PROFESSOR KEVIN MCGUIGAN

Academic Profile

Associate Professor of Medical Physics, RCSI

Professor Kevin McGuigan is Associate Professor in the RCSI Department of Physiology & Medical Physics and Director of the RCSI Solar Disinfection Research Group which develops appropriate technology interventions against waterborne disease in developing countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, S. Africa and Cambodia funded by the EU and the Irish government.
A graduate of Maynooth University, he studied with Profesor Martin Henry at DCU for his PhD. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP) and was previously chair of Institute of Physics in Ireland from 2011 to 2013. He is currently co-chair of the Institute of Physics in the UK.

Professor McGuigan recently received the first ever Higher Doctorate (DSc) awarded by DCU. The DSc was awarded in recognition of his published research over the past 20 years.
He has published over 60 refereed articles in peer-reviewed journals and holds an adjunct Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics position with the School of Physical Sciences in DCU.
Professor McGuigan is coordinator of a €3.6 million EU H2020 project WATERSPOUTT involving 3U Global Health researchers at DCU, Maynooth University and RCSI aimed at developing low-cost technologies to provide affordable access to safe drinking water in remote and vulnerable communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and other resource-poor countries.
Professor McGuigan’s research was recently featured in The Irish Times article “Research Lives: Even Irish sunlight can be used to kill bacteria in water in glass or plastic bottles”. Click here to read full story in The Irish Times.
For list of Research Publications click here

3U recently caught up with Professor Kevin McGuigan to ask him a few questions about his job in the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics in RCSI and as one of the key academics leading the 3U Global Health research agenda.

 
Briefly describe what your current job entails?
As an Associate Professor in the RCSI Dept. of Physiology & Medical Physics, I teach Physics on the Medicine, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy programmes. In my research I am the director of the RCSI Solar Disinfection Research Group which develops appropriate technology interventions against waterborne disease for use in developing countries. I specialize in running field studies to evaluate these technologies and have completed Health Impact Studies in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Cambodia. These studies were funded by the EU, the Irish Government and philanthropic donations. As the RCSI coordinator of 3U Global Health, in concert with Professor Honor Fagan (Maynooth University) and Dr Brid Quilty (DCU) we promote and support any developing country-related research activities involving researchers based in the 3U partner campuses.

Have there been any recent developments in your career?
In August 2014, I was appointed as Cycle Director for: (i) the RCSI Foundation Year (FY) Programs in RCSI (Dublin), RCSI – Bahrain and Penang Medical College – Malaysia); (ii) the RCSI International Medical/Pharmacy Commencement Programmes (IMCP) in IT Tralee and RCSI – Bahrain. Basically I am responsible for all academic activities in the first two years (IMCP & FY) of the RCSI medical programme. That should sort out any spare time I had planned for the next 4 years. In June 2014, I was elected onto the Council of the Institute of Physics. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society promoting physics in the UK and Ireland, bringing physicists together for the benefit of all. It has a worldwide membership of around 50,000 comprising physicists from all sectors, as well as those with an interest in physics. It works to advance physics research, application and education; and engages with policy makers and the public to develop awareness and understanding of physics. In light of my extensive activities in developing countries the IOP has given me the task of being the Council member with responsibility for international aspects of the IOP strategic plan over the coming 4 years.

Why did you choose this particular career?
I was a child of the Apollo space programme era and was always fascinated by science and the natural world. The thing that eventually pointed me in the direction of Physics was not understanding how they put the stripes in striped toothpaste. It took me four years of undergraduate physics in Maynooth University and 4 years of postgraduate physics in DCU to finally understand how they do it (Pascal’s Principle).

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in?
Scuba diving instructor somewhere warm. As a kid I wanted to be in the Garda Siochana but my eyesight wasn’t good enough.

Where are you from originally?
I was born in Leeds in the UK. My parents are both Irish and they moved back to Drogheda when I was 6 years old, which is where I was brought up. Louth & Proud!

What public figure do you most admire and why?
David Attenborough. He has spent a lifetime being paid to document the most spectacular and rapidly disappearing natural phenomena. He is universally loved and you’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about him.

Do you have any hobbies?
All stereotypical nerd-like activities such as: In summer – Bat detecting – I have an ultrasound bat detector which allows me to hear their echo location emissions and from that identify species and activity (navigation or hunting). All year-Astronomy (often at the same time as the bat-detecting). Cinema.

