The AI Healthcare Hub is a growing network bringing together interdisciplinary researchers, medical and industrial practioneers and advisors to work together to address pressing healthcare challenges. If you are interested in joining the network please get in touch with us.
Founding Director of the UCD AI Healthcare Hub, Professor of Biochemistry at University College Dublin and Director of the UCD Institute for Discovery. Patricia's research interests lie at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Translational Science.
View Profile
Ana specializes in leveraging high-quality data for impactful clinical applications. Engaged in AI_PREMie and other collaborations within the AI in Healthcare Hub, Ana leads the development of machine learning models for enhanced clinical decision-making. Ana's expertise extends to meticulous data quality and management across the entire lifecycle, ensuring precision in healthcare analytics.
View Profile
A physiotherapist (physical therapist) by training, Brian was the Academic Director of the TRIL Centre from 2009-2013 and led the establishment of the Enterprise Ireland funded ARCH Technology Centre for Connected Health in 2014. He was a Founding Director of the Insight Centre, and served as Director of Insight@UCD from 2013 to 2023. Brian’s research programme is focussed on leveraging data from wearable and mobile sensing and actuation platforms to deliver better measurement, understanding and enhancement of human performance in health and sport. He has collaborated with a wide range of start-up, SME and multinational industry partners including Kinesis Health Technologies, Biomedical Research Ltd, Intel, Novartis, Fujitsu Laboratories and Huawei. Brian has coordinated large EU projects such as the CHESS and CATCH ITNs, the ENJECT Cost Action, and he has served as part of the leadership group in projects such as ECME (Interreg)and Mobilise-D (IMI2). He is co-founder of Output Sport.
View Profile
Prof Doran has a significant track record in clinical trials and in the leadership of clinical research and has established a significant programme at UCD, spearheaded through the UCD Clinical Research Centre . The clinical research, directed by Prof Doran, helps discover ways to improve medical care and to establish new treatments which in turn will improve the quality of life for patients who are living daily with chronic illness. Prof Doran also leads the UCD-Abbott Biomarker programme, which has established a high throughput biomarker validation laboratory, which is contributing to major national and international end organ damage biomarker studies, reflecting his research interests in the molecular drivers of organ damage, biomarker discovery and translation to practice. Prof Doran has a major interest in clinical trial designs and is working closely with the AI Healthcare hub to develop new approaches to clinical trials through predictive outcome analysis.
View Profile
As a pharmacologist and Chartered Accountant Gerardine is an international interdisciplinary researcher, bringing the disciplines of medicine and business together with a particular focus on measurement in health care, specifically the measurement of health literacy and the measurement of value. Gerardine has been Principal Investigator in the conduct of large inter-disciplinary EU funded comparative research projects addressing global health challenges including health literacy, diabetes literacy, childhood obesity and the measurement of value in the care of people with dementia, children with cystic fibrosis and women with preeclampsia. She was a co-founder and Principal Investigator within the UCD Applied Research in Connected Health Technology Centre. As a visiting scholar at Harvard Business School Gerardine has led a comparative study of the care of children with cystic fibrosis across Boston and Dublin.
View Profile
Brian Mac Namee is an associate professor in the School of Computer Science at UCD. He is the Centre Director for the SFI Centre for Research Training in Machine Learning and a Funded Investigator at the Insight and VistaMilk SFI research centres. Brian is co-author of the textbook "Fundamentals of Machine Learning for Predictive Data Analytics" published in 2020 by MIT Press. Brian is also the Director of Training for Krisolis, an Irish data analytics consultancy and training company.
View Profile
Professor Ní Áinle is a Consultant Haematologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH) and Rotunda Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. She is a Full Clinical Professor at UCD School of Medicine. She is privileged to treat patients affected with Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) and has a strong interest in women’s issues in thrombosis and haemostasis. Prof. Ní Áinle serves as Director of the Irish Network for VTE Research and co-directs the SPHERE Research Group, UCD Conway Institute.
View Profile
Dr. Andreas Balaskas is a Postdoctoral researcher at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Human-Computer Interaction from the Umeå University of Sweden, and a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Western Macedonia, Greece.
His research focuses on the design of mental health technologies to support people at different stages of their mental health journey.
I am a Virologist based in the School of Veterinary Medicine. My work is focussed on understanding how viruses interact with animals and humans on a molecular level. We like to use that information to aid surveillance efforts, vaccine and antiviral drug development.
View Profile
With a background in Data Science at a multi-national healthcare company, Niamh is currently pursuing a PhD in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, specialising in the medical domain. Her research focuses on the development of novel Anomaly Detection techniques that aim to automatically identify and localise anomalous regions in medical images including MRIs, X-rays and CTs. Such techniques can be integrated with computer aided detection systems which can then be used to assist radiologists in their diagnoses, ultimately resulting in improved patient care. Niamh’s research also focuses on eliminating the requirement for large annotated datasets which are costly and tedious to acquire by developing techniques that are capable of training on only a limited number examples, all while preserving model accuracy.
