Cathal MacSwiney Brugha (born 13 January 1949) is an Irish decision scientist, the Emeritus Professor of Decision Analytics at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

's College of Business. He has applied his main field of

nomology In philosophy, nomology refers to a "science of laws" based on the theory that it is possible to elaborate descriptions dedicated not to particular aspects of reality but inspired by a scientific vision of universal validity expressed by scientific ...

to decision analytics, multi-criteria decision-making,

conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of Conflict (process), conflict and Revenge, retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively co ...

, protecting endangered languages, decision-making in rural Tanzania, strategy in China, and

Irish politics Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He is President of the Analytics Society of Ireland. His main research projects have been in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Early life

Brugha was born into a prominent Irish political family, the son of

Ruairí Brugha Ruairí Brugha (; 15 October 1917 – 31 January 2006) was an Irish politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Ireland from 1977 to 1979, Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1969 to 1973 and 1977 to 1 ...

and

Máire MacSwiney Brugha Máire MacSwiney Brugha (23 June 1918 – 20 May 2012) was an Irish activist who was the daughter of Terence MacSwiney and niece of Mary MacSwiney. As well as an activist she was also an author and is now regarded as a person of historical imp ...

and grandson of

Terence MacSwiney Terence James MacSwiney (; ; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He was arrested by the British Governme ...

and Muriel MacSwiney,

Cathal Brugha Cathal Brugha (; born Charles William St John Burgess; 18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922) was an Irish republican politician who served as Minister for Defence from 1919 to 1922, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, the first presid ...

and

Caitlín Brugha Caitlín Brugha (; 11 December 1879 – 1 December 1959) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Waterford (Dáil constituency), Waterford constituency from 1923 to 1927. Early life Kingston was born in Bir ...

. Brugha earned a BSc, an MSc (Mathematical Science – UCD), a PhD (Combinatorial Optimization - UCD) and MBA (TCD) Prize winner for his dissertation.

Career

Brugha is Emeritus Professor of Decision Analytics at the Business School,

; he remains an adjunct professor at the Smurfit and Quinn, Schools of Business, University College Dublin. He was the founding Director, UCD Centre for Business Analytics and of the College of Marketing and Design, now part of

Technological University Dublin Technological University Dublin () or TU Dublin is Ireland's first technological university. It was established on 1 January 2019, with a history going back to 1887 through the amalgamated Dublin Institute of Technology which progressed from t ...

. Fellow of the Marketing Institute of Ireland. From 2000 to 2006 Brugha was editor of the ''IFORS Journal: International Transactions in Operational Research''. He is a co-author of ''Doing Business in China: The Irish Experience'' (2010) and ''Doing Business With China, the Irish Advantage and Challenge'' (2016) Brugha is President of the Analytics Society of Ireland and Fellow of the Marketing Institute of Ireland. He served as Honorary Professor at the Techno India University in Kolkata, India. Brugha applied the principles of nomology to areas including conflict resolution, endangered languages, rural planning in Tanzania, strategy in China and political analysis. He was co-organiser of the Conference of the Association of European Operational Research Societies EURO2019 UCD. Received the EURO distinguished service award in 2022

Brugha was a visiting professor at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, China Academy of Science in Beijing, the School of Economics and Management,

Xidian University Xidian University () is a public university in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, SASTIND, and China Electro ...

, Xi’an, China, and the University Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Personal life

Brugha married in 1977 and had five children. Together with his wife, Brugha founded the Racquetball Association of Ireland and brought its first team to the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

in California in 1981

From 1971-1984 Brugha was a member of National Executive of

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brugha, Cathal Management scientists Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Academics of University College Dublin Living people 1949 births