What kind of music do you like?
I will listen to almost any music except musical theatre & opera. My own personal Hell would be to have to watch Phantom of the Opera or Cats. I have a special fondness for Prince.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
Mexico, in a heartbeat. My developing world research has brought me to some of the most interesting places imaginable but the nicest place by far (in terms of people, culture, music, weather, food) was Mexico and in particular the Mayan temples at Chichenitza in the Yucatan peninsula.

Academic Profile

Head of School and an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing & Human Sciences

Professor Anne Matthews, is the current Head of School and an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing & Human Sciences.
Professor Mathews graduated from University College Dublin with a B.Soc.Sc. (Social Policy, Library & Information Studies) in 1995 and with a M.Sc. (Econ.) in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1996.

She worked in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work in UCD, the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi, and as Chief Officer for the Council for Children’s Hospitals’ Care until taking up a research position at DCU in July 2001 as Research Fellow, on a research project about the empowerment of nurses and midwives.
Professor Matthews obtained her PhD from DCU in 2006 with a thesis entitled “Past and present perspectives on power and empowerment in midwifery in Ireland”.
Her current research interests are in the areas of Global Health, health workforce planning & development and in midwifery.
Professor Matthews is a qualified Registered General Nurse and Registered Midwife.
For list of Research Publications click here

3U recently met with Professor Anne Matthews and asked her to tell us about a typical day at work in DCU and about her job as Head of School and Associate Professor at the School of Nursing & Human Sciences at DCU as well as some more personal questions.

Briefly describe a day at work for you?
Today I started my day at DCU, moved to Beaumont Hospital to work on some workforce planning ideas with nursing colleagues and spent the afternoon in RCSI discussing research plans with 3U colleagues in the Population Health Sciences Division. We are currently working together in a community systems strengthening project in Malawi, focused on improving maternal, newborn and child health equity. That sums up a great 3U day for me!

Briefly describe what your current job entails?
I am currently the Head of the School of Nursing & Human Sciences, the largest School at DCU. There we offer undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in nursing, psychology, ‘health & society’, sexuality studies, psychotherapy, homeless prevention and intervention and a range of professional development modules. I am an Associate Professor, and have been at DCU since 2001, a very positive sign for someone like me who moved around jobs and the globe a lot before that.

Why did you choose this particular career?
After nursing and midwifery I undertook a full-time Social Science degree at UCD and then a Masters in Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE). The LSE motto ‘to know the cause of things’ underlined why I had moved from clinical work to social science – now I want ‘to know the causes of the causes of things’. I then worked in UCD Social Policy and then as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi, on a volunteer programme for two years. This was the most daunting move of my life and ultimately the most rewarding in all ways possible. I am now attached to southern Africa forever. I love to bring that into my maternity care research, as well as systematic reviewing, especially for the Cochrane collaboration. I came to DCU in 2001 to take up a research job and undertook my PhD there examining empowerment for midwives in Ireland. I love teaching on our BSc Health & Society degree, where I teach about scarcity and health and global health challenges.

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in your current one?
If I was not where I am now I might have been a librarian as I studied Information Studies for my UCD degree, including modules on rare books, history of the book, cataloguing and classification. I loved these subjects so much- I love books and organising things! I had a part-time job in the RCSI library in Beaumont Hospital while at UCD, bringing strands of my experience nicely together.

What public figure do you most admire and why?
I have no heroes but I admire all those people who have the courage of their convictions to speak up against injustices against anyone, anywhere, at any time.

What kind of music do you like?
I love reggae music and am prone to bad karaoke singing at any opportunity. I had karaoke parties for my 30th and 40th birthdays so far.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
My favourite part of the world is anywhere south of the Equator on the African continent. I am very lucky to be able to be involved in research and teaching in in Malawi and South Africa and to have an extended family in Zimbabwe, a beautiful country.

Academic Profile

Consultant Endocrinologist, Beaumont Hospital

Dr Diarmuid Smith qualified from University College Dublin in 1994, he completed his intern and medical SHO training in the Mater Hospital Dublin. Dr Smith entered the Irish Specialist Registrar Training programme in Diabetes and Endocrinology in 1997 and went to Kings College London where he completed his MD thesis in the field of hypoglycaemia. He also was Lecturer in Endocrinology in St Vincents University Hospital and was appointed as Consultant Endocrinologist to Beaumont Hospital in 2005. His fields of interest are hypoglycaemia and diabetic vascular disease.

