PhD Programme Alumni
The Thematic PhD in Inclusive Design and Creative Technology Innovation has been running at UCD since 2010, and was built upon the award-winning model of the SMARTlab Practice-Based PhD which came to UCD from SMARTlab London.
To date there are 62 successful graduates of the programme, from UCD and also from: the National College of Art and Design Dublin, Central St Martins College of Art and Design/University of the Arts London, University of East London, the University of Surrey, the Open University, and Newcastle University Australia.
Alumni of our PhD have gone on to work with NASA, major research councils, the World Health Organisation, and to become presidents and esteemed chairs of top universities, as well as into the non-profit third sector and open source 'tech for good' movement.
A selection of alumni profiles can be seen here: (opens in a new window)https://www.smartlab.
Digital copies of all SMARTlab PhD theses will soon be available via a PhD Repository under construction. Watch this space!
Dr James Rwpampifi Aniyamuzaala
Aniyamuzaala James Rwampigi is a user of Hearing and Ear Assistive technology (HEAT) solutions and a researcher on topics related to Assistive technology, accessibility, Convention on Rights of Persons with disabilities and Diversity inclusion. James is a Humanitarian Action professional and a PhD Inclusive Design and Creative Technology Innovation Candidate at University College Dublin in Ireland. James’ PhD research is investigating how the Public funding and support system provide equitable public funding and support for Learners in need of Educational HEAT solutions. James is also one of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Ad hoc Advisory Group of Experts on Assistive Technology 2019-2022. He was an advisor on Inclusion and youth with disabilities for the UN Habitat Youth Advisory Board 2015-2018.
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Dr Sher Doruff
Stockholm University of the Arts | Uniarts · Research Center Doctor of Philosophy
Sher Doruff is a transidisciplinary artist teaching/supervising in the field of 3rd cycle Artistic Research. Her current research projects explore expanded techniques of speculative fabulation and fictioning. Her third book in the Last Year at Betty and Bob's trilogy is forthcoming from punctum books in summer 2021.
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Dr Daria Dorush
Daria Dorosh, PhD is an artist, researcher, and educator working in the fields of art, fashion, and technology. Born in Ukraine, she has been living and working in New York City and in her upstate studio since 1950. Her dissertation, Patterning: the informatics of art and fashion, (2007) investigated two binary patterns occurring across her fields of art, fashion, and technology, and demonstrated that the binaries of the Grid/Loop and Abstraction/Representation document a transition from a product-based culture to a process-oriented one. Take Back your Body was her presentation and published essay (IEEE) at VSMM2017, in Dublin. In 2018, her art exhibition honored the ancient Goddess culture of Ireland, in which her Watercolors and Wearables presented watercolors as armatures for ceremonial textile neckwear that offered a postmodernist choice: art to be worn and/or art on the wall.
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Sapna Ramnani
Dr Sapna Ramnani is a professional documentary filmmaker, scholar, human rights activist and author living in London. She conducted her practice-based PhD ith the IDRC in the IDCTI Phd Programme, under the supervision of Prof L Goodman, Dr Mick Donegan and Professor Cahal McGloughlin. Her thesis focussed on: 'Gaining Independence in Documentary Production through Assistive Technology: On-camera Interview Techniques Developed by, with and for People with Complex Disability'.
The primary focus of this study was to examine methods to enable film-makers with communication impairments to take a more active role both in front of and behind the camera. This could potentially provide a voice for people with disabilities who are currently misrepresented and under-represented in the media. Analysis from most other researchers observing people with disabilities is based upon their observations or conclusions from what participants told them.
Dr Joseph Young
Artist-Researcher Irish Research Council Scholar
Joseph Young is an Artist-Researcher specialising in immersive audio technologies, geo-location and heritage narratives, he completed his PhD at SMARTlab UCD in 2023. Funded by an Enterprise Partnership Award from Irish Research Council and Killruddery Arts, the work explored historiographies of the Big House in the Irish landscape through contemporary Sound Art praxis. A geo-located soundtrail is now open to the public at Killruddery, supported by a publication developed in partnership with Mermaid Arts Centre, alongside a vinyl album of sounds, released by Farpoint Recordings. He is an independent researcher, recently co-designing a digital humanities curriculum at University of the Arts London as well developing a new series of Intangible Digital Heritage experiences with female veterans from the British Army supported by Arts Council England and mentored by Prof Camille Baker of Royal College of Art, herself a previous graduate of SMARTlab, London.
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Dr Jools Gilson-Ellis
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Dr Frank Gleeson
Dr Frank Gleeson is a Quality Program Manager at Intel's semiconductor fabs in Lexlip. Frank completed a multi-disciplinary PhD in the Thematic PhD in Inclusive Design and Creative Technlogy Inovation at the IDRC/UCD in 2018, with research informing novel methods to improve the efficiency of knowledge workers. As a lean manufacturing specialist, Frank applied the knowledge he gained on a variety of quality, IT and efficiency projects in a complex manufacturing environment to his practice-based research. Frank is a raduate of UCD (B.Comm and B.A as well as PhD) and of Maynooth University (IT H.Dip).
Dr Wanda Gregory
Dr Chris Hales
Dr Chris Hales is an artist, media artist, interactive film maker and cultural critic. He studied at the Royal College of Art and joined the SMARTlab practice-based PhD when it was based at Central St Martins College of Art & Design (now University of the Arts London), and completed the PhD with a volume of 14 interactive films and a critical exegesis at the University of East London. In 2010 he took up a Research Fellowship with SMARTlab at UCD in the School of Education, supervising PhDs and contributing to collaborative research projects. He has contributed to the PhD panels of several UCD candidates. In 2020 he became an Assistant Professor at RISEBA University in Riga (Latvia) and is the Creative Director of Studies for the PhD course in Media Arts and Creative Technologies (run jointly between RISEBA and Riga Technical University) which is under discussion for a formal partnership with SMARTlab.
