Dr Marco Alfano

Dr. Marco Alfano is a Senior Researcher at IVI and lead of the IVI Digital Health & Wellbeing research cluster. He is also a visiting scientist at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and is affiliated with Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software. He is currently working on responsible use of AI in health and wellbeing by facilitating person/patient empowerment and seamless communication within the digital health ecosystem (http://cohealth.ivi.ie/). His research interests include Responsible AI, Digital Health Transformation, Patient Empowerment, Human-machine communication, Data analytics, Semantic Web, Smart cities, Cybersecurity, and Open Data/Big Data. He has authored more than sixty peer reviewed articles for journals, books, and conferences. He has participated in several European projects and has received grants from international bodies, such as the European Union (under the FP7 and H2020 framework programs), and national bodies, such as Research Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, and the National Research Council of Italy.

Professor Markus Helfert

Markus Helfert is the Director of IVI and Director of Empower – the SFI funded Programme on Data Governance. He is also Professor of Digital Service Innovation and Director of the Business Informatics Group at Maynooth University. He is a Principle Investigator at Lero – The Irish Software Research Centre and at the Adapt Research Centre. His research is centred on Digital Service Innovation, Smart Cities and IoT based Smart Environments and includes research areas such as Service Innovation, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Smart Services, Building Information Management, FinTech, Data Value, Enterprise Architecture, Technology Adoption, Analytics, Business Process Managem ent. Prof. Helfert is an expert in Data Governance Standards and is involved in European Standardisation initiatives. Markus Helfert has authored more than 200+ academic articles, journal and book contributions and has presented his work at international conferences. Helfert has received national and international grants from agencies such as European Union (FP7; H2020), Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, was project coordinator on EU projects, and is the Project coordinator of the H2020 Projects: PERFORM on Digital Retail.

Dr Tadhg E. MacIntyre

Tadhg E. Maclntyre PhD is an Associate Professor in Environmental Psychology at the Innovation Value Institute, Maynooth University where he has a leading role in three EU funded Horizon projects. Tadhg is also a funded investigator with Research Ireland Insight Centre for Data Analytics and has been a Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich (2019-2020) and Inland University of Applied Sciences (Norway) from 2022-2025. Tadhg graduated from UCD with a  PhD in psychology in 2007 focused on cognitive aspects of human movement. More recently his research has been focused on nature-based solutions and interventions for urban health. Tadhg currently coordinates the Horizon Europe GoGreen Next project (2024-2028)focused on urban health and climate change (€6 million). He recently led the Horizon 2020 project GoGreen Routes (2020-2024) which received €10.5 million  (2020-2024) directly from the EU. Since June 2025, he is a work package lead of Horizon Europe project Green Talent (2025-2029) where his work is concerned with developing a learning ecosystem for innovators in climate change and sustainability. He also is a reviewer for EU funding calls (e.g. ERC, EU Horizon proposals, and MSCA), in addition to national funding in the US, Norway, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Canada and the UK (e.g. Leverhulme Awards).

Dr Zohreh Pourzolfaghar

Zohreh Pourzolfaghar is Assistant Professor for the School of Business in Maynooth University. She is a members of Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software. Zohreh formerly has been Research Fellow at Innovation Value Institute (IVI), Maynooth University’s digital transformation research centre. She is a senior research member of the Business Informatics Group. She is the theme lead in a project investigating the application of Enterprise Architecture in Smart Cities, funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). She has been Principle Investigator for an Industry Fellowship Programme, funded by SFI. Zohreh presented her work at international conferences and has published research in Journals and Conference Proceedings. Zohreh is also leading research within the Cost Action CA16222 (WISE-ACT), a European-wide network.  She has been thematic lead in a successful European Marie Curie PERFORM project. She is a member of the supervisory board of the EU project PERFORM, that focuses on Digital Retail. She has been awarded the SFI industry fellowship (2018) working with industry on topics related to Smart Cities and Building Information Management. She is the Co-PI for submitted H202 Techland proposal. Zohreh received her Ph.D. in Project Management in design process of building projects. Zohreh has years of experience working with project-oriented construction companies to improve organisatioanal productivity and their work processes.

