Brian Fitzgerald

Brian Fitzgerald holds the Frederick A Krehbiel II Chair in Innovation in Business and Technology at the University of Limerick and serves as Director of Lero - the Irish Software Research Centre. He is a globally recognized leader in software engineering and information systems research with significant contributions to open source, agile methodologies, and global software development.

His research interests focus on software development methodologies, particularly in open source, inner source, crowdsourcing, agile, lean, BizDevOps, and continuous software engineering. Fitzgerald's work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in global software engineering contexts.

The trends in his recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on empirical studies of software development practices, with increasing attention to large language models, community dynamics in open source, and scaling agile methodologies in enterprise environments. His research spans both theoretical frameworks and practical applications across multiple software development domains.

• AIS Fellow award recipient
• LEO Award for outstanding lifetime contribution to the IS discipline (2024)
• President of the Association for Information Systems (2020)

Fitzgerald has secured over €115 million in peer-reviewed research funding, including a notable €6 million project with Huawei. He serves as General Chair for major conferences including the 49th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) in Dublin 2027 and previously chaired the 37th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) in 2016. His leadership extends to directing Lero, Ireland's national software research center that coordinates researchers across nine third-level institutions.

As Director of Lero, Fitzgerald oversees a major research center focused on critical software domains including driverless cars, automation, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. His work connects academic research with industry applications through collaborations with major technology companies and government initiatives.