Dr Smith is involved in a number of research studies but has a particular interest in the osteoprotegrin (OPG) /RANKL system in both metabolic bone disease and vascular disease in people with diabetes. Dr Smith has established an active collaborative research programme with the non-invasive vascular lab in Beaumont Hospital, the vascular biology lab in DCU under the supervision of Dr Phil Cummins and with Dr Donal O’Gorman in the School of Human Health and Performance in DCU. Dr Smith has been involved in a number of interventional clinical trials in diabetes in the last few years and is currently involved in the LEADER study, a large multi-centre, international trial looking at the safety and cardiovascular effectiveness of the novel GLP-1 injection liraglutide in people with diabetes.

3U recently caught up with Dr Diarmuid Smith to ask him a few questions about his job as Consultant Endocrinologist in Beaumont Hospital as well as some more personal questions.

 
Briefly describe what your job entails?
Beaumont Hospital is an extremely busy hospital serving a catchment area of over 300,000 people and is the regional centre for the north east region of the country and the national renal and pancreas transplant and neurosurgical centre for the country.

I and my colleagues provide diabetes and endocrine care for the hospital, which involves the management of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, transplant diabetes, cystic fibrosis related diabetes, thyroid disease, pituitary disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome and other endocrine disorders. I also do general internal medicine and provide acute 24 hour medical on-call for the patients who attend the Beaumont hospital ED department

Have there been any recent developments in your career?
There have been lots. In diabetes care insulin pumps with continuous glucose monitoring systems have developed over the last number of years to such an extent that they offer the potential of an electronic cure for type 1 diabetes. In the last 10 years there has also been an explosion in new treatments for type 2 diabetes, which offers great excitement to our patients. The great thing about medicine is that it never stands still, always changing, the challenge is to try and keep up with the advancements.

Why did you choose this particular career?
I always wanted to do medicine, I liked the challenge of medicine. I decided on diabetes and endocrinology because it has a mixture of acute medicine where patients can become acutely unwell but respond well to treatment and the fact that in endocrinology you frequently follow up patients over their lifetime, for example in diabetes you might start seeing someone at age 16 years when they are diagnosed and follow them through their leaving cert, college, working years, marriage, pregnancy etc. It is a privilege to work with people for so long and to try and help them as best you can.

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in your current one?
I would love to have been a football commentator. I love sport but was never good enough to make a career out of it but a commentator would have given me a job watching sports I love. In particular I would have liked to have been a GAA commentator, nothing beats going to Croke Park.

Where are you from originally?
Artane in Dublin, great place to grow up, near good schools, great parks and not too far from town.

What public figure do you most admire and why?
Unfortunately I think there is a shortage of great leaders at the moment but I do admire Pope Francis, I see him as a man trying to change a very rigid organisation which has lost its way and someone who has true compassion in a world where we need a lot more compassion and understanding.

Do you have any hobbies?
My real passion is Gaelic games, I help train St Vincents under 13s GAA team with some other mentors who are great guys. My son plays on the team and I have been with the team since mini-leagues and it is great to see the kids grow and develop and to turn into young adults. It would be great if one of them in the future played for Dublin.

What kind of music do you like?
Anything really, when you have kids you find yourself listening to groups you have never heard of but I do like Oasis, Coldplay and the Coronas.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
New Zealand, I think it looks beautiful and I was a big fan of the lord of the rings and thought it looked stunning.

Academic Profile

Lecturer, Maynooth University

Dr Bernie Grummell, is a lecturer with the Departments of Education and Adult & Community Education in Maynooth University since 2007.
She lectures in research methods, sociology and equality issues on the EdD, MEd and PDE programmes and currently coordinates the MLitt/PhD/EdD programmes.
She represents the interests of the staff of education departments in Maynooth University and develops collaborative research projects of interest to staff.
Dr Grummell reviously worked as a lecturer with the School of Sociology and a post-doctoral researcher with the Equality Studies Centre in UCD in the areas of equality and social justice, social research methods, education and media literacy for over 15 years.

