Technology, Science and Sustainability Class Acts

James Whelan

BSc 1986, PhD Science 1990

Professor James Whelan was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science for his outstanding contribution to plant biology in 2019. He heads a laboratory based at the internationally recognised AgriBio Centre for Agricultural Bioscience facility within La Trobe’s Melbourne Campus. His extensive career highlights include more than 7,000 citations for hundreds of published articles, focused on his research on plant energy metabolism.

Andrew Keane and Paul Manning

HDipBS 2004, MBA 2010, BE 2003, PhD 2007

Professor Andrew Keane and Paul Manning are co- founders and CTO and CCO respectively of NovoGrid, winner of the 2020 Irish Wind Energy Award for Best Original Technology. NovoGrid helps utilities deliver energy more efficiently to customers and already has installations in Ireland, the UK and Germany. Having recently completed an investment round, it plans to continue its rapid global expansion.

John Kenevey

BSocSc 1993, MEconSc 1994

John Kenevey is chief security officer at RStor, a computer software company. He is also an advisor to Sylabs Inc, another computer software company. In 2019, he was named as one of Silicon Republic’s “Top 50 Irish Tech Executives”. At the Silicon Valley Global Awards in March 2020, Kenevey was inducted into the Irish Technology Leadership Group Hall of Fame, whose members are recipients of at least three ITLG Silicon Valley 50 Global Awards.

Mark Foley

BE 1982, MIE 1989

Newly appointed CEO of energy company EirGrid, Mark Foley aims to transform the energy system, placing Eirgrid at the centre of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan, an ambitious policy framework which seeks to deliver an average of 70 per cent renewables generation by 2030. EirGrid will spend €1.2bn up to 2025, with a separate €1bn spend on the Celtic Interconnector which links Ireland to Europe’s energy grids via a sub-sea cable from Cork to Brittany.

Catherine Godson

BSc 1984, PhD 1988

The International Congress of Inflammation, the world’s largest inflammation research institute, named Professor Catherine Godson as the recipient of its 2019 Women in Science Award, in recognition of “outstanding research and leadership contributions”. Catherine Godson is Professor of Molecular Medicine at UCD and Director of the UCD Diabetes Complications Research Centre and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Donal Finegan

BE 2013

Donal Finegan is a scientist at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory Center for Integrated Mobility Systems where his work focuses on understanding degradation and failure mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries and improving the performance and safety of cells and battery systems. He received the European Synchrotron 2020 Young Scientist Award for his groundbreaking work at its radiation facility.

Tadhg Bourke

MBS 2004

Tadhg Bourke is head of people and places at self- driving vehicle company Nuro, named in Fast Company’s 2020 list of World Changing Ideas for Transportation. Nuro’s vehicles are purpose- built to provide an accessible, sustainable delivery service to communities. At the Silicon Valley Global Awards in March 2020, Bourke was inducted into the Silicon Valley Irish Technology Leadership Group Hall of Fame.

Aoife Corcoran and Philip Crowe

PhD 2017, PhD 2017

Philip Crowe and Aoife Corcoran are directors of Space Engagers, a research and design collective of architects, social scientists and urban planners working to make towns and cities more resilient. Space Engagers is part of the Limerick-based EU-funded project for 2020, +CityxChange. In cities all over Europe, projects will promote engagement with local issues and encourage change.

Jiaying Zhao

MA 2007

Dr Zhao is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Dr Zhao focuses on how cognitive science can contribute to sustainability, and designs behavioural solutions. Her recently published paper showed how financial scarcity reduces sustainable choices and motivations while natural resource scarcity increases them.

Nigel Brunton

BSc 1995, MSc(Agr) 1997, PhD 2002

In February 2020, UCD agriculture and food science researcher and Associate Professor Nigel Brunton was named among the one per cent most cited researchers in the world in 2019, according to the annual Highly Cited Researchers report, compiled by Clarivate Analytics. Specialising in the recovery of valuable, reusable compounds from food waste, the prolific researcher has to date secured over €10m in funding for his research.

James Whelan

Andrew Keane and Paul Manning

John Kenevey

Mark Foley

Catherine Godson

Donal Finegan

Tadhg Bourke

Aoife Corcoran and Philip Crowe

Jiaying Zhao

Nigel Brunton

James Whelan

BSc 1986, PhD Science 1990

Andrew Keane and Paul Manning

HDipBS 2004, MBA 2010, BE 2003, PhD 2007

John Kenevey

BSocSc 1993, MEconSc 1994

Mark Foley

BE 1982, MIE 1989

Catherine Godson

BSc 1984, PhD 1988

Donal Finegan

BE 2013

Tadhg Bourke

MBS 2004

Aoife Corcoran and Philip Crowe

PhD 2017, PhD 2017

Jiaying Zhao

MA 2007

Nigel Brunton

BSc 1995, MSc(Agr) 1997, PhD 2002

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