View Profile
Professor Brennan leads a research group at the forefront of the application of metabolomics in nutrition research and the development of Personalized nutrition. She is an ERC awardee and is currently involved in three European Consortiums- MUSAE, PlantIntake and Promed-cog. She served as Director of the European Nutrigenomics Organization for 5 years and led a number of important initiatives such as the development of an Early Career Network and expansion of membership of the organization. She is a member of the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Standing Committee on Evidence Synthesis and Communications in Diet and Chronic Disease Relationships – advising the US NIH and USDA on future research areas of priority. She was a member of the Food2030 Expert group to advise the European Commission with the development of FOOD2030 and exploring and formulating possible future R&I policy recommendations and actions and assessing their potential impacts.
View Profile
Rob Brennan is an assistant in the School of Computer Science at UCD. He is a Principal Investigator in the SFI EMPOWER Data Governance Spoke and a Funded Investigator at the ADAPT SFI research centre in human-centric AI. Rob is the co-leader of the data governance workstream in the HSE National Quality and Safety Signals programme funded by Sláintecare. His healthcare interdisciplinary collaborations include with clinicians, staff, human factors researchers, lawyers and organisational psychologists in the development of healthcare safety systems, with a focus on knowledge management, AI governance, data protection and data quality.
View Profile
Currently focussed on data analytics, machine learning and data infrastructure development in geoscience, I have a background in multidisciplinary academic, metrological and regulatory environments focussed on radiation physics and chemistry. This includes radiometrics and dosimetry, biological and physical radiation effects, detectors, data analysis and modelling, monitoring and reconstruction. I have applied this in occupational, accident and environmental radiation protection scenarios, as well as to quaternary geochronology, archaeology and art history.
View Profile
Dr Adrian Byrne is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Career-FIT PLUS Fellow at CeADAR, Ireland's centre for AI, and is also Lead Researcher of the AI Ethics Centre at Idiro Analytics. Dr Byrne is supporting CeADAR in the establishment of a Trustworthy AI unit within the centre and supporting Idiro Analytics with Explainable AI product development. Dr Byrne is also a participating member of the subcommittee on artificial intelligence at the National Standards Authority of Ireland and the pan-European taskforce on Ethical and Trustworthy Artificial and Machine Intelligence, which is hosted by the Big Data Value Association.
View Profile
Professor Ronan Cahill was appointed Professor of Surgery at University College Dublin (UCD) and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH) in June 2014 before taking over leadership of the Section and Subject of Surgery in UCD in 2017. In 2019, he was appointed Director of the Centre for Precision Surgery, UCD and the Digital Surgery Unit, MMUH. He is currently PI for the major Horizon Europe Consortium award CLASSICA, a multidisciplinary effort to validate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) software for decision support during endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures for significant rectal polyps and cancers. He has additional work ongoing in AI support for perfusion assessment during general, colorectal and plastics and reconstructive surgery including high degree supervision and collaborative clinical study.
View Profile
As an AI scientist at the National Irish Center of Applied AI (CeADAR) and Fellow in Computer Science at Harvard, my research focuses on generative modelling, working with vast amounts of data and High Performance Computers - cancer research, 3D neuron modelling and lately Machine Learning at the Edge. NASA SpaceApps Lead and mentor in Popayan since 2020. B.S. degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and Joint Master's degree in Image Processing and Computer Vision (2020-2022). Served as president of the Aerospace & Electronics Systems (AESS Colombia, 2022), a mentor in the MIT Critical Data dathathons 2022-2023 and currently an MIT affiliate.
View Profile
Dr Mark Connor is an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics in the UCD School of Business. He is an active member of the Natural Computing Research and Applications Group and the Centre for Business Analytics. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Sports Science from Loughborough University and a PhD in the area of AI/ Natural Computing from University College Dublin. Dr Connor's research interests centre around the applications of analytics in sport and business, the use of Ai and machine learning to understand complex biological systems, and the development of intelligent learning and control systems to enhance human health, well-being, and performance.
View Profile
Seán is the Director of the UCD Centre for Physics in Health and Medicine (CPHM) which is a multi-disciplinary environment bringing together researchers from across UCD, other universities and healthcare institutions, in order to lead the translation of fundamental physics into health and clinical applications. Seán is the CAMPEP and Clinical Director of the UCD PhD and MSc in Medical Physics, which compliments his works as a Principal Medical Physicist at St Vincent’s University Hospital. Seán’s research areas of interest centre around developing novel techniques for nuclear medicine imaging, diagnostic imaging analysis and radiation dosimetry evaluation towards improved diagnosis and more effective personalised therapeutic methods.
Prof. Kathleen Curran is the director of the UCD machine learning in medical imaging and diagnostics innovative research lab: https://www.ucd-ml-mi.com/ in the UCD School of Medicine. She is an Affiliated Principal Investigator in the Centre for Biomedical Engineering and an INSIGHT funded investigator and is also a funded investigator in the Science Foundation Ireland centre for research training in machine learning (ML-Labs). Her group investigates emerging technical trends in AI, computer vision and medicine to develop interpretable clinical AI solutions. In partnership with Axial Medical Printing Ltd. She was awarded the 2019 InterTrade Ireland FUSION Project Exemplar Award and is the recipient of three Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund awards as PI. She has been awarded Horizon Europe consortium funding to investigate Stratification, Management, and Guidance of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients using Hybrid Digital Twin Solutions (SMASH-HCM).
