Current PhD Candidates at UCD

Brandon Blacoe

PhD Candidate

John Burke

PhD Candidate

Ms Mary Carden

PhD Candidate

Ms Cassandra J Collins

PhD candidate

With over 25 years in technology, is the Principal UX Design Director at Microsoft Strategic Mission Technologies (SMT) and SMT Accessibility Champ Lead. Her career, rooted in creative and game design, evolved to focus on user experience and accessibility, leading to her current role in inclusive design and accessibility for government cloud infrastructure. As a PhD candidate at UCD, Cassandra's thesis 'Recentring the Margins' mirrors her professional ethos in inclusive co-creation. Her achievements, including Young Innovators Creating a Better World for All by WEF 2020, Microsoft Platinum Club 2019 Outstanding Achiever Award, highlight her impact in UX design and accessibility. She has led the Azure Serious Gaming platform, integrating her gaming background with her focus on accessibility and UX. Cassandra's leadership in driving Microsoft's accessibility strategy demonstrates her commitment to creating inclusive, accessible, and empathetic technology solutions.

Matt Glowatz

Lecturer / Assistant Professor

Matt is a University College Dublin (UCD) SMARTlab part-time PhD candidate (2018 - 2024). His practice-based thematic PhD in inclusive design and creative technology innovation research entitled “Augmenting the Learning Experience: The A L E X Implementation Framework for Higher Business Education: From Affordances to Implementation” investigates and measures the effectiveness and impact of novel, innovative, immersive augmented reality (AR) enhanced curriculum design on higher education business students’ learning experience. Hereby, the term “learning experience” incorporates three core components, namely motivation, engagement, and knowledge acquisition and retention.
Matt is working full-time at UCD’s College of Business with electronic learning (eLearning), Technology Innovation and Social Media Strategy related themes being his main research interests.

Dave Graham

Director of Global Messaging for Emerging Tech (Dell)

Dave Graham is the Director of Global Messaging for Emerging Tech at Dell Technologies and focuses on the Edge, the integration of technology and social transformation, trust and ethics. He is a researcher on the Screen4Care Project and is conducting a PhD study of Data & Social Agency: an evaluation of adversarial data use as a means to increase beneficial social outcomes

Rob Harvie

PhD Candidate

Rob Harvie has a rich background in Information Communication Technology and accessibility solutions. While working at the University of Toronto over a few decades, he spent a large chunk of his time in research work with the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre on various media accessibility research initiatives. He directed Information Technology Services for the Faculty of Information, and taught human-computer interaction and emerging technologies – including augmented reality and multi-sensory interface design at the Institute for Communications, Culture and IT, the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, and School of Continuing Studies. Rob continues his lecturing on Inclusive Design at various Canadian colleges and universities, serves on digital accessibility working and advisory groups, and in 2009 founded and remains director of Inclusive Media and Design, a Toronto-based boutique consultancy.

Stephen Howell

PhD Candidate

Lucy Hunt

PhD Candidate

Vincent Hyland

Vincent Hyland is an artist, augmented reality innovator, wild life expert, television and media personality, and action-based scholar. He holds a B.Sc. in Geology/Earth Science from the University of Galway, and is completing a practice-based PhD on the topics of 'Augmenting the Sustainable Marine Environment: towards a novel multimedia educational toolkit supporting active learning in the 'wild'. As part of the professional practical research output for his PhD, and in collaboration with the EU Horizon Biobeo Project, his innovative Ecotelly work has been shared with school children engaged in active education about the bioeconomy. As a major practice-based contribution to new knowledge for the PhD, he has published a major new book: A Visual Natural History of the Skellig Coast, available here:https://www.vincenthylandartist.com/. The publications and resources are available at research at the IDRC/UCD has been funded in part by Living Iveragh, Kerry County Council, SMARTlab etc.

