IVI Staff

Senior Executive Assistant

Carol Connolly

Carol is a Senior Executive Assistant with IVI coordinating event and outreach management, workshop coordination, digital media communication and day-to-day operations.

Knowledge Transfer Manager and Senior Research Fellow

Dr Michael Hanley

Michael Hanley leads educational innovation initiatives, curriculum development, and strategic academic programmes at IVI. He is recognised for integrating research-based frameworks and data-informed processes into institutional practice. He is a specialist in digital and AI transformation in complex public and private sector organisations, with a track record of aligning organisational strategy with national and regional policy.

As well as his experience in higher education, he has worked previously as as Director of Online Learning at Cúram Software (an IBM Company), and Digital Media Manager at the Educational Multimedia Group. He is Course Director for the “Leading Digital Transformation in Organisations” micro-credential at Maynooth University and co-creator and lecturer on the MSc in Healthcare Transformation at the University of Limerick. He has directed multiple large-scale academic and industry collaborative projects, such as Grad2Work, the Tech Industry Alliance Sustainable Software Development Toolkit, and the DIGIFABS EU project.

Michael is a member of the Maynooth University Social Science Institute (MUSSI), serves on the Steering Board of the Irish Local Government Cybersecurity CORE programme (LG-CORE), and a Irish Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Steering Group member. He is also a Fellow of the Learning & Development Institute. He has contributed to national and international academic and professional conferences, including addresses at the Maynooth University DEARS Symposium and workshop facilitation at the IVI Summit, and has been published in the International Journal for Digital Society and other journals.

Michael holds a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Maynooth University, and an MSc (Hons) in Education Technology from the National College of Ireland.

Research Interests:

• · Digital transformation in higher education
• · Academic–industry partnership and innovation
• · Organisational capability and change management
• · Post-digital education futures
• · Data-informed leadership, strategy, and governance in complex organisations
• · Sustainable digital & AI skills in professional education
• · Human capital policy development
• · Flexible pathways to education for adults

Project Manager, ENTRUST and Digi+

Pedro Campilho

Indudhara Havaldar

Data Governance Expert

Samarth Santosh

Samarth Santosh is a technical business analyst specializing in Data Governance and Data-Driven digital transformation. He is a co-author on the Data Governance Roadmap for Ireland as well as a member of the Data Governance Roadmap taskforce at EMPOWER. Currently he is working on a number of industry projects with the Innovation Value Institute focusing on process mining as well as helping build the policy and infrastructure in the TEHDAS 2 project that focuses on the creation of a European Health Data Space.

Project Manager at Innovation Value Institute

Roshmita Kanungoe

Roshmita Kanungoe is a Project Manager working with Innovation Value Institute (IVI) in Maynooth University, Ireland since 2021. Her expertise lies in leveraging technology and research to deliver impactful results. Roshmita has experience in managing capacity building, industrial and public sector projects nationally and in EU, with a focus on digital transformation. Prior to her current role, Roshmita worked as a developer, delivering SaaS products for the FMCG industry.

Executive Assistant

Edmund Chapman

Research Assistant

Caoimhe McPeake

Caoimhe is a Research Assistant for the Digitising Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Pathways project, led by Dr Ciara McCormack.

Research Assistant, GoGreenNext

Ana Rodriguez Armendariz

Ana is a researcher for the Clarina AI project. She is a MPhil by Research student at Dublin City University, where she is a FIA United Against Online Abuse scholar focused on education countering online abuse in sport.

Postdoctoral Researcher, GDI Ireland

Dr Naveed Khan

Naveed is a postdoctoral researcher on the Genomic Data Infrastructure Ireland project. Naveed completed his PhD in Computer Science and Technology at Beijing University of Technology and joined Innovation Value Institute Maynooth in 2024. Naveed’s research project addresses the challenges of managing and securing large-scale genomic datasets in the context of evolving privacy and ethical standards. His research interests include data governance, authentication, information security, cloud computing, blockchain, named data networking, and quantum cryptography. He has published articles related to these areas in various journals, contributing to innovations in these rapidly evolving fields.