View Profile
Dr Alireza Dehghani, a senior Technical Programme Manager at CeADAR Ireland's Centre for AI, is renowned for his expertise in steering diverse AI projects and programs across multiple industries. With a profound understanding of AI trends and their practical applications, he excels in mentoring companies and employees to integrate AI into their business strategies. Dr. Dehghani's work involves developing proposals for national and European funds for AI projects and making significant contributions to the advancement of AI in different sectors.
View Profile
Dr. Emer Doheny is an Assistant Professor (Ad Astra Fellow) with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and a PI with the UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering. She holds a BE in Electronic Engineering and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, both from UCD. She spent eight years in the medical devices industry, before returning to academia in 2017. Her research focuses on developing new methods to monitor sleep, respiration, swallowing and human movement using wearable and mobile sensors, and ultimately aims to improve disease management in neurodegenerative and chronic respiratory diseases.
View Profile
Kevin Doherty is AdAstra Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin, where his research focuses on advancing a human-centred approach to person-centred care for the digital age — through the design, development and evaluation of digital tools to enhance the clinical practice of healthcare, everyday mental health, and digital wellbeing. Kevin’s current research projects span the development of digital and AI tools to support the online and face-to-face practice of therapy, self-report technologies to inform and facilitate access to mental healthcare, and decision-support systems to augment care for chronic, co-morbid conditions.
View Profile
Dr. Doherty's current research focuses on the potential for consumer wearable technologies to revolutionise public health; Investigating the validity of various devices and biometric outcomes through 'agile' experimental designs and methodologies; Developing a public data donation platform for consumer wearables that can liberate wearable data from the confines of manufacturer-specific ecosystems and facilitate research; and engaging with end-users to understand how they interact with their wearable devices, exploring their perceptions regarding accuracy, utility, and privacy.
View Profile
Dr. Dupan's research focuses on the interplay of humans and technology in rehabilitation settings. Dr. Dupan’s overall research goal focuses on how we can improve neurorehabilitation experiences for patients through technological and clinical interventions, and how we can study these interventions to understand more about the human brain. She is affiliated with the Neuromuscular Systems group, and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. Prior to joining UCD, Dr. Dupan was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh (School of Informatics) and Newcastle University (School of Engineering). Her work spans a spectrum of human computer interactions, from basic computer interfaces to serious games and prosthetic hand control. Her interdisciplinary research combines neuroscience and physiology principles with machine learning and engineering advancements to drive progress in neurorehabilitation.
View Profile
Dr. Jibraan Esoof is a medical doctor and inventor leading the SFI-funded STROHAB (www.strohab.com) at UCD's School of Computer Science. He is currently driving the development of digital diagnostics and therapeutics with AI, focusing on stroke rehabilitation. Dr. Esoof's entrepreneurial spirit bridges academia translating research into patient-centric Medical Device Software(MDSW). Committed to improving lives, he is among UCD’s next generation of healthcare innovators, shaping a future where technology enhances medical practice and transforms patient outcomes.
View Profile-2.png)
Brona Fullen is an Associate Professor in the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science. She holds a BSc Physiotherapy (UUJ), MSc Healthcare (Acupuncture), UCD and PhD (UCD) degrees. She is an expert in the clinical area of pain management. Her research areas of interest include the assessment and rehabilitation of people with chronic pain. Currently she is focused on leveraging technology to reduce the impact of pain. This includes using 2D (on-line rehabilitation programmes) and 3D (virtual reality) technologies to address conditions including chronic musculoskeletal pain, and neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury. Brona has received funding from the European Union, the Health Service Executive and The Higher Education Authority. She has supervised MSc and PhD students to completion, and has been invited to present her research at national and international meetings. Brona is a founder and Director of the UCD Centre for Translational Pain Research.
View Profile
Professor William Gallagher is Full Professor of Cancer Biology at University College Dublin (UCD) and Deputy Director of Precision Oncology Ireland, a large-scale Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Strategic Partnership Programme involving 5 academic institutions, 6 cancer charities and 7 companies (www.precisiononcology.ie).
Currently, Prof. Gallagher is a primary driving force behind the All-Island Cancer Research Institute (AICRI), which is creating an overarching framework for cancer research across the entire island of Ireland (www.aicri.org). AICRI-linked programmes were recently awarded over 12 million euro under the recent HEA North-South Research Programme, including an all-island Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Training Programme in Precision Cancer Medicine (AICRIstart) which Prof. Gallagher co-leads. From 2016-2021, Professor Gallagher was Director of the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, one of Ireland’s largest biomedical research facilities.
Kasia, as a project manager at UCD Health Affairs within the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences (CHAS), plays a key role in fostering collaboration and establishing a formal cooperation channel between UCD, its clinical partners, teaching hospitals, and healthcare organizations. This effort aims to develop an Academic Health Science System (AHSS) through an integrated healthcare approach, enhancing collaboration across hospitals, the university, and the community. The integration of teaching, training, research, and innovation within clinical services is central to this approach, contributing to improved patient outcomes. Kasia has a personal interest in AI and its potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery and how third-level institutions operate. She completed an AI Programme at the University of Oxford.