Jamie Kelly

PhD Candidate

Cheryl L'Hirondelle

Cheryl L’Hirondelle (Cree/Halfbreed; German/Polish) is an interdisciplinary artist, singer/songwriter and critical thinker whose family roots are from Papaschase First Nation / amiskwaciy wāskahikan (Edmonton) and Kikino Metis Settlement, AB. Her work investigates and articulates a dynamism of nēhiyawin (Cree worldview) in contemporary time-place incorporating Indigenous language(s), music, audio, video, VR, sewn objects, the olfactory, and audience/user participation to create immersive environments towards radical inclusion and decolonisation. As a songwriter and for her PhD research, L’Hirondelle focuses on nēhiyawēwin (Cree language) and Indigenous and contemporary song forms/sound shapes and personal narrative songwriting as methodologies toward sonic survivance. She recently received the 2021 Governor General’s Visual and Media Art Award. In addition, she was awarded two imagineNATIVE New Media Awards (2005 & 2006) and two Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards (2006 & 2007).

Moisen Mahjoobnia

PhD Candidate

As an Inclusive Designer with a focus on Accessible living and Digital accessibility, I have been blessed to be one of the few residents of both realms of digital and urban accessibility. I believe in an accessible and welcoming world for all. Bringing nature to all abilities through VR-Nature is both my passion and my PhD research topic. By creating an immersive-accessible VR experience, individuals can enjoy and benefit nature at their own comfort level. It can also help reduce depression (possibly caused by living in mega cities).

We are all unique and, in our uniqueness, we are all the same:
Individuals require a particular set of preferences and services, thus providing an alternative medium is the key to equal opportunities. I have been privileged to travel around the world and have experienced working and studying in multiple countries. This has helped me build a network of distinct friends and colleagues around the world.

José Mariñez

José Mariñez has many years of experience combining technical expertise, a passion for innovation, and business savviness. He’s contributed to great successes at large corporations – including among many Computer Associates, Microsoft, DoubleClick(Google),Nokia and Ericsson - startups, and supporting non-profit/community based organizations. His contributions have varied with every organization, but his most valued efforts are aligned with enhancing the lives of “everyday people.” From initiating open Wi-Fi networks in Sri Lanka, to 3D printing and physical computing at MIT’s FabLab or Synthetic Biology at Genspace, José consistently pushes the envelope of innovation, but always with the end-user in mind. Currently, José is Chief Evil Scientist at AWAR3 and as co-founder of SOMA – a personal cyber security anti-surveillance platform – all whilst spending his time hacking, designing, teaching and looking for ways to stay healthy to live to 600.

Ms Mary Munro

PhD Candidate

Eva Murphy

Eva Murphy is a lecturer at the Institute of Technology, Sligo. She works within the Faculty of Engineering and Design, delivering both undergraduate and postgraduate modules in Maths, Instrumentation, Project Design and Autonomous Vehicles.

Eva’s primary degree in in the area of Electronic Engineering. She also holds a BSc in Polymer Processing and an MBA. Before lecturing, she worked for 9 years in Limerick as an electronics engineer.

Eva’s area of research centres around bringing Inclusive Design Principles and Practise into Engineering education in Ireland. Part of this work showcases the use of Augmented Reality to create a digital arm (perhaps an alternative to a prosthetic arm) for those with upper-limb disabilities. .

Ms Mary Nolan

David Pollard

PhD Candidate

David Pollard is Education and Health Innovation Manager at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Ireland/UK and PhD Candidate in Inclusive Design and Creative Technology Innovation at SMARTlab in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, UCD.

David lectures in Innovation and Design Thinking at Innovation Academy at University College Dublin and Tangent at Trinity College Dublin. He also lectures in Technology Enhanced Learning and holds a Masters in Learning and Teaching. He is the former Innovation Projects Manager at Rehab Group and co-founder of Open Source Ventilator which featured in Forbes, Fortune Magazine, and New York Times.

