John J. Kelly is a senior Irish academic. A professor of chemical engineering, he was for a period Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD, where he was also Registrar / Deputy President). He was Executive Director of the Ireland Canada University Foundation, Chairman of the Scholarship Board of the O'Reilly Foundation, and President of Independent College Dublin, and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Friends of Bethlehem University in Ireland.