View Profile-130x130.jpg)
Originally from a beautiful part of Spain called Extremadura, Maria has been living in Dublin for 23 years. She has worked at UCD Veterinary Teaching Hospital for 17 years. Maria is co-founder of the UCD Animal Rehabilitation Clinic and is passionate about gait analysis and non-invasive methods of rehabilitation. Her Veterinary Nursing and Human Physical Therapy has enriched her One Health experience in veterinary physiotherapy.
Her research is focused on animal fascia which she believes will bring us to the next level into the pain and the movement science in both human and veterinary rehabilitation.
Daphne Hosford is the Business Development Manager for The SFI Insight Centre for Data Analytics and AI for UCD, TCD and Maynooth. Daphne engages with existing and potential industry partners to identify their needs and match the industry partner with the appropriate academic expertise in Insight to form impactful research collaborations to solve current and future business challenges. Before joining the Insight Team, Daphne worked in industry for over 25 years in leadership roles across shopper insights, consumer data analytics, business development, sales and marketing. She holds a BA in International Marketing and Languages (Spanish and German) from DCU and was awarded a MAFF Scholarship for her MSc. in International Food Marketing and Agricultural Policy from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
View Profile
Dr Mina Hosseini is a Marie Skłodowska–Curie postdoctoral fellow at UCD Sutherland School of Law with a PhD in Competition Law from SBU Tehran. Her MSCA project is about enforcing EU competition law in the pharmaceutical sector before, during and after a health crisis (a case study of the COVID-19 pandemic). Her work has an interdisciplinary and comparative focus, and her research interests include Competition Law and Policy, Health Law and Policy, and using Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare from a legal, policy and ethical point of view. Her work has been published in leading international academic journals, including Competition Policy International, Irish Studies in International Affairs, Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Journal of Research on History of Medicine, and Public Governance, Administration, and Finances Law Review. In 2019, She received the National Student Book of the Year Award in Law for her monograph on Comparative Competition Law.
View Profile
Dr. Georgiana Ifrim is Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Director of the SFI Centre for Research Training in Machine Learning (ML-Labs) and SFI Funded Investigator with the Insight Centre for Data Analytics and VistaMilk SFI Centre. She holds a PhD and MSc in Machine Learning, from Max-Planck Institute for Informatics, Germany, and a BSc in Computer Science, from University of Bucharest, Romania.
Her research focuses on effective approaches for large scale sequence learning, time series classification and text mining. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in top ranked international AI journals and conferences, regularly holds senior positions in the program committees for IJCAI, AAAI and ECML-PKDD and is a member of the editorial board of the Machine Learning Journal, Springer. She is the Dublin City Lead for Women in AI Ireland, an organisation actively involved in promoting more girls and women in STEM and AI.
Dr Deepu John obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2014. From 2014 to 2017, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Bio-Electronics Lab, National University of Singapore. Before this, he served as a senior engineer at Sanyo Semiconductors, Japan. He has received several awards, including the Institution of Engineers Singapore Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award, Best Design Award at the Asian Solid-State Circuit Conference (2013), and IEEE Young Professionals, Region 10 individual award. He has served as an Associate Editor for IEEE TBioCAS, IEEE IoT Magazine, and Guest Editor for IEEE TCAS-I and IEEE OJ-CAS. Currently, he serves as a Senior Associate Editor for IEEE TCAS-II and as an Associate Editor for Wiley Journal of Circuit Theory & Applications. His research interests include IoT/Wearable sensing, Biomedical Circuits & Systems, and Edge computing.
View Profile
Mark Keane has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Trinity College Dublin (TCD, 1987) & a BA in Psychology from University College Dublin (UCD, 1982). He was a Lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University & in Computer Science at TCD (where he was made a Fellow in 1994) before taking up the Chair of Computer Science at UCD (in 1998). He was Director of ICT (2004-2006) & Director General (2006-2007) of Science Foundation Ireland where he oversaw a €700M research investment & was an advisor to the Irish Government on its €3.7B Strategy for Science, Technology & Innovation. He has published 200+ articles & 20+ books (including Cognitive Psychology with M.W. Eysenck now in its 8th edition). Keane’s work spans the cognitive sciences & AI studying analogy & metaphor, creativity, surprise, understanding & explanation. His recent work on eXplainable AI (XAI) is inherently interdisciplinary as it develops novel AI explanation strategies that are then tested in psychological experiments.
View Profile
Professor Tahar Kechadi earned his PhD and MSc in computer science from the University of Lille 1 in France. He currently holds the position of Full Professor of Data Science at the School of Computer Science at UCD and is a PI at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. For over a decade, his research has focused on efficiently managing and analysing data, particularly with regard to the exponential growth of "big data" and its impact on various sectors of the global economy. His current research interests include distributed data mining, Cloud and Edge Computing, metaverse, and Big Data Analytics and their applications in real-world scenarios such as healthcare and digital agriculture. Additionally, he is interested in digital forensics, cybersecurity, and data privacy at scale.