Philip Jeremiah Ryan

PhD Candidate

Philip Jeremiah Ryan is a researcher on the Screen4Care Project, also contributing to the UCD efforts to improve supports and pathways for students and staff with Neurodivergences working on the Focus Group for the EDI Committee on Neurodiversity's Strategy Report. He is completing a PhD in the Inclusive Design and Creative Technology Innovation (IDCTI) programme with his thesis project Bureaucracy Map.
His research interests include inclusive design, bureaucracy, sociology, technology, user experience, trust, privacy, and migration.
He is director of Ryan Immigration Limited, a consultancy assisting immigrants to Ireland and has acted as a teaching assistant in Sociology and Engineering at UCD. He holds a BA in Communications Studies from Dublin City University, Adv Dip in Immigration and Asylum Law from King’s Inns Dublin, and an MSc in Comparative Social Change awarded jointly by UCD and Trinity College Dublin.

Graham Smith

PhD Candidate

For three decades, I have worked professionally as an international robotics expert and ‘robot maker’, technologist, international researcher and entrepreneur in the areas of telepresence, robotics, and virtual reality. As an entrepreneur I have started 3 companies in these areas.
In 1987 started my first company called Horizonscan to commercialize my panoramic virtual reality inventions and in 1996 formed my 2nd company named Telbotics to roll out PEBBLES (Providing Education By Bringing Learning Environments to Students) that was installed in over 150 hospitals and schools in Canada and the US.
In 2007 I started my 3rdrd company, Webchair: through Webchair we deployed over 500 units that link children recovering from cancer to their learning environments in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.

Mark Stanley

PhD Candidate

Mark Stanley is a Director of Process at Microsoft, within the Core Services Engineering and Operations team. Marks work in Microsoft is focused on enhancing the Customer Experience using process rigour, while using data & AI to become more predictable.

In addition to his core role, Mark is a member of the Ireland Diversity & Inclusion Council, and has been involved in many areas of STEM, including helping to Organise the first Irish Local Grace Hopper event. His background is in Mechanical Engineering, and includes experience in Manufacturing, Aerospace and Technology.

Eleanor Turner

PhD Candidate

Born and raised in Caherdaniel, on a farm overlooking the Kenmare Bay Eleanor is a Marine Biologist whose main interests lie in the areas of community engagement in environmental management and invasive species management.
After graduating with Bsc. Marine Biology from Bangor university, she travelled for several years before returning to her hometown. Her current role is as Biosphere Officer working with South Kerry Development Partnership on the Kerry UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. She has previously worked in marine awareness and education.
Locally Eleanor is involved with community groups focusing on various environmental issues. Her work with these inspiring communities has directed her area of research towards community engagement in biodiversity management.

Ms Saskia Wilson-Brown

A producer and curator for visual art and film, Saskia co-directed the seminal Silver Lake Film Festival, ran international outreach and development for Al Gore’s Current TV, and has consulted on a number of arts, film and transmedia projects, including the pioneering P2P film distribution platform VODO, DIY Days, TEDActive and Slamdance Film Festival. In 2012, her interest in experimental practices led her to create The Institute for Art and Olfaction (IAO), a non-profit arts organization devoted to access, experimentation, and education in the field of perfumery. Through the IAO, she has launched partnerships with institutions such as Goethe Institut, Hammer Museum, Getty Institute, Danish Film Institute and National Media Museum UK (with Tammy Burnstock), Standard Hotel, Atlas Obscura, Huntington Library, Wallace Collection, Silent Green Kulturquartier, Watts Gallery, LACMA, and many more.

Sara Lisa Vogl

PhD Candidate

Hongsuk Yoon

PhD Candidate

Hongsuk has been a researcher at SMARTlab-IDRC, UCD since October 2017, contributing to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). His PhD dissertation, “Embodying Empathy: Inclusive Virtual Reality for Extreme User Experience,” aims to explore the potential of Virtual Embodiment specifically through Virtual Reality interfaces towards Extreme Users who require specialised forms of interaction due to severely limited mobility. His work explores the integration of Head-Mounted Display (HMD) with existing assistive technologies to create novel and affordable VR interfaces. These interfaces are designed to be accessible and effective in social VR environments, focusing on the empowerment of users through avatar embodiment. This practice delivers directly to the real world needs of individuals without a means to communicate, enabling a genuine social impact to all if we design for the people who have an extreme need.