Postdoctoral Researcher, LERO / Fidelity - Mining4Compliance

Dr. Azra Aryania

Azra Aryania is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Innovation Value Institute (IVI), Maynooth University. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering – Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Her doctoral research focused on enhancing social engagement behaviours in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder through the imitation of a social robot’s movements. Her current research at IVI focuses on ontology-driven process mining to automate compliance with Data Sharing Agreements in socio-technical systems. This work integrates ontology-based reasoning, conformance checking, and process mining to enable automated compliance assessment in data-driven environments. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC) in Barcelona, Spain, where she modelled user intentions in disclosing personal information to robots and investigated trust and transparency in human–robot interaction, addressing challenges related to data governance and privacy. Her research interests include Trustworthy AI, Process Mining, Human–AI/Robot Interaction, and Data Governance. She has published in leading journals and conferences such as Information Sciences, ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, International Journal of Social Robotics, Journal of Grid Computing, and IEEE RO-MAN.

Digi+ Fellow

Dr Mehran Kianvand

Mehran is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellow working on the Digi+ project.

Dr Mariya Riekkinen

Mariya is a postdoctoral researcher working on the GoGreenNext project.

Postdoctoral Researcher, GoGreenNext

Dr Alan Scarry

Dr Alan Scarry is a Nutritionist and researcher whose work bridges dietary health, sustainability, and digital innovation. He completed his PhD at Limerick University as part of the GoGreen Routes Horizon 2020 project, examining diet quality, sustainable food choices, and behavioural motivators for dietary change. His primary study, “The Impact of Colour-Coded CO₂ FoodPrint Labelling on Consumer Food Choices,” conducted with Nutritics and Aramark, was the first of its kind in Ireland, and preliminary findings were presented at COP27 and COP28.

Alan currently works as a Postdoctoral Researcher on the GoGreen Next Horizon Europe project, focusing on Urban Health in cities and on behavioural change to promote healthier, more sustainable cities. His recent work extends to global sport, where he has collaborated with international partners to promote environmental sustainability in motorsport through fan behaviour change and Scope 3 emission-reduction strategies. His research interests focus on sustainable diets, digital health innovation, and pro-environmental behaviour.

Rozita Hashemi

Rozita is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Maynooth University, Ireland, supported by the ADAPT Centre. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science, an MBA, and an MSc in strategic management. With over a decade of professional experience in data management, she brings a strong industry perspective to her academic work. Her research on data value in the construction industry represents a timely and significant contribution to advancing data-driven practices in the built environment sector.

Niamh Petrie

Niamh Petrie is a PhD student conducting research at the Innovation Value Institute, Maynooth University. With a background in Psychology (BSc Psychology, 2024), she is committed to advancing scholarly understanding and informing policy on age-friendly communities.

Niamh’s current doctoral research investigates the impact of age-friendly housing on social connection and social participation, with particular attention to the ways in which the built environment and community design can foster inclusion, civic engagement, and wellbeing among older populations.

This project is funded and supported by Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, in partnership with Age Friendly Ireland (AFI), and seeks to contribute to policy and practice in advancing sustainable, inclusive models of housing and community development.

Previous publications include:

· Older Adults Who Receive Care Coordination from the Third Sector in Ireland: Who Are They, and What Do They Need? Journal of Social Service Research (2025) https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2025.2487546

· Amplify and Advocate: Implementing a Youth Mental Health Advocacy Project, a Collaborative Rights-Based Approach Using COM-B, APEASE, and the Lundy Model. Journal of Community Psychology (2025) https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.70009

Marina Antoniadou

Marina is a PhD student under the EU project GoGreenNext, which aims to develop evidence-based policies to improve climate, biodiversity, and human health and explore their interconnections, especially in urban areas. Marina completed her undergraduate degree at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, where she graduated with a BSc in Geology. She continued her studies at the same university, earning an MSc in Meteorology, Climatology, and Atmospheric Environment. Her Master’s thesis focused on the seasonality of extreme precipitation and temperature events over the Mediterranean region, utilizing circular statistics. Her PhD research explores the impacts of climate change on human health through its effects on air quality. By examining variables such as temperature, precipitation, and humidity, along with air quality indicators, Marina aims to quantify observed relationships and create future projections using a Generalised Additive Model (GAM). This research is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on air quality and public health.