She has developed expertise in qualitative and quantitative research and has completed a wide array of research projects with several organizations, including Department for Education and Science, Irish Aid/Higher Education Authority, National Adult Literacy Agency, Radio Telefis Eireann and National Digital Learning Repository. For list of Research Publications click here

3U recently caught up with Dr Bernie Grummell to ask her a few questions about her job which spans the Departments of Education and Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University.

Briefly describe what your current job entails?
My work involves working on the teaching and research programme of the two departments. I work jointly across the two departments developing research projects with staff in both departments and lecturing on a range of postgraduate programmes in education, research and social justice issues.

Why did you choose this particular career?
I have learnt so much from others and have always been encouraged by my family so I have always loved learning. Having said that, I didn’t like secondary school and found higher education unsettling as I was one of the first in my family to go to university.
Like many people in adult education, I ended up teaching in an adult education context by accident and loved it. Its commitment to a learner-centred participative approach and its social justice focus on how the world works (advantaging some and disempowering other groups) resonated with me. I’d found a home for my learning and worldview.

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in your current one?
Working as a tutor in adult education.

Where are you from originally?
A farm on the coast of Wicklow.

What public figure do you most admire and why?
Those who continue to fight and celebrate life.

Do you have any hobbies?
At the moment I have a young family, so they’ve become my life and hobby as they are all consuming in a good way!!

Selected list of publications
Lynch, Kathleen; Grummell, Bernie and Dympna Devine (2015) New Managerialism in Education: Commercialization, Carelessness and Gender. (2nd edition) Palgrave Macmillan:Basingstoke.

Murray, Michael J., Grummell, Bernie and Anne Ryan (2014) Further Education and Training in Ireland: History, Politics, Practice. MACE: Maynooth

Grummell, Bernie; Lynch, Kathleen and Dympna Devine (2009) ‘Appointing Senior Managers in Education: homosociability, local logics and authenticity in the selection process’, Educational Management Administration and Leadership 37(3): 329-349

Grummell, Bernie (2007) ‘The “Second Chance” Myth: Equality of Opportunity in Irish Adult Education Policies’, British Journal of Educational Studies Vol 55:2, pp. 182-201

Academic Profile

Senior Lecturer, RCSI

Dr. Annette Byrne leads the RCSI Laboratory for Tumour Biology and Molecular Imaging based in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Having gained a PhD in Cell Biology (Understanding the role of apoptosis during mammalian preimplantation development),
Dr Byrne was awarded the John Kerner fellowship in Gynaecologic Oncology from the University of California, San Francisco. During this period she was engaged in the elucidation of novel angiogenesis targets important in the development of ovarian cancer, as well as screening in vivo activity of novel therapeutics. Subsequently, Dr Byrne was recruited as Scientist by Pharmacyclics Inc, a medium sized pharmaceutical company in California’s ‘silicon valley’ to investigate the mechanisms of action of a new class of radiation/ chemotherapy sensitizer drugs under clinical development.

In 2003 Dr Byrne relocated to New York where she was employed as Senior Scientist in a small Biotech Start-up, Angion Biomedica Corp, whose main focus was developing therapeutics which manipulated angiogenesis signaling pathways.
Dr Byrne returned to Ireland in 2005 to the position of Principal Investigator at University College Dublin’s Conway Institute. During this three year engagement she was instrumental in establishing Ireland’s first comprehensive Tumour Xenograft Facility and translational In Vivo Imaging activities.
Dr Byrne joined RCSI in 2008 as tenured Lecturer Physiology and Principal Investigator, Tumour Biology/Molecular Imaging. Dr Byrne was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2013.
For list of Research Publications click here

3U recently caught up with Dr Byrne to ask her a few questions about her job leading RCSI’s Laboratory for Tumour Biology and Molecular Imaging as well as some more personal questions.

 
Briefly describe what your current job entails?
Teaching physiology to graduate entry medical students and running a research group focused on the discovery of new treatments and biomarkers for colorectal, breast and brain cancer.

Have there been any recent developments in your career?
I was awarded a Science Foundation Ireland Career Development Award in 2014 to develop new biomarkers to help personalize treatment for colorectal cancer patients. Please check out our website www.coloforetell.ie for more info.

Why did you choose this particular career?
Originally, I was fascinated by reproductive physiology which led me into working on ovarian cancer and … well, the rest is history!

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in your current one?
I was offered a place on a drama studies course after my leaving cert so maybe I’d be on the stage!

Where are you from originally?
Wicklow town.

