directly relevant to the building services industry. The journal was published for ten years and has had over 72,000 paper downloads, so we certainly had some impact.”
In conclusion
Even as Professor Emeritus and Research Fellow, Kevin continues to supervise and examine Doctoral students and publish research, ensuring that his influence on the next generation of engineers remains as potent as his impact on the Institution’s history.
Kevin Kelly’s story is a powerful reminder that the engineering profession is at its best when it is inclusive, innovative, and unafraid to “lean into the discomfort” of change to build a better-functioning professional community.
Kevin is optimistic about the future.
“We have a thriving, versatile economy with a very well-educated workforce. Global change has never been more challenging, though, and we must be prepared to meet the challenges ahead. The government must ensure that we can defend ourselves and our resources and interconnections (both power and data), as a neutral country, and not be dependent on others as much.
“We have to plan for a more integrated energy system, increasing our renewable energy resources and creating storage and export markets for excess energy produced at night.
“Increasing use of electric cars and other transport can provide increased storage opportunities at night, and international connectors provide opportunity for the import of electricity during low generation times and export opportunities at times of excess generation.
“And, Ireland’s shoreline as an energy resource could perhaps be compared with Texas and its oil reserves a century ago, except renewable energy will never run out,” Kevin Kelly concludes.