View Profile.jpg)
As a clinical academic radiologist, I am devoted to the integration of clinical practice, research, and education, ultimately aiming to advance patient care and contribute to the ongoing development of the discipline. My research enables me to explore novel applications of data analytics and artificial intelligence in radiology. I am passionate about
stakeholder involvement especially the inclusion of people living with disease in the research process. In my clinical practice, I prioritise patient-centered care by employing evidence-based methodologies, cutting-edge technologies, and data-driven solutions.
Dr. Kenny is a postdoctoral researcher in the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research. He first entered the realm of data science during his PhD at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where he applied quantitative image analysis and deep learning techniques to single cell microscopy data. As a postdoctoral researcher, he has investigated unsupervised deep learning techniques to discover hidden features in sequence data. He now focuses on improving machine learning and deep learning algorithms for the detection of pregnancy-related illness.
View Profile
Nao is Associate Professor in Social Policy and Social Robotics in UCD. His recent research projects have been focused on the impact of digitalization and eHealth (e.g. robots) on care, patient safety regulation, and gender equality in STEM education. He serves as an occasional visiting professor at EHESS (Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, France) and Hokkaido University. He is a member of the Board of Academic Councilors, the Japanese Society for Wellbeing Science and Assistive Technology. He is currently a Co-PI on two international and transdisciplinary research projects on care robots funded by the Toyota Central R&D Labs (2023-) and the French Government's National Research Agency (ANR) (2024-2028), respectively.
View Profile
Trained as an MD Prof Kolch has worked in experimental clinical research, pharmaceutical industry, and basic biomedical research. Before moving to Dublin in 2009 he held a Chair for Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Glasgow and was a Senior Group Leader at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, Scotland. He is best known for his work in oncogene signal transduction, proteomics, systems biology, and precision medicine. His current research focusses on making new technologies work for patients. Combining modern computational and experimental methods his group is developing ‘digital twins’ of cancer patients. These computer models will eventually allow us to simulate individual cancer patients in order to diagnose and treat their cancer in a precise and personalized way. Walter strongly believes that science is a public good that should be shared. Therefore, he has led and participated in many public outreach and engagement programmes.
View Profile
Aonghus conducts research on recommender systems, sports data analytics and machine/deep learning for medical imaging. Aonghus is interested in bringing state of the art AI methods to tackle new problems in the analysis and interpretation of different medical images (MRI, CT, US, etc), and this had led to work in few shot learning, anomaly detection, segmentation and generative methods. A research goal is to provide explanations and interpretations of the model outputs which can assist clinicians to make better decisions. Aonghus is also interested in the ‘last mile’ of AI deployment: putting the models in the hands of clinicians and improving the clinical workflow.
View Profile
Dr. Le-Khac is an Associate Professor in UCD School of Computer Science. He is currently the Programme Director of UCD MSc in Forensic Computing and Cybercrime Investigation. His research interest spans the area of Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics, AI Security, and Secure Healthcare IT systems. He authored/edited 3 books published by Springer Verlag and Wileys & Sons. Recently, he is a Co-PI of a bioinformatics Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund project, which has recently spun-out of University College Dublin. He has released 3 new datasets for the research community recently. He is also an associate editor of Elsevier IoT journals. Dr. Le-Khac just received UCD College of Science Teaching Excellence Award in 2023.
View Profile
Olive has over 20 years clinical experience as a physiotherapist in Ireland and the US with a specialism in neurorehabilitation. She was awarded an MSc. in Health informatics in 2002 and a PhD in 2011. She holds postgraduate diplomas in Research Statistics, Health Services Management and University Teaching and Learning. She received a University Teaching Excellence Award from UCD in 2020. Her research focusses on neurorehabilitation; maximising health and wellbeing for individuals with neurological disability. She is the Primary Investigator on three projects related to rehabilitation robotics. An EU H2020 funded research and innovation staff exchange programme PROGAIT; an SFI funded Frontiers for the Future project 3Rs: Restorative, Rehabilitative Robotics examining BCI technology and a HRB funded DIFA award for robotic walking in spinal cord injury generated neuropathic pain (ExSCiP).
View Profile
Dr Róisín Loughran has extensive knowledge and publications in the area of AI and Evolutionary Computing (EC), in particular in the application of EC methods to interdisciplinary projects such as those in digital signal processing, music generation and creativity. Dr Loughran is currently researching into the application of EC and other AI methods to investigate and mitigate unwanted detrimental biases in algorithmic systems.
View Profile
Professor Timothy Lynch plays a key role in fostering collaboration and establishing a formal cooperation channel between UCD, its clinical partners, teaching hospitals, and healthcare organizations. Prof Lynch has received grant funding from the NIH, EU, HRB, MJFF and Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and has published over 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals (h index 61). His research interests include academic health science systems, integrated care, movement disorders, Parkinson's disease, movement control, genetics of neurological disease, and frontotemporal dementia. Past leadership roles includes HSE national clinical lead in neurology, chairperson of the division of medicine, chairperson of the MMUH Medical Executive, and a number of key roles in the International Parkinson’s disease & other Movement Disorders society.