Coleen Griffin

Michaela Merceda Degbeon

Michaela is a part-time PhD researcher at IVI.

Eamon Callan

Eamon is a PhD student working with the GoGreenNext project.

Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Dr Mansoor Ahmed

Dr. Mansoor Ahmed is a distinguished Research Fellow and Principal Investigator at Maynooth University’s Innovation Value Institute, where he leads nationally and EU-funded projects on AI ethics, GDPR-compliant data protection, and responsible data sharing in health and public services. With a PhD in Computer Science and Technology from Vienna University of Technology and over 10 years of academic excellence, Dr. Ahmed specializes in cybersecurity, blockchain technologies, data governance, AI ethics, and regulatory compliance.

Currently holding a prestigious Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Fellowship, Dr. Ahmed investigates privacy implications of AI in public services while developing comprehensive data protection guidelines. His expertise spans data governance, AI ethics and regulatory compliance, information security, and privacy-preserving systems. He has successfully secured competitive research funding, including awards from SFI, MSCA European Commission, and industry partnerships with META.

Dr. Ahmed’s research impact is evidenced by over 75 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals. He has supervised multiple PhD dissertations and serves on editorial boards of international journals while maintaining active memberships in ISO/IEC technical committees.

His collaborative work with industry giants like META, regulatory bodies including NSAI and CEN, and contributions to European Health Data Space (EHDS) initiatives demonstrate his commitment to translating cutting-edge research into real-world solutions. He is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies for ethical and sustainable development, He thrives at the intersection of innovation, education, and policy. Whether collaborating on cutting-edge research, shaping academic programs, or driving policy change, he is committed to creating systems prioritizing societal well-being and trust.

Assistant Professor, School of Business

Dr Nada Elnahla

Nada Elnahla is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Maynooth University School of Business. She holds a PhD in Management/Marketing from Carleton University, Canada, and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Cairo University, Egypt.

Nada’s current research explores the impact of traditional and smart surveillance in the retail sector on the different stakeholders and its ethical implications, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on retailing, specifically on retail workers, loyalty programs, and consumer behaviour. She has presented her work at international conferences and has published research in peer-reviewed academic journals and conference proceedings.

Her teaching experience includes undergraduate and postgraduate education programs in the fields of marketing, digital marketing communications, consumer behaviour, and literature.

Assistant Professor, School of Business

Dr Shane McLoughlin

Assistant Professor, School of Business

Dr Ali Nazarpour

Dr Ali Nazarpour is Assistant Professor in Management at Maynooth University School of Business. Ali has been awarded PhD in Operations and Supply Chain Management from University College Dublin, Smurfit School of Business. He earned his BSc degree in Industrial Engineering and Master’s degree in Business Administration from Iran University of Science and Technology. Prior to his PhD studies, he worked for two years in the construction sector and seven years in the automotive industry where he served as Sales Supervisor, Marketing and Sales Planning Chief, and Inventory Management Project Manager. Parallel to working in industry Ali was also engaged in teaching and research activities. His dual interests in industry and academia lead to undertaking his PhD and subsequent career as a researcher and lecturer.

Associate Professor, Psychology

Dr Joanna McHugh Power

Dr Joanna McHugh Power is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Maynooth University. She received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in 2010 and gained postdoctoral experience on projects concerning social engagement in later life. In 2014 she received a Leadership in Ageing Research Fellowship from the Institute of Public Health, in which she focused on social factors determining cognitive decline in later life, gaining experience in the Irish and Northern Irish cohorts for the longitudinal study of ageing (TILDA and NICOLA). Joanna joined Maynooth University in 2019. Joanna has received over 3 million euro as PI or co-PI on projects concerning social functioning and most particularly loneliness in later life. Currently she is a co-investigator on the Canadian Institute of Health Research funded project “Intersectional and life course approaches to loneliness”; on the Dutch government funded project “Interventions in the built environment targeting loneliness in young adults”, and she is leading the HRB-funded project “Housing and health in older adults”. Joanna has authored more than 80 publications in the field of gerontology and most commonly loneliness. As current Chair of the Loneliness Taskforce Research Network and member of the government-facing Loneliness Taskforce (lonelinessresearch.org) Joanna is committed to influencing policy on loneliness and ageing. Joanna is collaborating with Professor Markus Helfert in the IVI on the LERO/SFI funded project “Data governance and evidence-based policy making – partnership for research on ageing and older people”.

