Caroline Brophy, BSc, PhD, FTCD

Professor in Statistics

Head of Statistics and Information Systems

Biography

I am Professor in Statistics in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. In this role, I lecture undergraduate and postgraduate statistics modules, supervise final year projects and taught MSc dissertations, and lead an interdisciplinary research team. I am currently serving as the Head of Statistics and Information Systems in the School.

My research interests center around developing non-standard statistical models for application in ecology, agriculture and environmental science. A major strand of my current research work is using novel statistical methods to model agricultural ecosystems with the goal of improving their sustainability.

I am currently the lead Coordinator of the Marie-Curie Doctoral Network LegumeLegacy Doctoral Network, funded by the European Commissions Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, and PI of a Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future project. I am also a founding Director of LegacyNet, and a Funded Investigator with both the ADAPT and VistaMilk Research Ireland Research Centres.

Dec 2025: Science paper

The first major LegacyNet paper has been published in the leading journal Science. A key result from this paper titled Multispecies grasslands produce more yield from lower nitrogen inputs across a climatic gradient is that multispecies mixture can produce more yield with less synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. You can read the story in full in Science.

Aug 2025: Litty Mathew wins Best Paper award at ICSTA 2025

Congratulations to Litty Mathew who was awarded the Best Paper award at International Conference on Statistics: Theory and Applications (ICSTA 2025). A wonderful achievement for Litty in the third year of her PhD.

Jun 2024: Laura Byrne recognised at PG Teaching Awards

Congratulations to Laura Byrne on receiving a certificate and commendation as a finalist at the 2024 Postgraduate Teaching Awards.

Apr 2024: Prof. Caroline Brophy elected as Fellow of TCD

I was delighted to be elected as a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.