View Profile
Sulagna Maitra is the thematic lead on the UCD CHA’s International School of Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies. Sulagna coordinates the module World Politics and Humanitarian Action and is the Principal Investigator on several research projects in the Centre. She is a Sasakawa Young Leadership Fund (SYLFF) Fellow and a former Erasmus Mundus grantee. Sulagna has a BA (Hons) in Political Science from Presidency College, India, and two Masters Degrees – one in International Relations (specialization in Southeast Asia) from Jadavpur University, India, and the other in International Humanitarian Action (NOHA Masters) from Uppsala University, Sweden. Sulagna progressed to complete her PhD at University College Dublin with funding support from the EU Erasmus Mundus Programme and DG ECHO. The title of her dissertation was "The Role of Identity in Intra-State Transboundary River Water Conflicts in India: A Comparative Study of Three Indian Cases".
View Profile
Eleni Mangina carried out her PhD work at the University of Strathclyde (UK), Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, working on Agent-based applications for intelligent data interpretation (1998-2001). The research area focused on software analysis, design and development of multi agent systems, which utilize different Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques (Knowledge based systems, Artificial Neural Networks, Case Based Reasoning systems and Model based Reasoning systems). Eleni Mangina holds an M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence from the Department of Artificial Intelligence at University of Edinburgh in the UK and an MSc in Agricultural Science from Agricultural University of Athens in Greece. In 2002 she joined the School of Computer Science, at University College Dublin, Ireland.
View Profile
Catherine is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin and VP for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Science. She leads the Life Science Data Analytics Group (LiSDA). Her research focuses on using machine learning techniques, including deep learning, to develop biomarkers and clinical decision support systems that can make a real difference to patients, their families, and caregivers. As the head of LiSDA, Catherine's expertise is helping to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of applying machine learning in healthcare, such as data protection, ethics, bias, and transparency. Before joining UCD, Catherine worked as a Research Fellow in the Physiology and Medical Physics Department of The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where she specialized in bioinformatics and computational biology.
My research is in applied AI in financial misconduct, customer vulnerability and the mitigation of financial fraud. Key focal points of my work are the detection of early-stage dementia in financial transaction data and the protection of vulnerable customers (including those suffering early-stage dementia) against financial abuse. I am a Fulbright Scholar and I have also received other awards and fellowships, including a Thomas Moran Fellowship from the Mutual of America Life Insurance, a Research Impact Award from UCD and the Barrington Medal from the Statistical & Social Inquiry Society. I lead teams of researchers via work packages funded at Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, European Funding Agencies and with industry collaborators. I have been a Visiting Scholar at New York University Stern School of Business, Yale University, at Groningen and Tilburg Universities, at ESC Rennes School of Business, at Freiburg University and at the London School of Economics.
View Profile
Aidan Murphy is an assistant professor in the UCD School of Computer Science. He attained his PhD in machine learning from the University of Limerick and was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin. His research interests include evolutionary computation, grammatical evolution, image analysis, transfer learning, fuzzy logic, and XAI.
View Profile
Vivek works at the intersection of AI & Ethics. His current research involves healthcare robots in assisted living facilities and how to make robots behave ethically and predictably, when confronted with decision-making situations. He is a full voting member, and serves on the IEEE P7008 Standards committee for Ethically Driven Nudging for Robotic, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems. He also works with Multi-Agent Systems and Simulations. He co-leads an IRC COALESCE project to create a policy simulation model for migrants, that allows its users to ‘experiment’ with alternative policy options and assumptions, by changing parameters or rules, and observing the outcomes.
View Profile
Aisling Ní Annaidh is Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at University College Dublin. After graduating with a B.E. (Mechanical) in 2007, she completed a joint PhD (co-tutelle) at UCD and Université Sorbonne in Paris on the topic of stab penetration forces in 2012. Post PhD, Prof. Ní Annaidh worked for a leading multinational medical devices firm before returning to UCD. She currently leads the Tissue Biomechanics group at UCD and has a particular interest in using experimental, computational and statistical methods to advance soft tissue biomechanics and medical device design.
View Profile
Niamh Nowlan is Full Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a fellow of UCD Conway Institute. Prof Nowlan focusses her research on three key areas: paediatric orthopaedics; how mechanical loading affects skeletal development; and fetal movement monitoring. Prior to joining UCD in 2021, Prof Nowlan held the position of Reader of Developmental Biomechanics in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, UK, where she maintains an honorary appointment. Before joining the faculty of Imperial College London in 2011, Prof Nowlan held postdoctoral fellowships in the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain and in the Zoology Department in Trinity College Dublin. In 2009, she was a Fulbright scholar in Boston University, USA. Her undergraduate degree (in Computer Engineering) and her PhD were awarded by Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
View Profile-300x300.jpg)
Dr. Eoin O'Cearbhaill, BE, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the UCD School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, where he founded the UCD Medical Device Design Group in 2013. Dr. O'Cearbhaill is the Director of the UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering and co-Director of the BE and ME Biomedical Engineering programmes. Prior to joining UCD, Dr. O'Cearbhaill was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School (Brigham & Women's Hospital) in the laboratory of Prof. Jeffrey Karp. Dr O'Cearbhaill obtained his BE (Biomedical) and PhD from NUI Galway and previously worked in the medtech industry with Veryan Medical and Creganna. Dr O'Cearbhaill's research interests include: 3D Printing of Medical Devices; The Development of Biomimetic Benchtop Models; Medical Device Innovation, Design and Clinical Translation, including minimally invasive devices and delivery systems.