Associate Professor, School of Business

Dr Jean Cushen

Jean is an Associate Professor of HRM within the School of Business, Maynooth University. Jean also serves as Deputy Head of School with responsibility for Accreditation, having previously held the role of ‘Academic Director Postgraduate Teaching and Learning’. Jean’s research explores the contemporary employment experience focusing on sustainability leadership, financialization and human resource management (HRM). Jean has published on these topics in top ranked international journals including ‘Accounting, Organizations and Society’ and ‘Work Employment and Society’. Jean has also contributed to HRM related publications including HRM encyclopaedias and textbooks, Skillnet, CIPD and IBEC publications. Jean teaches in the areas of HRM and ‘careers’ and ‘research methods’. Jean is an academic member of the CIPD, an Academic Fellow of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes and is on the judging panel of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Before joining MU, Jean worked as a lecturer in Dublin City University (DCU) and Queens University Belfast. In her first year in DCU Jean was awarded the ‘President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching’. She completed her PhD in 2010 in Trinity College Dublin with a full scholarship from the IRCHSS. Prior to entering academic life Jean worked for several years as a ‘Human Capital Consultant’ for the global professional services company Willis Towers Watson; then Watson Wyatt. During this time Jean worked both in Dublin and Toronto and advised organisations on the design and implementation of a range of HRM techniques.

Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Dr Hao Wu

The research on Architecture research at Computer Science Department aims to formalise/generalise architecture models, create automated tools and domain specific languages for manipulating different kinds of models at enterprise level. In particular, we are currently using our unique techniques for solving complex constraints to increase confidence in using Architecture models.

Assistant Professor, School of Business

Dr Patrick Rigot-Müller

Dr. Patrick Rigot-Müller is a lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain at Maynooth University School of Business. His research interests include Maritime Transport, Supply Chain Digitalization and Sustainability. He has previously worked for Normandy Business School and Newcastle University (School Of Marine Science and Technology). He has published articles in conferences and peer-reviewed academic journals such as, Transportation Research Part A, Energy Policy or Technological Forecasting and Social Change.

He has delivered graduate and executive education courses for more than 10 years for many institutions such as Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, HEC Paris, Imperial College London, ESSEC, Ecole Centrale Paris, and Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.

He has an extensive industry background with more than 20 years of consulting in Supply Chain and applied research in Digital Manufacturing. His projects covered the areas of industrial strategy, logistics strategy, network design, shipping plan optimization, outsourcing, warehouse operations, forecasting and S&OP process design, investment analysis, production plant and warehouse design… for a wide range of companies and organizations such as Total, L’Oréal, Solvay, Nespresso, Lexmark, Sephora, Alcatel-Lucent, Ministère de la Défense, Ministère des Transports, Novartis, Veolia, Vallourec, Essilor and Renault.

Assistant Professor of Management, School of Business

Dr Emmanuel Kypraios

Emmanuel Kypraios is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Management at Maynooth University School of Business.

Emmanuel’s research interests lie at the intersection of economic sociology, sociology of finance, organization theory and strategic management, with particular focus on sustainability and the socio-cognitive mechanisms that underlie decision-making processes.

His previous academic appointment was visiting Professor of Strategy at the Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland. Emmanuel earned his PhD at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)/University of Lugano, Switzerland. He studied at Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA and holds a MSc (Financial Management) from SOAS, University of London, UK, and a BA (Economics) from Bard College, NY, USA.

Before joining academia, Dr. Kypraios spent 12 years in the financial industry as a senior trader and broker of equity derivatives working for different financial institutions such as BNP Paribas, Hypovereinsbank, hedge fund groups such as Integrated Asset Management and wealth management companies in Munich, Frankfurt, London, Paris and lately in Lugano, Switzerland.

Professor of Computer Science

Prof. Rosemary Monahan

Rosemary Monahan is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and an affiliate of the Hamilton Institute at Maynooth University. She holds BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science from UCD, a PhD from DCU and is the Maynooth University institutional lead for ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology.

As a founding member of the Principles of Programming Research Group she specialises in the static and dynamic analysis of software. She has expertise in the modelling, analysis and verification of software, working with international academics and industry to develop and employ techniques increasing the dependability of software systems (such as those in the medical, automotive, and aerospace domains).

Professor Monahan is co-founder of the international VerifyThis competition series, bringing together both academic and industrial users of tools which guarantee the correctness and reliability of software systems. She is a Principal Investigator (PI) under the Science Foundation Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme, working on verification and visualisation of AI based-systems (MAIVV, 2021-2025), and a Funded Investigator (FI) working on VERIFAI: Traceability and Verification of Natural LAnguage Requirements in ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology.

Recent projects include research funded by Enterprise Ireland and H2020 ESCEL JU programme to improve workflows and tools for verification and validation of software systems (VALU3S, 2020-2023). She is passionate about providing solid mathematical foundations for software systems and in next-generation verification technologies applied to AI-based software. “Arís: Analogical Reasoning for reuse of Implementation & Specification” is a recent project concerning applying models of analogical reasoning to the domain of reliable software development and re-use.

Professor Monahan has been PI on two SFI Discover projects (InSPECT 2019-2022; CoCoA 2021-2023) producing educational resources that teach the science of problem-solving through computational thinking and she is currently a funded collaborator on CoCoA23 (2023 – 2025) improving scientific problem solving skills through co-creation, collaboration and active learning. She is a named supervisor in the SFI Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science and the SFI Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies, and supervises PhD students funded by the Irish Research Council.

As the Director of the Erasmus Mundus MSc in Dependable Software Systems (2012-2018), she has secured and managed €2.5 million in EU funding, providing foundations for the subsequent DEPEND Erasmus Mundus programme. Recent collaborators include UTRC, Ireland; Microsoft Research, USA; Amazon Web Services, USA; and INRIA, France; with research funded via the Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, and Horizon 2020.

Senior Research Fellow, CONNECT

Dr Grace Walsh

Grace is a Senior Research Fellow, having completed her PhD in 2013. Her work is funded via CONNECT, the Irish Research Centre for Future Networks. Her current active research projects include:

• The viability of Neutral Host Networks as a way to improve telecommuncations coverage in rural areas;
• The role of Decentralised and Distributed Networks in supporting creativity: examining the Privacy-Personalisation Paradox;
• Pseudonyms as digital identity to support inclusivity, maintain privacy, and enable legitimacy.

Assistant Professor, School of Business

Dr Niall Connolly

Niall is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Niall is a Funded Investigator  with CONNECT, the SCF Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

Niall’s research interests are in technology adoption, with a focus on enabling sustainable technology adoption in both private and public settings. The work covers strategic alignment of digital strategies with organisational goals, governance structures, business models, business model innovation, corporate venturing and climate for creativity.

Niall is currently studying:

• How neutral host networks can be optimised for economics, access and carbon footprint;
• How “place based” manufacturing can be supported through technology – using garment manufacturing as a use case.;
• Developing digital capability within the manufacturing sector;
• Measurement and performance of innovation ecosystems.

Assistant Lecturer, Electronic Engineering

Dr Andrew Meehan

After a significant time working in Intel as a Process Engineer I joined the Electronic Engineering department in September 2008.

I completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching & Learning in 2023, which has added my previous qualifications in Applied Physics (Cert in applied Physics, GMIT, Diploma in Applied Physics GMIT and Degree in Applied physics from UL).

I also have qualifications in Design of Experiments, Six Sigma Yellow belt and a Diploma in Problem Based Learning from Aalborg University.

I was part of a three-member team in the department that introduced the concept of Problem Based Learning as a teaching and assessment methodology that better matches the real-life experience that our students will undertake.

I teach from 1st year to 5th year on our ME integrated master’s program and hold the role of Capstone Project co-ordinator for the past 10 years. As part of my duties, I am the Work Placement Officer, since 2010 and have been the EE department MAP officer since 2010.