Do you have any hobbies?
Theatre, drinking craft beers amd I am about to do a sea fishing course in Spiddal…

What public figure do you most admire and why?
Can he be dead? If so.. Samuel Beckett

What kind of music do you like?
Deep house techno and low-fi garage music coming from the brooklyn music scene.

Academic Profile

Vice President for Research, Maynooth University

Immunologist, Professor Bernard Mahon, is the current Vice President for Research at Maynooth University. He is also a member of 3U Partnership’s Strategy Board. Previously, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Scientific Director of the Irish Institute of Immunology.
His scientific research interests are in the area of hypothesis-driven, fundamental studies of murine and human immunology.

1. The two major topics he focuses on are:
   How do adult mesenchymal stem cells modulate immunity (a question with implications for stem cell therapy, transplantation and tolerance). This work finds application is the design of new cell based therapies;
2. The immunology of early life, particularly at the mucosal surface of the airways. This has led me to examine early life infections with the pathogens B. pertussis, poliovirus and B19V, work which has implications for vaccine design, immunisation protocols and diagnostics.

Professor Mahon has authored over sixty scientific publications, holds a number of patents and has contributed to the development of new vaccines currently in human clinical trials. He has received funding awards from the Wellcome Trust, SFI, EU Framework 7, Enterprise Ireland and the Health Research Board.
For list of Research Publications click here

3U recently caught up with Professor Mahon to ask him a few questions about his job as Vice President for Research in Maynooth University as well as some more personal questions.

Briefly describe what your current job entails?
My role is to guide and support the research community at Maynooth University. The University has a tremendous research tradition stretching from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century and spanning the Sciences, the Social Sciences and the Arts. I am very conscious that I am responsible for helping our scholars meet their full research, and innovation potential, and achieve the ambition of our strategic plan.

Have there been any recent developments in your career?
My own research is now led by very able younger scientists, but I still keep my hand in as a collaborator. I am fortunate that my personal Immunology research had gained a lot of momentum and so I am still publishing and patenting. A patent of mine in collaboration with Institut Pasteur de Lille for an immunotherapeutic intervention for allergies is gaining a lot of traction commercially in the US at the moment and that is very exciting. The applied work is fine but my real interest has always been at the basic/fundamental end of the spectrum. For example our work on how stem cells alter the immune environment at transplantation is perhaps the most rewarding intellectually.

Why did you choose this particular career?
I remember watching what used to be called the “space-shots” and saying “I am going to be a scientist”. This came as a surprise to my teachers in East London who expected me to say either “docker” or ” footballer”. Myself and my brother (also a scientist) owe a lot to our Irish mother who filled our house with encyclopaedias. At University, I discovered a talent for biochemistry, the toughest problems were all in Immunology – so that’s where I wanted to work- to find a challenge that was worth studying. I was fortunate to have Professor Ivan Roitt as a lecturer, so perhaps he is to blame.

What scientific publication are you most proud of?
I am proud of our recent work on adult stem cells, but a Journal of Experimental Medicine paper from 1994 remains work which I think is important. It is certainly not my most cited paper but it showed the role of T cells in protection against poliomyelitis. This work has withstood the test of time, and used humanised mouse models in the early nineties! The paper also knocked a whole in a theory about T independent antigens which still resurfaces from time to time among those who don’t understand the literature.

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in your current one?
My sister and brother have each started and made a success of their own businesses, so I could well have gone down that path. The idea of running a second hand book store is also appealing but I am not sure I’d let the customers near the books.

Where are you from originally?
Hackney in the East End of London, although both my parents were from County Cork. If I lose my temper the Cockney accent comes out more strongly.

What public figure do you most admire and why?
It is very hard to think of any current public figure who I can say I admire, save perhaps John Hume whom I met a few years ago – a man of integrity and courage. Historically, Earnest Shackleton is interesting, especially in contrast to Robert Scott. The latter sacrificed himself and those around him to achieve a flawed objective – the second team to the South Pole – an imperial goal. In contrast, Shackleton faced adversity, overcame it, brought out the best in his companions, reacted quickly and achieved remarkable mountaineering and seafaring feats. Not bad for a man from landlocked and flat County Kildare.

Do you have any hobbies?
You might have guessed- mountaineering. I love mountains, I have climbed a little but I really enjoy wild hillwalking and rock scrambling. I try to get into the hills at least twice a month.