Dr. Pierre Jolivet
I.T. Manager
Pierre Jolivet (born Paris, France 1964) is an artist who's currently based in Dublin. Pierre started in the early eighties to perform as a French pioneer under the moniker of Pacific 231, in the Industrial and Power Electronics musical fields before moving into more Ambient and Abstract Electronic sounds. His works now explores the very limit of sound and space, especially through his past and present multimedia performances and installations: Stif(f)le, Im’shi and Espace Altéré presented in numerous countries as well as his recent audiovisual production: Micromega. His discography now exceed twenty albums with more than eight collaborations.
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Dr. Anna Kelly
Associate Director
Deputy Director: EDI Policy and Practice, Access and Lifelong Learning
Visiting Associate Professor IDRC
Anna, a highly regarded education leader, researcher and author in inclusion practices, is Adjunct Associate Professor and Co-Director at UCD’s Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC). The Centre facilitates and promotes research and scholarship in the domain of Inclusive Design and fosters innovation in education, social inclusion and real-world impact.
Dr Colin Keogh
Dr.Colin Keogh is an award-winning innovative Engineer, with qualifications & experience in innovative technologies in the Engineering, Business and Innovation sectors. He is currently supporting the innovation and commercialisation of large EU funded research projects as an innovation consultant with Inlecom Commercial Pathways. He has lead new research in the Energy, SDG’s, Additive Manufacturing and Innovation fields at UCD, with a focus on technology forecasting, enhanced innovation methodologies, additive manufacturing, applied impact and integrating advanced technologies into social, environmental, philanthropic and entrepreneurial activities. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Energy Systems Engineering from UCD. His PhD in Engineering was completed at UCD focusing on assessing global innovation methodologies leading to the development of his own advanced Innovation Methodology.
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Dr Taeyoung Kim
Dr Petra Kueppers
Dr Vic Merriman
Dr Gayil Nalls
Gayil Nalls, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist, theorist, and conservationist, involved in planetary scale, nature-first thinking. She is a pioneer of embodied environmental aesthetics, mass anatomy aesthetics and olfactory art. Her innovative social olfactory sculpture, World Sensorium, based on her original research and endorsed by UNESCO, was dropped into a crowd of 2 million people at Times Square 2000 and continues to be experienced in museums and events around the world.
Dr Zi Siang See
Lecturer in Innovation Design, Digital Learning and Technology Education
Dr Zi Siang See has specialised over the past 10 years in the design, use, and integration of interactive media, including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) research-creation. Zi has over 15 years of experience working within the field of interaction design and digital media, both in industry and within university institutions, nationally and internationally. These experiences include collaborations with multinational corporations such as McDonald’s, Lafarge Cement, Servier, Leo Burnett, DDB, and Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid. He has been involved in various MOOC projects and actively engaged in scholarly research and international collaborations. His work has contributed to the development of new systems, theories, and studies in human-computer interaction, educational technologies, and inclusive design.
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Dr Anita McKeown
Dr. Anita McKeown, FRSA, FIPM, is an award-winning artist, curator, educator and researcher working at the intersection of Inclusive design, Creative Placemaking, Technology (Open Source Culture and Technology) and STEAM education, across a range of inter and transdisciplinary projects, processes and partnerships. Her work uses an adaptive change method reverse-engineered for the 21st century challenges of the VUCA world and integrates design-thinking, circular economic principles, and the SDGs / Earth Charter to encourage a growth mindset and develop strategies and tactics to build social, environmental and economic resilience and encourage systemic behavioural change.
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Dr Vesna Milanovic
Assoc Prof Jacki Morie
Associate Professor
Jacquelyn Ford Morie is a pioneering Virtual Reality creator who developed original techniques to deliver more meaningful and emotional VR experiences. She has advanced degrees in both Fine Art and Computer Science, and is on the boards of several future-oriented companies. She served as the senior technical advisor to the recently awarded ANA Avatar XPRIZE, which challenged teams to build a physical robot avatar people could inhabit from a distance. Her company All These Worlds consults and builds immersive environments for a wide variety of clients, from NASA to industry and academia. Her 2020 book, co-edited with Kate McCallum, The Handbook of Research on the Global Impacts and Roles of Immersive Media, presented contributions from notable immersive media practitioners in its 22 chapters. Morie received her doctorate from the Smartlab program at the University of East London in 2007. She enjoys sharing her expertise in her Immersive Experience Design classes at UCLA Extension.
Dr Nigel Newbutt
Dr Anne Nigten
Dr Marie O'Mahony
Dr Claire Tomlinson
Dr Helen Paris
Dr Celia Pearce
Dr Joseph Young
Turlif Vilbrandt
Dr. Karolina Zawieska
Karolina Zawieska has joined the AU School of Culture and Society on the 1st of January 2021. She is a Marie Curie-Skłodowska Research Fellow at the Research Unit for Robophilosophy (RUR) with Johanna Seibt as her supervisor. With her background in sociology, Karolina´s research involves qualitative studies in roboethics and Human-Robot Interaction. In particular, she has been investigating the understanding of ethics among roboticists and the potential ways of developing a culture of responsible robotics. Prior to joining Aarhus University, she has received her PhD degree from the University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland and conducted postdoctoral research at De Montfort University, UK.
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