As well as having been awarded a number of SPUR scholarships over the past number so years, and in 2024 was awarded a Teaching & Learning Fellowship.

Associate Professor, Criminology

Dr Ian Marder

Ian’s research focuses on criminal justice reform generally, and on the implementation of restorative justice and restorative practices in criminal justice specifically. This includes funded projects that explore topics of relevance to IVI, such as developing ethical forms of data governance that enable victims of crime to access services and supporting criminal justice agencies and community justice organisations to engage with open research and open data.

Assistant Professor in Business Analytics

Dr Wael Rashwan

Assistant Professor, National Centre for Geocomputation

Dr Kevin Credit

Dr Kevin Credit is an Assistant Professor at the National Centre for Geocomputation at Maynooth University. His recent research interests focus on using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to answer questions related to transportation, public health, economic development, and spatial patterns of inequality in urban areas. In particular, he is interested in how ML and AI methods can be designed to: 1) more explicitly integrate spatial information and spatial ways of thinking, 2) assess problems of causal inference, and 3) provide better insight into the explanatory relationships driving model results. Kevin’s recent and ongoing work in this area includes the exploration of new spatial-causal ML approaches, an analysis of building retrofit and energy efficiency in Ireland, and the development of an integrated health + environment spatial data dashboard for the Dublin 8 neighbourhood. 

Kevin is also a Funded Investigator in the Digital Content Transformation (DCT) strand of the ADAPT Centre; an Affiliate Member of the Hamilton Institute, Maynooth University; a Committee Member for the Irish Transportation Research Network (ITRN); and aFellow of the Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago.

Professor of Marketing

Prof. Elaine Wallace

Elaine is Professor of Marketing at the School of Business. Previously, she was Associate Professor in Marketing and Head of Department at University of Galway. Elaine also previously worked in marketing, brand management, and product management roles in companies including Siemens Limited, Unilever, SmithKline Beecham and Boots Healthcare.

Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Dr Kolawole Adebayo

Assistant Professor, Electronic Engineering

Dr Zain Anwar Ali

Dr Ali joined Maynooth University as a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher on a project titled “Control Co-Design and Optimization of Heterogeneous Arrays of Wave Energy Converters,” funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the National Science Foundation (USA). Prior to this, he completed two postdoctoral positions in Systems Science and Control Engineering: one at Beijing Normal University in September 2021 and the other at South East University in May 2021. He also served as an Associate Professor at Jiaying University, China, where he lectured on Linear Control Systems, Digital Electronics, Industrial Automation, and Robotics.
At Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Dr. Ali held multiple roles, including Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Director of the Continuing Education Program. He was instrumental in founding the Bio-Inspired Computation and Optimization research cluster and taught a wide range of courses, from undergraduate to Ph.D. levels.

His research interests include Bio-Inspired Optimization Algorithms; Circular Economy with Artificial Intelligence; Control Theory and Control Engineering; ​Robotics; Autonomous Unmanned System i.e. (Aerial and Underwater Vehicles); Industrial Controls & Automation; Programming Logic Controller PLC.

Director of the Arts & Humanities Institute

Prof. Anna Hickey-Moody

Anna Hickey-Moody is the Director of the Arts and Humanities Institute and inaugural Senior Academic Leadership Ireland (SALI) Professor of Intersectional Humanities. Her qualitative and theoretical research explores intersecting angles of disadvantage through philosophical and creative approaches. Anna came to Maynooth to develop interdisciplinary research culture exploring intersectionality across the humanities. Prior to joining Maynooth, Anna was Professor of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne where she held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship called Interfaith Childhoods. For this large research project, Anna created a responsive arts based research design that allowed her to collaborate with hard to reach communities through building strong relationships with children through art making. She worked with schools, communities and religious organisations across Australia and the U.K to collect and share stories of faith told by diverse religious and secular people. This method offered a way of developing public understandings of what belonging feels like in superdiverse, multicultural cities. You can read what the research participants had to say in the book Faith Stories: Sustaining Meaning and Community in Troubling Times (MUP, 2023). Anna also led the Creative Research in Methods and Practice (CRiMP Lab) and you can read the lab’s work in New Materialist Affirmations a collection coming out with Edinburgh University Press in 2024.  This feminist research laboratory supported a community of queer and gender diverse researchers working at the intersection of creative practice as a research method, visual sociology and creative anthropology at RMIT. Before joining RMIT University, Anna was Associate Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. She has also held positions at Goldsmiths, London and Monash University, Melbourne. Anna is a very experienced PhD supervisor and is available to supervise projects exploring religion, disability, sexuality, gender, race, youth. She has published widely on gender, sexuality, disability, religion and race and racism as they shape young lives. At the moment Anna is writing up stories from a regional brown coal mining area and thinking about the relationships between pleasure and class in the lives of mining communities

Assistant Professor, School of Business

Dr Alireza Keshavarz

Alireza Keshavarz is a Lecturer in Marketing at Maynooth University Business School. He holds a PhD in Management Sciences (Marketing) from HEC, Paris. His research interest lies in strategic marketing, strategic sales force management, and strategic marketing ambidexterity. Alireza’s main research revolves around the dynamics and competitive effects of salesforce compensations and mobility. He also investigates the gender pay and promotional gaps within salesforces in organizations. Alireza is currently a member of AMA, EMAC, CNRS Lab GREG-HEC, and Labex ECODEC. His research has been presented at and published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of Business Research (JBR), and the proceedings of several conferences, including AMA, EMAC, Marketing Science, and SMS. He teaches sales management, marketing, marketing analytics, business analytics, and marketing research in bachelor’s, master’s, and MBA courses.

Assistant Professor, Design Innovation

Dr Linzi Ryan

Postdoctoral Researcher, Design Innovation

Dr Heidi Elnimr

Dr. Heidi Elnimr is a Postdoctoral Researcher on the HIVE (Health Innovation Value Evaluation) project at Maynooth University. Her work bridges architecture, healthcare, technology, and human experience. She explores how smart and sustainable indoor environments can improve quality of life, with a particular focus on interactive therapeutic design for people with Alzheimer’s disease and age-friendly living.

Her doctoral research at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) developed an innovative framework for personalized therapeutic interiors, combining architecture, neuroscience, and human-computer interaction. This interdisciplinary approach reflects her belief that meaningful innovation comes from crossing disciplinary boundaries.

She has published widely, co-authored the New European Bauhaus White Paper, and presented at leading forums including EDRA, ANFA, and the EU Sustainable Week. Her work also led to a patent-pending system for assessing indoor wayfinding, underscoring her drive to turn research into practical solutions.

As Ambassador of the Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environment initiative in Europe and evaluator of COST Action open calls, she actively shapes the dialogue on smart, healthy, and age-friendly environments across Europe.

Dr. Elnimr is eager to collaborate with researchers, industry partners, and policymakers who share her vision of creating environments that are not only sustainable but also inclusive, supportive, and technologically innovative.

Canada Research Chair in Governance and Artificial Intelligence, Carleton University

Prof. Adegboyega Ojo

Adegboyega Ojo is Full Professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University, Canada. Prof. Ojo is also Canada Research Chair in Governance and Artificial Intelligence. His research is primarily in the area of digital government. He studies how digital and data technologies can be used to support innovation in government institutions and address societal challenges. Prof. Ojo is keen on understanding the conditions and technical design requirements for the beneficial and ethical use of data-driven innovation, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence-based solutions in different public service and policy contexts.

Before joining Carleton University, he was a faculty at Maynooth University School of Business and earlier a Senior Research Fellow & Head of the E-Government Unit at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, University of Galway, Republic of Ireland. He also worked at the Centre for Electronic Governance, United Nations University in Macao SAR, China, where he supported governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in developing digital government strategies. Adegboyega is Associate Editor of the Government Information Quarterly Journal (Elsevier), Digital Government: Research and Practice journal (ACM) and also the Information Polity Journal (IOS Press). He holds a PhD in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Professor of Marketing, EM Normandie

Dr Rajibul Hasan

Since 2023, Dr Rajibul Hasan has been Professor of Marketing at EM Normandie. He received his PhD from the University of Kent in 2016, and his research has been published in journals including Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research.