View Profile
John completed his B.Agr.Sc (Hons) degree majoring in Animal Science at UCD in 2020. Following this, he completed an M.Sc degree in Genomic Medicine at Trinity College Dublin. As a bioinformatician, John's current PhD project is based on integrative and functional genomic analyses of tuberculosis disease (TB) in humans and livestock. John hopes to leverage high-throughput transcriptomic data and machine learning algorithms to develop a new diagnostic test for bovine tuberculosis disease.
View Profile
Julia has an academic background in health sciences and engineering (University of Seville), complemented by post-graduate studies on innovation, business/managerial economics and operations, and public policy analysis, public affairs and policy development (London School of Economics and Political Sciences and Cambridge Judge Business School). Her professional background includes more than 15 years of experience in research, teaching, business development, consultancy and project/programme management for Pharma, manufacturing and IT companies. During her career, Julia has coordinated and participated in the writing of over 300 proposals and tenders. In her previous role as Innovation Manager at the European Institute of Technology (EIT Health), she directly supervised over 200 project ideas. There, she also managed a pipeline of 17 collaborative innovation digital health projects (around 35M€).
View Profile
Antoinette Perry is an Associate Professor in Cell and Molecular Biology at University College Dublin, where she leads a research team focusing on translational cancer epigenetics; understanding the role of epigenomic aberrations in the pathogenesis of ovarian and prostate cancer and harnessing these aberrations to develop prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Prof Perry has a particular interest in studying DNA methylation changes in “liquid biopsies” that can act as surrogates for non-invasive tumour detection and monitoring. Her research has also highlighted the importance of epigenetic dysregulation of the Wnt and IGF axis in prostate cancer, and has identified a number of potential biomarkers for aggressive prostate cancer. Other research avenues involve the exploration of the anti-cancer properties of marine and terrestrial plants.
View Profile
Riccardo Rastelli is a lecturer in statistics at the UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics. His research focuses on modern models and methods of statistics and machine learning, with a special focus on network analysis, clustering, latent factor models and high-dimensional statistics. His research work has applications in diverse applied fields including social sciences, finance, ecology and epidemiology.
View Profile
I have an interest in the use of signal processing and pattern recognition techniques, combined with novel sensing hardware solutions, in order to bring longitudinal health monitoring into the home. In particular, I have extensive experience monitoring human movement using wearable sensors, and in the robust measurement of physiological signals (ECG, BP & PPG) in unsupervised environments. I also have a research stream on the topic of tactile sensing, spanning from the study of human tactile physiology, through to the development of friction-sensing tactile sensors for robotic grippers. More recently, our group has been interested in the use of deep neural networks for medical image segmentation, and for use with reinforcement learning to enable autonomous dexterous robotic manipulation.
View Profile
Colm leads the UCD Cancer Data Lab where his group develop computational approaches to understand how mutations in cancer alter molecular interaction networks and to identify ways to target these alterations therapeutically. Colm is an Assistant Professor in the UCD School of Computer Science, a Senior Fellow in the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and an Irish Research Council Laureate. Colm is also Deputy Head of Node for ELIXIR Ireland and an Investigator at Systems Biology Ireland. He has a degree in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin and worked as a software developer for IBM before completing a PhD in computational biology at University College Dublin.
View Profile
Dr Sahin works as a teaching fellow in the Machine Learning for Engineers, Biosensors and Actuators, and Bioinstrumentation courses. He develops experiments and software, especially for laboratory lectures. He also supports research by developing machine learning and deep learning algorithms for Gait Analysis based on inertial sensors. His areas of interest include data acquisition and analysis, mathematical modeling, control systems, optimization, & machine learning. Before joining UCD, He worked as a design engineer on guidance and control
technologies in the defence industry between 2006 and 2023. He designed and developed control actuator systems and real-time test platforms during this period. Dr. Sahin received his bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering from Ankara University, Turkey (2005) & an MSc in the same department (2008). He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Gazi University (2015) and studied adaptive and robust control technologies during this period.
I'm Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics at UCD. Previously I've worked in industry and academia in protein and DNA sequence analysis and clinical research. Currently I am focussing my research on food, as co-lead of the SFI Co-Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems, which will include aspects of nutritional effects on health, with my own particular focus on protein digestibility and understanding better the process of protein breakdown in health and disease. My current AI related research includes machine learning prediction of novel small molecule antibiotics versus Klebsiella pneumoniae, a leading cause of antimicrobial resistant related deaths; and identification of features of various classes of peptide and protein motifs. I collaborate with IBM on the development of AI foundational models in the protein/gene functional space.
View Profile
Dr Somandhan’s primary focus is translating evidence into practice for children, young people and families living with rare and complex medical conditions. Dr. Somanadhan’s research is deeply rooted in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) principles within the context of Rare Diseases. She is dedicated to fostering fairness, recognising diversity, and actively incorporating the voices and experiences of individuals affected by Rare Diseases. As the founding member and Co-leader of the All-Ireland Rare Diseases Interdisciplinary Research Network (RAiN), she contributes to advancing scientific knowledge and creating a more inclusive and equitable healthcare landscape for those with rare genetic diseases. Dr Somanadhan, co-leading Rare Disease Research Catalyst consortium grant from the Health Research Board (HRB) focusing on patient-reported experience measures and PPI in rare diseases research.