Being a scientist I am obsessive. I keep voluminous notebooks of routes, geology, flora, fauna, photographs stretching back 25 years. I am also a “bagger” I have climbed every mountain in Ireland over 2000 ft; everything in England and Wales over 3,000ft and over one hundred Scottish Munros including some scary stuff on the Isle of Skye. I have done a little in the Alps, I admit to being a mountain bore and can discuss schist and gabbro with anyone foolish enough to ask (not many).

What kind of music do you like?
Punk, especially The Clash ,The Ramones and Joy Division of course- these are still on my turntable at home. I also love some of the emerging bands such as Metronomy and London Grammar. I continue to go to gigs and am often the oldest person in the room (usually at the back). If I am driving to mountains, I play punk.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
The Gleniff horseshoe near Grange in County Sligo, the landscape of sea and mountains is wondrous, the folklore ancient, the rocks are full of fossils, the flora is full of surprises- and I have a cousin who farms nearby who will provide sufficient malt whisky as medication for tired limbs.

Academic Profile

Senior Lecturer, DCU and 3U Global Health Researcher

Dr. Bríd Quilty is the Research Director of the Microbial Ecology Group at DCU and has been working in the area of Environmental Biotechnology for more than 20 years. During that time she has supervised many projects leading to the award of PhDs and MScs by research.She is external representative on the Biological Safety Committee, Pfizer, Grange Castle, Dublin.

She was Head of the School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University from 2002 – 2005 and during 2006 was a Research Scholar at the Center for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA and a Visiting Professor at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She has a particular interest in the microbiology of water and wastewater treatment and current projects include a study of drinking water quality in rural Uganda. For list of Research Publications click here.

Q&A with Brid

Briefly describe what your current job entails?
I teach a range of courses in microbiology to undergraduate and postgraduate students and lead a multinational and interdisciplinary group of researchers with interests in many aspects of microbiology. Current research projects include the development of innovative ways to treat drinking water, improving the treatment of waste streams using selected microorganisms and testing novel compounds and novel materials for antimicrobial activity. I am a member of the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology (NICB) and the Water Institute at DCU and am the DCU lead representative in 3U Global Health. I work closely with industry and am a member of the biological safety committee for Pfizer. Currently I am external examiner at Athlone Institute of Technology and I have been a judge at the BT Young Scientist and Technology competition since 1999.

Have there been any recent developments in your career?
My recent research in Uganda on the project Water Is Life: Amazzi Bulamu (http://waterislife.ie/) was very rewarding and has led to many further interesting opportunities in research and teaching in developing countries.

Why did you choose this particular career?
My father was a scientist and I grew up with an interest in science. I became interested in microbiology while studying science at UCD. During my time as a postgraduate student at UCD I was approached to fill a lecturing position in Carlow on a part-time basis. I loved the work and have been a college lecturer ever since.

What career might you have chosen if you weren’t in your current one?
When I was at school I studied a number of languages and considered a career in Foreign Affairs.

Where are you from originally?
I was born in Cork and spent much of my childhood in Tipperary where I went to school with the Ursulines in Thurles.

What public figure do you most admire and why?
I greatly admire Mary Robinson for her many achievements and for her ongoing work especially in the area of climate justice.

Do you have any hobbies?
I enjoy walking and gardening and golf when I have time.

What kind of music do you like?
I like all kinds of music. Music was a central part of my education with the Ursulines where I learned to play the piano and the violin.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
I would love to visit the Galápagos Islands.

Academic Profile

President, Dublin City University

Professor Brian MacCraith is renowned internationally for his research on optical chemical sensors and biosensors. He has a substantial track record of publications and intellectual property in this area. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Fellow of SPIE (the International Photonics Organisation), and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineers.

Professor MacCraith also has a strong profile in teaching and learning activities. He has had a substantial involvement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education activities through membership of the Institute of Physics Education Subgroup, the RIA National Commission for the Teaching of Physics and various DCU committees dealing with this topic. He has also organised Training Workshops for Physics teachers and, with funding from Intel Ireland, the “Young Women in Physics” series aimed at attracting Secondary schoolgirls into physics careers. In his roles as Director of the NCSR and the BDI, respectively, he contributed strongly to the establishment of Education and Outreach programmes with a special focus on enhancing Primary and Secondary School STEM Education.