Prof Vincent DoddProf Vincent Dodd, who has died aged 68, was Prof Emeritus and former dean, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, at University College Dublin.
He was also the former chairperson of the Standards Advisory Committee, which was established by the National Disability Authority (NDA) to formulate national standards in disability services.
Appointed to a statutory lectureship at UCD in 1975, he was director of the teaching and research programmes in farm buildings and environment at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
He played a key role in transforming the buildings and environment division to environmental engineering and in building up the research effort at doctoral level in collaboration with Teagasc and various international agencies. He was promoted to associate professor in 1987.
In 1992 he was elected dean of the engineering and architecture faculty, serving with distinction for nine years. He was instrumental in many developments in the faculty, including a major expansion of the regional and urban planning department, and the establishment of Urban Institute Ireland.
He saw his tenure as dean as an office that should contribute to UCD as a whole. For example, he made significant contributions to the development of academic structures in the light of updated university legislation.
A firm believer in UCD as a research-led university, he sought to ensure that within the faculty, and in UCD generally, sufficient emphasis was accorded to recruiting the best staff, and to staff retention and encouragement.
In 2001 he helped to reform the entry system for students through the introduction of the denominated option. The change was needed, he believed, because the old omnibus system caused great stress among students.
Another change was that whereas the old omnibus entry required all students to have at least a B3 in higher-level maths for entry, this was dropped to a minimum of a C3, except for electronic or electrical engineering.
Dr Dodd said that this change and the move to the denominated system were "aimed at bringing the range of engineering degree programmes at UCD to as wide a market as possible".
Following his formal retirement from UCD in 2002, he continued to be actively associated with the Environmental Engineering group.
His academic research covered a wide variety of topics, and over a 30-year period he published 170 research papers. With Patrick Grace he edited Agricultural Engineering (1989) and he was European editor of the journal Bioresource Technology.
Born in 1938, he was one of the six children born to Christopher and Kathleen Dodd, Bray, Co Wicklow. His father was a builder.
He attended presentation college and later studied engineering at UCD where he graduated with first-class honours. He was awarded a bursary which enabled him to study for a master's degree at Imperial College, London.
In 1974 he completed a PhD at Newcastle University. He worked in private practice and for An Foras Talúntais before joining UCD.
Prof Dodd suffered from a progressive muscular disease causing significant physical disability. In 2002 he was appointed chairperson of the NDA Standards Advisory Committee, having volunteered to serve on the committee.
In September 2004 the committee presented draft standards for disability services to the NDA. This followed extensive consultation involving people with disabilities, their families, carers, service providers, government agencies and representative bodies.
The standards were framed to ensure the safety, dignity and independence of service users, to guarantee person-centred service provision and to provide consistency of quality on a national basis.
Under the new standards regime it was envisaged services would receive different ratings depending on the level of service they provide. The standards were welcomed by campaigners for people with disabilities.
Urging the government to implement the standards without delay, Prof Dodd said: "I think the importance of having national standards is that they enable a benchmark to be established for each service provider against these standards. Compliance or non-compliance can be measured."
A new statutory agency, the Health Information and Quality Authority, was given the task of implementing the standards.
However, there has been no clear indication as to when the implementation process will get under way.
In 1989 Prof Dodd was honoured by the French government with the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre du Merite Agricole for his contribution to agricultural engineering research.
The book Achievement and Challenge, published as the fundamental Irish academic input to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, was dedicated to him.
Vincent Dodd was a devoted family man, his interests included rugby, which he played at school and for Greystones, gardening and bridge. He is survived by his wife Ruth and sons Vincent, Andrew, David and Philip.
Vincent Anthony Dodd: born September 14th, 1938; died August 15th, 2007