PIs, Researchers and Academic Faculty UCD

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 Tara O’Neil

Tara O'Neil's work in innovation is located at the intersection of design, strategy and foresight. Delivering creative and critical thinking that goes below the surface is found in many examples of Tara’s work. Her PhD thesis, Tara took users to the future using Virtual Reality Tome Portals so that they could overcome their existing cognitive bias and find their inner but buried creative talent. The same process is currently being used in a variety of projects at SMARTlab Niagara, where Tara is the Chief Innovation Officer. From finding innovative solutions to climate change to understanding and gaining empathy regarding the history of Canada be Tara’s time portals are bringing people opportunities to make the invisible, visible.

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 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.

Dr Mick Donegan

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Dr James Aniyamazulla

Job Title or Role

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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.

Dr Fionnuala Conway

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.

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.

Dr Jessica Garska

Research Content Development Team Manager

Jessica is a recent PhD graduate from Trinity College Dublin in Applied Linguistics. She is an educator, researcher, and curriculum developer in English for General Purposes and English for Academic Purposes within a variety of disciplines.
She has taught in primary, post-primary, and various adult (further and tertiary education) educational settings in multiple countries. Her focus in research and teaching follows an academic literacies framework, reflecting on and navigating the discipline-specific discourses and conventions of different settings to examine the intersection of power, identity and culture in academic and other contexts. She further integrates translanguaging and Global English's within the classroom and in her research.

Rebecca White

Research Delivery and Curriculum Lead

I am an educator, consultant, trainer and curriculum developer, focusing on STEAM education, project-based, student-led learning and professional development for place-based learning.
What do I do?
*Facilitate educational training and material that engages and inspires learners with sustainable development.
* Support educators to take their learners through the design-thinking process in order to develop sustainable solutions for their real-world problems.
* Encourage educators to be more confident in delivering messages of sustainability to their learners in a way that is relevant and accessible.
* Incorporate place-based STEAM education into teaching and learning, with an emphasis on cross-curricular links among schools and communities.

Dr. Fatemeh Golpayegani

Lecturer / Assistant Professor

My research is focused on Artificial Intelligence and particularly (opens in a new window)Multi-agent systems. In short, Multi-agent systems consist of multiple autonomous entities (i.e., agents), who can perceive their environment, learn and make decisions. Such entities are capable of showing some social behaviour such as cooperation, competition and collaboration. In my research I am mostly interested in designing new algorithms for behavioural modelling of autonomous agents, to facilitate their interactions, cooperation and collaboration in open and distributed systems. Multi-agent systems are very interesting as they can be used to model very complex real-world systems such as traffic management systems.

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.

Rob Harvie

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.

Dr. Aisling Ní Annaidh

Associate Professor

Dr. Aisling Ní Annaidh is Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Design in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at UCD. After graduating with a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering in 2007, Aisling spend time at Rice University where she worked on Computational Fluid Dynamics. After returning to Ireland, she completed a joint PhD (co-tutelle) at UCD and Université Sorbonne (UPMC) in the area of Biomechanics. Upon completing her PhD, Dr. Ní Annaidh worked for a leading multinational medical devices firm. She is currently Principal Investigator of the Tissue Biomechanics group at UCD and Co-Lead Investigator on the MSCA Innovative Training Network, HEADS (Head Protection: A European Training Network for Advanced for Advanced Designs in Safety). Her research interests include Tissue Biomechanics, Medical Device Design and Assistive Technologies.

Dr. Di Nguyen

Assistant Professor

Di Nguyen joined the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering as an Assistant Professor in 2022. Prior to her appointment at UCD, she completed her Bachelor (2017) and Doctoral (2022) programs in Industrial Engineering at Clemson University, South Carolina, USA.
Her research focuses on network interdiction problems under uncertainty. She is also interested in optimization problems arising in social and environmental contexts, such as emergency planning and preparedness, the dynamics of social networks, and health care for stigmatized medical needs.
During her time in the US, she also spent part of her time working at Bosch LLC and BNSF Railway. Some of her work in the industry involved streamlining processing/improving efficiency, process simulation and visualization, scheduling, and developing working programs to improve on-time delivery.
Di is also serving as a board member of the Forum for Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences (WORMS).

Dr. Aasifa Rounak

Assistant Professor

Aasifa studies the nonlinear dynamical phenomena exhibited by mechanical systems undergoing impacts and friction. These systems are studied under the purview of discontinuity-induced bifurcations which lead to occurrences like chaos, grazing, co-existence, chattering, squeal, intermittency, etc. Such phenomenological behaviors could be consequences of loosening of joints, free-play in gears/aeroelastic systems, rotor-stator rubs, or sticking-slidings at tool-chip interfaces. These occurrences can be highly detrimental to the performance of mechanical systems and can lead to excessive wear. She thereby examines the dynamical stability and deduces safe operational ranges of such systems.

Dr. Vikram Pakrashi

Associate Professor

Dr. Vikram Pakrashi (BEng, PhD, CEng. MIEI, MASCE) is Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director of Dynamical Systems and Risk Laboratory (DSRL) in UCD. Vikram is a Chartered Engineer and has served both industry and academia working on numerical and experimental applications of dynamics and risk/probabilistic analysis on traditional (roads, bridges) and bourgeoning (wind/wave energy devices and platforms) sectors of built infrastructure. Several of his projects are partly funded by the industrial sector. His recent research activities involve structural health monitoring, analysis of dynamic systems, vibration control, experimental methods in dynamics, damage detection algorithms and the use of new technologies for such applications. Vikram has supervised and mentored several doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and has received multiple awards for his research and leadership activities.

Dr. Paul Kenny

Assistant Professor

Paul is a lecturer at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. He is actively engaged in teaching, postgraduate supervision and research in the fields of daylight, sustainable & healthy building design and performance.
He has over 30 years experience in the building industry, both professional and academic. In addition to his more recent academic roles, his interest in advancing sustainable and healthy buildings has included working as a design engineer, undertaking a wide range of specialist consultancy projects, participating and managing numerous EU-funded research projects and acting as an expert to the European Research Executive Agency for both the FP7 and Horizon2020 research funding programmes. He is also an occasional reviewer for numerous peer reviewed journals.

Dr Brendan Rooney

Lecturer/Assistant Professor

I am an Assistant Professor in the UCD School of Psychology and Director of the Media and Entertainment Psychology Lab. I am currently Director of the UCD Psychology Graduate Research Programme. I previously held appointments at Columbia University, the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, the National College of Art and Design, and the National Film School.
My research interests include social cognition, (visual) perception and how cognitive and emotional processes interact in the context of media, arts and entertainment. Through my research and teaching, I have worked in a number of interdisciplinary and international research teams, with creative and entertainment industry experts (such as animators, filmmakers, and designers), philosophers, computer scientists and engineers, film and humanities scholars, and cognitive neuroscientists.

Dr Sarah Cooney

My research aims to elucidate the multifaceted characteristics of body perception in the general population and in those with body-image disorders. Using a mixed-method approach, work in my lab utilizes large-scale online data collection and virtual reality to specify the relationships between the complex cognitive and perceptual mechanisms that give rise to body representation including; multisensory integration, mental and motor imagery, and visuo-spatial perspective-taking.

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 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.

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.