View Profile
I am a joint appointment with the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. My teaching and research addresses the opportunities and challenges inherent in implementing person-centred quality improvement programmes in the health system; for example, enabling healthcare professionals in clinical, educational, managerial and research roles to explore new ways of working individually and collectively to improve service providers’ and service users’ experience of care. My modules and programmes are grounded in systems thinking, emphasising the real-world application and implications for professional practice of key concepts such as person-centredness, person-centred care, person-centred cultures, human flourishing, collaborative practice, innovation and distributed leadership.
View Profile
Stephen is an Assistant Professor in the UCD School of Medicine, and Fellow of the UCD Conway Institute. Stephen's research is primarily focused on understanding the biophysical aspects of cancer progression. Dr Thorpe's research group has a focus on the biophysical aspects of cancer progression. We have particular interest in how cancer and stromal cells interact with the extracellular matrix. We are interested in using AI approaches to better assess clinical and pathological images through the incorporation of complimentary biophysical and omics analyses.
View Profile
Dr Weiss has a BSc (Hons) in Bioanalytical Science and Haematology, and a MSc in Biomolecular and Biomedical Science (UCD). During her PhD, she investigated the effects of different anticoagulant therapies on molecular profiles of circulating extracellular vesicles in patients with various thrombotic disorders. Having completed her PhD in 2021, Dr Weiss continued on to pursue a postdoc, developing a machine learning-based algorithm to risk-stratify patients with suspected preeclampsia. She is also involved in several national and international collaborations using ML-based analysis of health care data to infer important diagnostic/prognostic variables in various diseases.
View Profile
Dr Arjumand Younus is an Assistant Professor at UCD’s School of Information and Communication Studies, teaching and researching in the area of Artificial Intelligence, Society, & Digital Policy. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Professor at UCD’s School of Sociology, teaching and researching in the area of Computational Social Science. Before these appointments, she worked as a Research Scientist in Afiniti AI, & a part-time lecturer in Technological University Dublin. She has contributed to SFI-funded projects during her different post-doctoral positions at CONSUS-UCD & INSIGHT-UCD. She is also serving in the capacity of co-director for Women in Research Ireland which is a volunteer-run registered charity working for better representation of women and under-represented groups in academia. She is also the first Pakistani woman to have had representation in Oireachtas i.e. Irish Parliament where she expressed concerns in relation to the funding of higher education sector in Ireland.
View Profile
Dr. Javad Zeinali is an Assistant Professor of Digital Manufacturing in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at University College Dublin. He was a lead Principal Investigator in the Dairy Processing Technology Centre (DPTC) to develop initial adaptive processing models/tools using ML in the dairy sector. He has also collaborated with the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC) in various projects to model and optimise processes using ML and CFD. Javad has over 3 years of industry experience as technical manager in the fields of manufacturing processes and automation systems. His research interests include Process Modelling, AI, Predictive Models, Digital Twins, Computational Fluid Dynamics, and Industry 4.0.
View Profile
Dr Jufan Zhang's research interests include micro/nano manufacturing of innovative biomedical devices, such as various types of microneedles, micro-textured artificial joints. Especially his featured research in nanopore chip manufacturing and nanopore chip enabled biomedical applications has attracted extensive attentions. Collaborating with academics and industry, now he is exploring the nanopore-based devices for virus detection, circulating tumour cells detection, proteins study, nanomedicine analysis, and parallel DNA sequencing. He is seeking incorporation with advanced AI technologies for the intelligent analysis of massive nanopore data with large volume, complex composition, and intricate background noises. He has over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals or book chapters, and hosted over 20 funding/grants/awards as the PI or Co-PI from EU, Ireland, industry or other international funding agencies.
View Profile
Dr Nan Zhang is an Assistant Professor in Manufacturing and Design at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at UCD. His research work covers polymer micro/nano manufacturing, precision manufacturing of plastic microfluidic chips, microfluidic systems for the synthesis of genetic nanomedicine and molecular diagnostics, manufacturing functional micro/nano structured surfaces, and atomic and close-to-atomic-scale manufacturing.
View Profile-300x300.JPG)
As manager for the UCD Institute for Discovery Tara supports the development of emerging research initiatives and collaborations led by UCD Discovery.
View Profile
Cora, Business Development Manager at the AI Healthcare Hub, holds a B.Sc in Neuroscience and an M.Sc in Biotherapeutics and Business from UCD Smurfit Business School. With expertise at the intersection of business and science, she guides projects in navigating the initial steps of commercialisation, facilitating the transition from research to real-world implementation in healthcare. Additionally, Cora assists projects in initiating engagement with industry partners to explore collaborative opportunities and foster innovation.
View Profile
As Discovery Engagement Manager Elva supports key academic and industry partner engagement at the AI Healthcare Hub.
View Profilewww.ucd.ie/discovery