Audrey Comiskey

Audrey Comiskey is part of Gas Networks Ireland’s leadership team and is the officer with responsibility for Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Access to Environmental compliance and operations for the organisation. She has over 15 years’ experience in energy-based semi state organisations and currently leads on a number of national and public body industry forums. She started her career in the public sector, moving into private practice and specialising in large scale multi commercial and residential developments, before moving into the energy sector. She has overseen the legal governance and compliance, strategic planning compliance and large scale stakeholder management obligations on a number of significant regional, national and European Infrastructure projects, including EU-designated Projects of Common Interest and Joint-Jurisdictional projects. She is passionate about industry innovation, operational governance and stakeholder transparency, and is also a passionate advocate for environmental change. Gas Networks Ireland are committed to decarbonising the gas network and increasing integration with the electricity system to enable Ireland to achieve net zero in the most cost-effective and least disruptive way, while enhancing energy security and diversity.

Dr Declan Deasy

Dr Declan Deasy is an independent Digital Transformation & Data Strategy Advisor. He spent over 30 years as a public servant in the European Commission, during which time he worked on the development of statistical and surveillance systems, information system architectures, methodologies and interoperability frameworks, and managed the central computing facilities of the EU Commission. As director, he led the definition of the Commission’s overall strategy on information systems, including the development of corporate information systems supporting administrative and policy processes.

Since retiring from the European Commission as Director for Information Systems and Interoperability Solutions, he has advised numerous international public bodies and governments on national digital strategies, public sector digital transformation, national data ecosystems and data-driven development.

Declan has a first class honours degree in Engineering and a PhD in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin where he was a research assistant and lecturer in Computer Science.

Dr Fred Kitchens

Dr Fred Kitchens is an associate professor at Ball State University. He holds a doctorate from the University of Mississippi in management information systems with a specialization in computational intelligence. He has extensive experience working in the insurance industry, including agency operations, casualty underwriting, and brokering at Lloyd’s of London, in London, England. Although his computer experience dates to the late 1970s, it was during his time as a casualty underwriter that he became interested in the application of technology to the underwriting process. Much of Kitchens’ research has involved the application of artificial intelligence to underwriting and claims analysis.

Kitchens’ recent interests involve cluster computing. As director of the Ball State Cluster Computing Research Project, his interests are in business applications and curriculum development. He sees great potential for cluster computing in business and believes a principal component of that vision is in educating tomorrow’s technology professionals today. Additional research areas include artificial neural networks, knowledge management, communications, and social preceptions of technology.

Phill Miller

Phillip Miller is CEO of Skillwell, a pioneer in immersive and adaptive simulations for higher education and corporate learning. A 20+ year edtech leader, he previously led Open LMS, overseeing three acquisitions that created the world’s largest Moodle provider. He’s also advised early-stage learning tech companies on product strategy, fundraising, and go-to-market growth.

Kevin Gildea

‘Highly original and explosively funny’ –  The Sunday Times
He’s one of the most daring and committed comedians at work right now. Brave, unafraid and compelling…..and very, very funny.’  – Tommy Tiernan
‘Comedy on another level.’  – The Irish Times

Kevin has gigged all over Britain and Ireland and the rest of the known world – from Singapore to Sligo. He’s headlined gigs in Johannesburg and Cape Town and regularly plays all the major comedy festivals in Ireland – The Electric Picnic, ATN, The Paddy Power Comedy Festival in the Iveagh Gardens, The Galway Comedy Festival, Kilkenomics and more. He is a regular at The Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival.

Kevin has written and performed for film and television, including Father Ted and Irish Pictoral Weekly; written plays and short fiction, as well as reviewing for the Irish Times; and regularly interviews authors, actors and comedians (and once, Kermit the Frog). He also occasionally runs Kevin Gildea’s Brilliant Pop Up Bookshop in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin.