Pedro Tetteroo

Former Vice President and General Manger Centocor BV (Johnson & Johnson), Leiden in the Netherlands for 15 years. (1993 – 2008). In this role Dr. Tetteroo executed corporate leadership and management in the BioPharmaceutical industry and Life Sciences. He was instrumental in transforming Centocor, the first start-up Biotech company (1984) at the University Science Park in Leiden with 35 employees to a commercial FDA approved production and supply chain organization with 1200 employees. This company growth also included the integration of Centocor Leiden with Johnson and Johnson in 1999.

He was responsible for bringing the blockbuster drug Remicade to the market. Remicade was successfully used to cure auto-immune diseases.

Pedro's Bio-Pharma presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

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Oisin O'Diomasaigh

LSC are Resource Management specialists dedicated to the Life Science sector.  
Partners to most of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, LSC connect world class engineering and pharmaceutical consultants  
to the most exciting projects at the cutting-edge of the Life Science Industry. 

Oisin has over 25 years’ experience in Engineering, People management and Business development across the Electronics, Industrial Automation, Aviation and Life Sciences Markets. 

At LSC, Oisin provides support across multiple departments to ensure LSC have the capabilities to continue to supply global companies with the best talent in the sector.  

Oisin has a passion for promoting STEM as a subject choice and presents frequently to 2nd and 3rd levels students on the vast career options available to up-and-coming Engineers & Scientists.

Oisin's presentation for the Bio Pharma event has taken place. Check it out here.

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Louise O'Neill

I joined Berkley in June 2020 with four years of Recruitment experience in the Technical space in the Munster and Galway markets. I specifically focused on Infrastructure, Support and IT Security. Here in Berkley, I recruit for Senior IT roles including IT Managers, Network Engineers, System Administrators, Infrastructure Engineers, Cloud Engineers and all IT Security positions. 

My role as Manager in Berkley Group offers me the opportunity to both recruit, keeping me in sync with the market, and to develop a team of talented Consultants – it is an exciting challenge on a daily basis and a role that offers me the chance to work with Leading Management here in Berkley.  

Prior to Recruitment I was a Localisation Project Manager and moved into Recruitment for a more people focused career. I love the buzz of meeting Clients and Candidates and getting each their perfect placement.

Louise's IT presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

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Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett was appointed Director of the FOOD INSTITUTE UCC which was formally launched in Jan 2019. A food science graduate of UCC, he is an Irish food industry veteran having worked in Ireland, the UK and the United States in senior management positions with major food processors including the Kerry Group and Lakeland Dairies.  

Prior to his current role in the Food Institute, Jim stepped down after 17 years as Managing Director of Bewley’s, Ireland’s leading coffee company and returned to his native Cork. 

Jim led the expansion of the Bewley’s coffee business into the UK, whereby Bewley’s is now the #3 coffee roaster and distributor in the UK & IRL.  

He was instrumental in the evolution of Bewley’s corporate responsibility and ethical trading programs, including its direct links with coffee producers and the company’s carbon neutral status. 

As well as being a graduate of UCC, he has a Diploma in Corporate Governance from UCD and a Diploma in Innovation from the IMI. He is currently working on a Masters in the area of carbon offset policy.

Jim's Food presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

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Aidan Quinn

Dr. Aidan Quinn is Head of the Nanotechnology Group at the Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Ireland. The group’s research programme includes development of chemical synthesis, molecular self-assembly and agile processing routes for scalable fabrication and integration of nanostructures and electrodes. Applications include nanoscale sensing and energy storage, novel graphene-based transparent electrodes and resistive memories. He has published over 60 papers in leading peer-reviewed journals and has filed two patent applications.

Aidan has extensive experience in national and international research initiatives. He has participated in research projects within the EU Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes’ Esprit, Marie Curie, IST, IHP, ICT, NMP, Environment and Security actions.

Aidan's Deep Tech presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

Eamon Curtin

Eamon Curtin is Director of IGNITE at University College Cork, a 12-month start-up incubation programme designed to help recent graduate entrepreneurs to take an early stage start-up idea to first revenue or investor readiness.  

Prior to that Eamon worked as consultant, mentor and trainer with start-ups, early stage and established businesses. In over 20 years, he has worked with many hundreds of founders and business owners as mentor and advisor and has supported thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs through start-up training programmes. 

Eamon’s early career was in product development and management roles with a number of US multinational companies and he has worked in US, Italy and Denmark as well as in Ireland. Eamon has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electronics from University of Limerick and an MBA from University College Cork. 

The IGNITE Graduate Business Innovation Programme (IGNITE) offers access to workshops, seminars, guest speakers, mentors and shared workspace to support recent graduate entrepreneurs to develop the knowledge, skills and attitude to successfully launch a start-up. The programme has supported over 150 young graduates to date.

Eamon's Entrepeneurship presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

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Jean O'Dwyer

Dr. Jean O'Dwyer has a BSc in Environmental Science (2011) and a PhD in Environmental Health Science (2015) from the University of Limerick. Prior to joining UCC as a Lecturer in Environmental Science, Jean was an awarded IRC postdoctoral fellow and worked on several national (DAFM, Enterprise Ireland) and international (EU-FP7) research projects.

Jean currently leads the Environment and Health Research Lab, which hosts several funded projects assessing environmentally associated infectious diseases, groundwater quality, antimicrobial resistance and the impact of climate change on human health. She is a PI in the Environmental Research Institute and is Co-Lead of the Water and Environment Research Group. In 2020, Jean was appointed as Head of Environmental Geosciences in the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosicences (iCRAG) which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland. 

Jean's Environmental presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

Tanya Mulcahy

Pedro's Health & MedTech presentation has already taken place. Check it out here.

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Sinead Keogh

Amy Myers

I graduated from UCC in 2016 with a BSc in Biochemistry. Soon after graduating, I was accepted into the Merck Operations Leadership Development Program which comprises of 4, 9-month rotations in different areas across manufacturing. In this program I worked in Environmental, Health and Safety, Process Engineering, Quality Control and Supply Chain. After graduating form this program in 2019 I began working as a Global Project Manager with responsibility for roll out of projects over 11 of our sites. Since 2020, I lead a team of approximately 20 people to implement digitalization into our Wicklow manufacturing plant. This program looks to make improvements to all our departments, and we are also developing new interfaces between systems to further improve our operations.  

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Liam McNamara

My name is Liam McNamara and I am currently working as a Senior Specialist in the Global Technical Operations team in MSD. My current role involves working with MSD internal sites and Contract Manufacturing Organisations in the EU, supporting the Tech Transfer of Biologics Drug Substance processes. I have a BSc in Biochemistry, a MSc in Biotechnology, both from UCC, and I completed my PhD in with Eli Lilly and UL between 2013 and 2016. I have worked in various roles in industry before my current role including: Quality control lab analyst, small-scale lab researcher and supporting a large-scale start-up project. 

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Clíona O’Callaghan

Hi there, my name is Cliona O’Callaghan. I’m 24 years old and I’m from Carrigaline in Cork. I have a BSc degree in Biochemistry from UCC, and I have also completed my MSc Biotechnology at UCC. At the moment, I’m working for Regeneron in Limerick as a Process Sciences Associate in the Downstream Sciences team. Back at home in Cork I have 3 babies - one cat, one dog and one puppy. I love taking the dogs on walks and going for swims at the beach. I also can’t wait to get back to planning my travels when lockdown is officially over! 

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Vivienne Barry

My name is Vivienne Barry. I'm 24 years old and from West Cork. I'm a Process & Chemical Engineering graduate of UCC's School of Engineering and I've worked with Eli Lilly in Kinsale for the past 18 months (has it been that long already?!). I possess valuable problem solving and team-work skills, and I enjoy my job as it involves responsibility, rapid response & decision making, and it challenges me on a daily basis. While I really enjoy my job, I love getting away from the desk in the evening time to go riding out some horses with my friends, or just going for a quick run to get some fresh air. 

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Henry Tan

I am currently an Advanced Driver-Assistance System Software Developer. In summary, I work on Autonomous cars with Jaguar Land Rover. Before I graduated from UCC, I was working with Jaguar Land Rover as an intern for 6 months. I was offered a contract to work for them after my degree. I joined back JLR as a Software Graduate for 2 years after my degree. Now, I am a Software Developer in JLR, working on self-driving cars, hoping I would not be on the headlines of a newspaper soon. 

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Neel Jotani 

I am Neel Jotani from India, currently working here in Ireland in IBM as Cloud Engineer. I did my master's in Computing Science from the University college cork in 2020.  
Before coming to Ireland, I worked as a Cloud support engineer in Streebo Inc., an IBM partner company in India.  
I did my bachelor's in Information Technology from LD College of Engineering in India where I was doing an internship with 2 different companies as a Redhat system Engineer and as a JAVA Developer. 
To build a career in cloud computing I will suggest learning about Redhat OS as that is the base of any cloud architecture and most of the companies use it today. Also, take one of the public clouds that are available and start learning about that. 
In my free time, I am also a Youtuber(Walking Man) where I educate people who want to study and work here in Ireland. 

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Bryan Tierney

Based in Ireland, Bryan is the founder and CEO of Boinnex - an Irish company committed to promoting the use of cryptocurrency, blockchain and other decentralised technologies. 

He has worked for almost a decade as an IT Project Manager contracting across finance, banking, insurance, tech, and healthcare industries. He found his way into the crypto space in 2017 when he started a contract role with IOHK — the development company behind the Cardano blockchain. 

Since then, he founded Boinnex and continues to be actively involved in different projects in the crypto and blockchain space.  

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Louise Fox

Hey I’m Louise, I’m a former UCC student (class of 2017!) having studied Computer Science BSc. As part of my four-year course, there was a compulsory six month internship in my third year, which kickstarted my career at Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is a cloud computing platform.  

As part of my day-to-day role, I work with a wide range of diverse customers globally, from small start-ups to large enterprises, helping them build their unique architectures on the cloud. Apart from my day-to-day job (which is technical), I wanted to expand my horizons, so I became one of AWS’s interviewers for new Graduates and Engineers, and got involved in the New Hire mentoring program via different trainings and 1:1 sessions. 

I recently moved to a new role within AWS as a Technical Account Manager based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where I have more dedicated customers that I work with on a more regular basis, helping them with projects and events from start to finish., which I'm really enjoying so far.

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Irene O'Donovan

I joined Kerry in April 2019 as a Quality Assurance Specialist, in their Charleville manufacturing site, where infant formula base and other milk products are produced.  In this role, I was responsible for customer/regulatory audits, resolving customer complaints and ensuring  that product integrity and standards across the site were being consistently met.   Key skills for this role included knowing how to troubleshoot systems to ensure reliability, usability and performance.  During my time in QA I got the opportunity to travel to China to help resolve a micro issue for one of our customers – it was a fantastic experience, and I even got to see some of Beijing! I quickly progressed within six months of joining Kerry to a QC Project Lead role, before moving onto my current role as a Laboratory Manager, with overall responsibility for our four onsite laboratories; In- process, milk intake, Microbiology and our Pathogen Lab.  I overhauled our laboratory quality systems management with the help and support of my colleagues and continue to work with the site team to ensure all our products meet regulatory, as well as customer expectations to the highest standard.  I am a graduate of UCC where I studied Biochemistry (BSc) before going on to do a MSc in Food Microbiology.  When I’m not keeping busy with the site laboratories you can find me getting away for another city break – post COVID 19 of course! 

Roisin Kelly

I initially pursued BSc Nutritional Sciences as I had a great interest in nutrition and dietetics. However, in 3rd year, I completed 6 month placement as Intern Food Technologist at Abbott Cootehill which changed my perspective. Here, I got an insight in to the area of infant formula product development and this sparked my interest in a career in the industry. In my final year I applied for the Nestle graduate programme at Nestle Development Centre Askeaton and was lucky to be accepted. I began the programme in September 2018, working in the area of infant formula product development. I was lucky to get the opportunity to transfer to Nestle Research Konolfingen, Switzerland after 16 months in Askeaton to finish out the end of my Graduate Programme. I now work as a Product Development Specialist at NDC Askeaton. 

MJ McLoughlin

Michael-John McLoughlin is a strategic sourcing & supply chain professional at McDonald’s UK & Ireland, the globally recognised and market leading, quick service restaurant chain. 

Based in the London head office, this role involves purchasing, supplier relationship management, category strategy development and assured supply work. 

Michael-John is currently the strategic sourcing market lead for the bakery, cold beverages, sweet snacking, toppings & Sweet sauces, seafood and freight categories.  

Previously, Michael-John worked as a senior regulatory technologist at Kerry Group. 

Michael-John graduated with a BSc. In Food Science & Technology from University College Cork and has just completed a MSc. in Supply Chain & Account Management from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in association with Bord Bia.

Ellen O'Brien

I graduated from UCC in 2020 with a BSc in Food Science. During the course of my studies, I completed a 6-month internship in PepsiCo Cork with the R&D beverage packaging team in Little Island. In this role I worked mainly as a lab technician testing PET, glass, cans, crowns and closures for innovation, productivity and sustainability projects.

In September 2020 I returned to PepsiCo to work with the beverage packaging team on a validation project based on gas barrier properties of PET.

In January 2021 I transferred to a new role within PepsiCo working as a packaging graduate. In this role I will develop packaging technical competency to support the PepsiCo Global Concentrate Solutions packaging agenda on best practice documentation, regulatory and quality compliance and projects execution.

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Juan Morales

Dr Juan Morales (male) is a Post-Doctoral researcher at Tyndall National Institute and the Physics Department, University College Cork. His research doctorate regarded the study of III-V novel semiconductor nanostructure, organic materials and minerals using advanced optical characterization. During his post-graduate, he was awarded a chair position and invited talks on the competitive international conference - SPIE photonic west conference.  In 2019, he joined the high regarded III-V materials and devices group at Tyndall to work towards the commercialisation and development of high power super-luminescent emitting diodes.  He also has experience guiding undergraduate student and early-stage doctoral researcher.  

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Melusine Pigeon

I received an MSc Eng from the National School of Civil Aviation (ENAC), Toulouse, France, in 2007 and my Ph.D in Electromagnetics in 2011. I have held different post-doctoral positions in France (CEA-Leti and IETR) and in UK at the Queen Mary University of London. After a short experience among Parrot society to design antenna for drones, I have held a position as CTO and RF Engineer in the BoneTag Start-up (design of a wireless device for orthopaedic implants). I now hold a senior post-doctoral researcher position in the Tyndall National Institute where I work on antenna for medical devices. 

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Walter Messina

Walter Messina, has a master degree in Biomedical Engineering (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy) and a PhD on Micro and Nano biosensor for biological and medical application at University College Cork, Ireland. He is currently working in the BioPhotonics group at Tyndall National Institute, Cork as a researcher on new Photonics based medical devices and as a part-time lecturer in the School of Chemistry at UCC. 

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Andrea Rossi

Andrea Rossi has a bachelor’s degree in information engineering and a master’s degree in computer engineering (University of Padova, Italy). He joined the Erasmus Programme in 2019 with which he had an internship for his master thesis at Tyndall National Institute, He is currently a 2nd year PhD student at SFI Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence at University College Cork. He is interested in machine learning and optimisation and his research are focused on predictive models and optimisation algorithms for resource demand in cloud computing. 

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Aodh Kennedy

Aodh is a Management Consultant working within Accenture’s Utilities practice. Aodh graduated from University College Cork with a First Class Honours Degree in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering in 2018. Within Accenture’s Utilities practice he has experience in areas such as Renewable Energy Strategy, Scada/Telemetry system implementation, Talent & Organisation (Operating model design, organisation design and change management)​

Since joining Accenture Aodh has worked on a variety of projects in the electricity, water and gas utilities sector. He is currently working for a Power Networks Operator in the UK. Aodh also has a keen interest in Renewable Energy and Sustainability solutions and hopes to begin a part-time Masters in Sustainable Engineering in Autumn 2021.

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Tom Morehead

Tom is a senior consultant at EY. He joined the business consulting practice in 2018 through the graduate programme. At EY, Tom focuses his time working with some of Ireland’s biggest clients on complex transformation projects focused on things such as technology implementation, corporate strategy and business process optimisation. Prior to joining EY, Tom worked for Novartis where he held two roles within medical affairs with their Irish commercial team and as a clinical analyst within their global drug development team. He holds a BSc in Biochemistry from UCC and an MSc in Biotechnology & Business from UCD. 

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Karen McCarthy 

Dr Karen McCarthy is a Commercialisation Case Manager with UCC Innovation, where she manages and supports technology transfer across the University. She has a BSc in Microbiology and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology. Her previous roles include establishing scientific engagement programmes for Tyndall National Institute and the SFI Research Centre IPIC, as Education & Public Engagement lead. She also spent 3 years as Research Coordinator for the UCC Food Institute, working across the wide spectrum of food research in the University and supporting industry partners. She is a member of the IMI Current Leaders program, and an alumnus of the Advance HE Aurora program. 

Sarah Ryan

Hello, my name is Sarah Ryan and I’m Customer Success Manager at Workvivo. I graduated from Energy Engineering in UCC in 2013 before joining the Accenture Consulting graduate programme in Dublin. 
I worked on a number of projects during my time with Accenture and enjoyed learning and challenging myself in different areas. My roles spanned across project management, change management, software testing, and contact centre operations, working with clients in Technology, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, and the public sector. 
In 2019 I joined the software company, Workvivo, where my priority is to ensure we give the best service to our customers and that they continually realise value from our software.  

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Niamh Creedon

Niamh Creedon is a Senior Consultant with Deloitte in the Global Investment and Innovation Incentives (Gi3) team. She specialises in advising research performing companies, across a number of different industries, in the areas of government incentives and R&D tax credits. Prior to joining Deloitte, Niamh held a commercial role for Microelectronic Circuits Centre Ireland, one of Enterprise Ireland’s technology centres. Her expertise is in the areas of sensor development, in-vitro diagnostics and analytical and electrochemical techniques. 

She received a BSc in Chemistry in 2013 from University College Cork and a PhD in Nanotechnology and Electrochemistry in 2018 from the Tyndall National Institute. 

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Conor Lyden

Conor Lyden is the Founder & CEO of Trustap, a transaction platform designed to protect buyers and sellers from being scammed when they’re transacting online or in person with strangers. Conor graduated from Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering in UCC in 2016, however, he did not pursue a career in engineering and instead applied for a space on the IGNITE Business Incubation Programme with the idea for Trustap. Conor grew the business steadily over the last couple of years and spent a period in Austin, Texas in the US before returning back to Cork where he now employs over 15 people from their office on Patrick’s Quay. 

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Darragh Lucey

Darragh Lucey is an entrepreneur who has up until now primarily focused his efforts in EdTech. Alongside, Nathan Mayes, he co-founded Yooni, Ireland's newest career guidance online guidance platform that specializes AI Assessment technology. Since its launch, Yooni has been used by students from almost every school in the country and has tens of thousands of users. Yooni was nominated for Cork Innovation of the year in 2021 and was a national finalist in Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur. In light of COVID, he also founded Grade Academy, an online learning platform for second-level students. The platform has seen over 4000 enrolments since its launch in September 2021.  

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Emer Keaveney

Emer Keaveney is a whale scientist, ocean educator, and founder of Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA Ireland), a "for-impact" non-profit organisation that is dedicated to monitoring and minimising disturbance to marine megafauna through innovation and awareness. Emer is the first marine biologist in Ireland to pioneer the use of automated solutions for marine wildlife surveys and data analytics in Ireland, using machine learning (ML) in partnership with Huawei Ireland and Rainforest Connection, based out of San Francisco, California.

Emer Keaveney has been working with marine mammals for over a decade, and is an avid naturalist and cetacean researcher. Having graduated with a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Marine Biology from University College Cork (UCC), where her research focused on fisheries/seal interactions, and later on stranding events of whales and dolphins along the Irish coast in relation to climatic variables. Emer enjoys presenting her research at

National and International Conferences and providing Education to the public. With multidisciplinary experience in hand, and across a range of marine megafauna research, Emer is a leader in her field of STEM Sciences. Her research interests include applied ecology, animal behaviour and bioacoustics, along with cognitive behaviour, population genetics and physiology.

In 2019, Emer joined the UCC IGNITE Programme and began developing new solutions to survey marine wildlife to service the offshore wind farm construction industry.

Emer has since pioneered the use of novel technologies for marine mammal science in Ireland such as using drones to follow whales, and is now listening into our oceans in real-time and training sophisticated machine learning models to automatically identify different whale species.

To learn more about ORCAIreland’s work visit www.orcaireland.org.

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Andrew McGregor

Being interested in making a difference in preventing the worst effects of climate change, I chose to study Energy Engineering at University College Cork after completing the Leaving Certificate. On graduating in 2018, I secured a position as an Energy Analyst within the Energy Analysis Group at Mainstream Renewable Power. Mainstream is one of the largest global pure-play renewable energy project developers, headquartered in Dublin. My primary responsibility is to perform design, optimisation, and energy yield assessment of onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar photovoltaic projects during the development process, in countries such as South Africa, Chile, the U.K., Vietnam, and the Philippines.  

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Jasmin Spoerri

I am a Graduate Engineering Geologist working in the Renewable Energy, Geotechnical and Environmental sectors. I am a recent graduate of UCC, having completed my BSc in International Field Geoscience in 2019 and my MSc in Applied Environmental Geosciences in 2021. I now work with Malachy Walsh and Partners in their Cork and Kerry Offices, where I am gaining experience in the consultancy industry. 

Although it is early days in my career, I thoroughly enjoy the variety of work and the problem-solving nature that many projects offer. Geology has become a heavily researched and integrated part of the Geotechnical and Environmental sectors. My knowledge and expertise from this STEM subject enables me to offer many services to our clients, partners and customers. 

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Eileen McCarthy

Eileen has 22 years’ experience in Geo-Environmental Consultancy in Ireland, and has been a company owner and director for 20 years, firstly with Minerex Environmental (8 years) and secondly with QMEC Environmental (12 years). 

Eileen graduated with an Earth Science Degree in UCC in 1998 and completed a Masters in Hydrogeology in University College London (UCL) in 2001.  Since 2017, Eileen has been undertaking PhD research in Peat Stability Risk Assessment with Industry Partners: Fehily Timoney & Co and SSE Renewables.  This research is being undertaken under the Geohazards and Geo-Engineering Spoke in iCRAG. 

Since 2012, Eileen has lectured in the disciplines of hydrogeology and engineering geology at UCC at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and has supervised a number of MSc theses in hydrogeology, geothermal and engineering geology.  She has been involved in the set-up, technical design and inclusion of industry partners to the MSc Applied Environmental Geology at UCC (2017 to present). 

At a business level, Eileen’s company QMEC continues to provide consultancy services to a number of clients, providing technical reviews and auditing services for wind farm construction projects. 

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Mary Rochford

Mary Frances Rochford is Programme Manager in the Environmental Protection Agency with responsibility for the Climate Change and Circular Economy Programme.

Mary Frances has a BSc (Hons) Earth Science from University College Cork, a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, a Diploma in Environmental and Planning Law from the Law Society of Ireland and a Diploma in Regulatory Management from Irish Management Institute.

Her current area of responsibility incorporates: National Green House Gas Inventories and Projections, the National Dialogue on Climate Action, Climate Ireland and International climate engagement, the National Waste Prevention Programme and Food Waste Prevention, the National Hazardous Waste Management Plan and National Waste Statistics and Reporting.

Having spent a short time in environmental and hydrogeological consultancy following graduation Mary Frances joined the EPA in 2002. Mary Frances has held a wide variety of roles within the EPA gaining broad experience in the area of environmental protection, enforcement, assessment and reporting in the areas of waste, water and industry and most recently climate.

She has extensive experience of public engagement on sensitive environmental issues and has demonstrated her ability to deliver positive environmental outcomes in situations with complex stakeholder interactions; building trust and relationships where diverse and competing priorities exist. 

Mary Frances has represented the EPA in the areas of regulatory, guidance, research, behavioural change and strategy development with multi-agency, national and international stakeholders.

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Phoebe Watson

Phoebe is a project engineer in the Arup maritime team. She graduated from UCC in 2015 with a BEng(Hons) in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University College Cork. Since starting with Arup, Phoebe has been involved in the various coastal and structural projects, in particular the design of flood defence schemes, assessment of masonry river walls, retaining walls, revetments, the structural design of piles and masonry bridge parapet strengthening works. She is currently responsible for the design and project management of a flood defence scheme in Dublin. Phoebe also led a research project investigating the pressures induced by wave overtopping on a structure behind a breakwater. She has worked on a variety of multidisciplinary projects with a number of heritage and environmental constraints.

Toddy Cuthbert

Toddy Cuthbert is an experienced environmental consultant who has been operating within both the private and public sector with over 20 years.  Toddy has an extensive understanding of technical aspects relating to environmental issues, with a particular interest in waste management, as well as broad experience of the statutory regulation processes in Ireland. 

Toddy’s significant expertise allows him to deliver and manage his projects in a cost effective and time efficient manner.  This coupled with his client focused approach and management of and communication with a broad range of stakeholders ensures the successful navigation of projects that can often be complex or challenging.

Gordon Harty

Hi my name is Gordon Harty and I am a UCC graduate having studied a Bachelor of Science in Genetics from 2012 to 2016. I am currently a Digital Project Manager at Medable, a Palo Alto based company aiming to reduce clinical trial timelines by 50 percent through our decentralised trial platform. During my Genetics degree, I never would have thought I’d go down this path but it is a prime example that career paths don’t always turn out as planned.  

After my degree, I enrolled in MSc Biotechnology and Business in UCD. I graduated from UCD and got a job as a Clinical Information Designer at Teckro, a clinical trial software company based in Limerick. I then went on to be a Managed Services Analyst responsible for user engagement of a clinical trial. I was then promoted to Project Manager, responsible for overseeing a client’s trial from start to finish before recently, starting in Medable as a Digital Project Manager.  

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Jean Ryan

Jean grew up in Carrigaline and graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Physiology from University College Cork in 2001. Jean’s current role is Senior Global Product Manager for Limb Restoration at Orthopaedic devices company, Smith+Nephew. Jean’s career with Smith+Nephew has taken her from being the local rep at Cork University Hospital (twelve years), to a marketing role in Toronto, Canada (two years), followed by a move to Global Headquarters in Memphis Tennessee (USA), as Product Manager in the Trauma Division. Jean is responsible for a range of external fixation devices that are used in limb salvage and deformity correction. Jean lives in Memphis with her Tipperary-native husband, fifteen-year-old son and very American-sounding nine-year-old daughter.  

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Lauren Andrews

My name is Lauren Andrews and I am a recent graduate of UCC with a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology and a current GOLD associate with Johnson and Johnson. 

I made the most of my time in UCC where I played both GAA and was heavily involved in the UCC WiSTEM society. I have been involved since its founding year where I was on the PR team (2018/19), in my final year I chaired the society (2029/20) and I am currently the ex-officio for the society which goes hand in hand with supporting J&J’s WiSTEM2D team. In my final year over my term as chair I led the society to being awarded, UCC’S best academic society, UCC’s best overall society, UCC’s best collaborative event, UCC’s best SEFs* event UCC’s best overall event* and personally I was awarded a Bene Meranti (outstanding individual award).  

In my final year I was very fortunate to also be awarded a J&J WISTEM2D 4th year scholar along with previously wining an all Ireland camogie medal along the way. Something that will always stick with me is the saying ‘Only a fool leaves UCC with just a degree’. Over the past 4 years my extra curriculars have made me the person I am today and my greatest accomplishments (excluding my degree) included winning a college All Ireland camogie medal and Being awarded UCC’s best society proceeding winning UCC’s best new society.  

I am a current GOLD  associate (global operational leadership development) with J&J. This is a truly remarkable program I am very grateful to be a part of as it truly empowers me to accelerate my career growth. This entails of 3 rotations across each sector of the J&J supply chain across the EMEA region. My first rotation was in Janssen in Cork on the Biologics Platform team within Clinical Supply Chain (BTDS -Biotechnological supply - Strategic Sciences & Technology Operations). I am currently based in Switzerland for my 2nd rotation working within CSS with Mnetor. I am lucky to work with a company which cares so much about diversity and inclusion and have had the opportunity to attend and work on some fantastic projects outside of my typical 9-5. 

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Orla Brett

Orla Brett began her studies in University College Cork in 2012, studying Biological and Chemical Science and received a BSc (Hons) in Physiology in 2016. She continued her studies further and received her MSc in Physician Associate Studies from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) in 2018. Orla now works as a physician associate (PA) on a general surgical service in a large Dublin hospital, working alongside the surgical team in a variety of settings including theatre, surgical wards and outpatient clinics. Orla has been working with her current team in Dublin for two years, offering continuity of care within the service. Orla is on the member of the Board of Directors of the Irish Society of Physician Associates (ISPA). She looks forward to being involved in the development of the PA profession in Ireland. 

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William Hickey

William graduated with a BSc in Physiology in 2015 from UCC and a MSc in Biomedical Science from NUIG in 2017. Since then he has been working as a research and development engineer in the structural heart valve space. First working for Lifelet Medical, an Enterprise Ireland funded start-up company developing novel polymer materials to for use in the aortic heart valve space. Since then, William has been working as an R&D engineer in Boston scientific. Here he works on next generation developments for Transcatheter aortic heart valves.  

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David Hardwicke

David Hardwicke is an R&D Program Manager at ONK Therapeutics, a biotechnology start-up based in Galway developing next generation therapies to treat cancer.

David graduated from UCC in 2016 with a degree in biochemistry, and in 2017 from the University of Notre Dame with a masters degree in business and entrepreneurship.

Since graduating, David has been working in the biotechnology industry for start-ups and a larger company across business development and program management roles, both in the US and Ireland.

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