TheHarpNews.com

Birmingham based Irish academic and lecturer Donal Lynch from Mallow Co. Cork was recently awarded a Ph.D. by Staffordshire University.
Dr. Donal was awarded his Doctorate for his pioneering research in Computer Science into the lexicography of Computing and Information Technology and its practical applications. “Little did I think that I would achieve a doctorate in computer science when I came to Birmingham seeking a job in the 1960s following the Irish Leaving Certificate.” Dr. Donal is a past pupil of the Patrician Primary School in Mallow and the Salesian College Co. Limerick. His parents Mattie and Maisie (Nee Sheahan) Lynch are now both sadly dead were well known and respected members of old Mallow families. He is a frequent visitor to his home in Mallow where most of his relations still reside including the Sheahan, McCarthy and O’Keeffe families. His only brother, Pat - a Quantity Surveyor, is married with four children and settled in Dublin.
Dr. Donal has lectured in Computing and Information Technology at Bournville College, Birmingham for over 25 years combining his full-time teaching duties as a Senior Lecturer with his long-term research interest in lexicography. He continues his teaching at Bournville College on a part-time basis. “I have a special empathy with adult learners. I enjoy teaching greatly – it is still challenging – it gives me great satisfaction to see my students achieve in spite of difficulties. Bournville College enjoys an excellent reputation for its support of these students” said Dr. Donal. In his earlier career he worked in computing at the Alcan Corp and Lucas Industries Plc in Birmingham.
His initial advanced research leading to his thesis in computer science was carried out at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology China where he worked as a visiting lecturer and researcher with Dr. Gregory James, Professor of English and at the University of Central England (UCE) in Birmingham where he worked with Dr. Howard Jackson, Professor of Linguistics. He gained his Master’s degree at the University of Birmingham in 1993. In recent years he continued his research at Staffordshire University in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology where his work was supervised by Dr. Bernadette Sharp, Professor of Artificial Intelligence. In October 2004 he was awarded his Ph.D. for his innovative thesis in the lexicography of Computing and Information Technology. He is a longstanding Chartered Member of the British Computer Society and is regarded as a leading international authority in computing lexicography. “I have been privileged to work with distinguished experts, but teaching remains my main interest” he said “especially teaching learners who may have missed out on previous educational opportunities – all of my own academic qualifications have been achieved on a part-time basis whilst working full-time.”
Dr. Donal Lynch is the author of 4 commercially published diction-aries of computing. Chartwell Bratt Ltd, London published his first 3 dictionaries for the UK and overseas market (including India, China and Sweden). One of his publications was adopted, translated and published in Braille by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) for people with sight disabilities. Blackhall Publishing, Dublin published his current work entitled ‘The Concise Dictionary of Computing and Information Technology’ for the Irish and UK markets. The aim of this work is to make the terminology and jargon of computing and IT readily understandable to everyone who is a new learner or user of computers and IT in the home, school, college or office. As Dr. Donal says ‘Computer literacy has joined the famous 3 Rs – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic – it is the new global language.’ Dr. Lynch is presently researching a new dictionary of computing, which he is combining with his “first love” of teaching.