US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards 2017 – Assessment Panel

Dick Ahlstrom is Science Editor of The Irish Times. He edits the weekly Science Today page and writes science news reports for various departments. He is also an assistant news editor working on the news desk and previously served as Science Correspondent of The Irish Times. He serves on the Life and Medical Science Committee of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a Fellow of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and is a Life Member of the Royal Society. Dick holds degrees from Temple University, Philadelphia and from University College Dublin.

Dick Ahlstrom

Geraldine Butler is Professor of Genetics in the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science at University College Dublin, and a Principal Investigator in the Conway Institute. Professor Butler serves as academic editor for the journals PLoS Genetics and mSphere. She is Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen. Professor Butler was elected Fellow of the Society of Biology in 2011, and Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2015.

Geraldine Butler

Julie Byrne is Executive Director of Nokia Bell Labs UK & Ireland, responsible for all aspects of Nokia Bell Labs operations in this region. Prior to her current role, Julie was leading the Industrial Mathematics and Computer Science research department at Bell Labs Ireland. Her career in the ICT industry started with an engineering position at Intel, before moving on to senior management roles at Alcatel-Lucent. Julie holds a Master of Science degree (Physics) from .

Julie Byrne

Dr Alison Campbell is Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI), based at Enterprise Ireland. KTI is the national office, responsible for the promotion, development and management of Ireland’s knowledge transfer system. Dr Campbell is a member of the Advisory Board of the network for the Assessment & Evaluation of the Societal Impact of Science (AESIS). She is a founder of the Global Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP). In 2010 Dr Campbell was awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to Knowledge Transfer.

Alison Campbell

Niall Campbell is a Partner and Head of Innovation at KPMG, He has over 20 years experience within KPMG’s tax practice, specialising in VAT, with a particular focus on clients in the financial services, property, public sector, technology and healthcare sectors. Niall led KPMG’s Global Indirect Tax practice from 2007 to 2012, including the establishment of KPMG’s global indirect tax compliance centre in Budapest. He is also a member of EU VAT Expert Group and has widely published on Irish and global VAT matters, particularly in relation to global VAT reform and tax function performance.

Niall Campbell

Mark Gantly is a senior R&D director in HP’s Cloud Business. His team is responsible for delivering the infrastructure services for HP’s Helion software distribution. From 2009 to 2015, Mark also served as site leader and managing director of HP Galway. He is a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce, and chairs AmCham’s RDI working group. Mark is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (mathematics, engineering science) and also holds a Diploma in Business Strategy from the Irish Management Institute.

Mark Gantly

Professor Jane Grimson is a Fellow Emerita and Professor of Health Informatics at Trinity College Dublin. She holds a Master and Doctorate in Computer Science from the Universities of Toronto and Edinburgh, respectively. At Trinity College Dublin she severed as Dean of Engineering and of Research, as well as Vice-Provost from 2001-2005. Professor Grimson is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Irish Academy of Engineering, Engineers Ireland, the Irish Computer Society, the Royal Academy of Medicine of Ireland and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Jane Grimson

Leonard Hobbs holds an honours degree in Electrical Engineering from University College Cork and a Masters degree from the NMRC (now called Tyndall). From 1988 to 1991 he worked as a research scientist at IMEC, in Leuven, Belgium. Leonard joined Intel in 1991, there he held various roles in process engineering before establishing Intel Ireland’s Silicon Research team in 2008, working with Irish universities and European consortia. He also served as Director for Global Public Affairs at Intel Ireland.

Leonard Hobbs

Professor Anita Maguire is Vice President for Research and Innovation at University College Cork. She undertook undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Chemistry at UCC. Professor Maguire was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2014. She is a member of the Boards of Tyndall National Institute, Molecular Medicine Ireland, ICHEC, the National Research Network in Health and Life Sciences (Wales), and the SFI Centre Governance Committees for Insight, APC, Infant, IPIC, Amber and MaREI.

Anita Maguire

Stephen Masterson is Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking at Ulster Bank/RBS. He has 29 years of experience in Financial Services, with a career spanning from Senior Proprietary Trading positions within Barclays Bank, BOI to managing his own company on the New York Board of Trade. Stephen is a board member of the International Banking partnership IBOS, an active member of both the American & Dublin Chambers of Commerce and a fellow of the Institute of Bankers.

Stephen Masterson

Professor John McCanny is Director of the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology at Queen's University Belfast. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Irish Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the Institute of Physics and Engineers Ireland. He is also a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. In 2017, he was awarded a Knighthood for services to Higher Education and Economic Development.

Sir John McCanny

Peter McHugh is Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Dean of College of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway. Professor McHugh is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and serves as the Academy’s Secretary for Policy and International Relations. He has wide-ranging research interests within the biomedical engineering domain, covering cardiovascular and orthopaedic biomechanics, cell mechanics, biomaterials and tissue engineering, medical implant and device analysis and design, and computational methods in biomedical engineering.

Peter McHugh – Panel Chair

Dr Keith O’Neill is Director for Regulatory Science & Innovation at Abbott Nutrition. He joined Abbott from Enterprise Ireland where he was Director of Life Science and Food Commercialisation for six years. He was previously Manager of the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI), a medical devices research institute at . Prior to this, Dr O’Neill spent four years at the renowned Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in the US, a multi-disciplinary biomedical research organisation.

Keith O’Neill

Dr Ena Prosser is a Partner in Fountain Healthcare Partners. An immunologist by training, she also has a broad background in international alliance and intellectual property management. She has led due diligence projects on technologies and products within the Specialty Pharma, diagnostic, device and biotechnology areas. Dr Prosser is a member of the Irish Government Innovation Taskforce in Intellectual Property, as well as a council member of the Irish BioIndustry Association. She is an Adjunct Professor at University College Dublin and a member of the Institute of Directors.

Ena Prosser

Alan Smeaton is Professor of Computing at Dublin City University, where he is also Director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. Previously he has been Head of School and Executive Dean of Faculty at DCU. He is a member of the Irish Research Council, a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the Scientific Committee of COST, Europe's longest- running intergovernmental framework for cooperation in science and technology. Professor Smeaton is also a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and chairs the Academy's Engineering and Computer Science Committee.

Alan Smeaton

Julie Spillane is Director of The Dock, Accenture’s global multidisciplinary research and incubation hub based in Dublin’s Silicon Docks. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, a member of the government steering group on the development of a new national skills strategy, and a member of the working group advising the Irish government on ICT skills. Julie also sits on the Advisory Council of An Cosán's Virtual Community College – a social innovation programme that provides a pathway to learning, leadership and enterprise.

Julie Spillane

Emma Teeling is an Associate Professor at the School of Biology & Environment Science at University College Dublin. She established the Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Mammalian Phylogenetics in 2005 and is the Founding Director of the Centre for Irish Bat Research at UCD. Her integrative research in the fields of zoology, phylogenetics, genomics and conservation biology uncovers the genetic signatures of survival that enables species to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Professor Teeling is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Emma Teeling