In July of 2010 Professor Suzi Jarvis of University College Dublin and Professor Paul Coughlan of Trinity College Dublin were appointed as Course Co-Directors for the Innovation Academy. These are key academic leadership roles that have a primary responsibility for the Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Academy. Professors Jarvis and Coughlan are leading the development of the Academy’s unique approach to innovation and entrepreneurial development alongside academic research.
In February 2011 UCD recruited Frances Mitchell as an Academy Facilitator, a role which will support the development and delivery of the Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Innovation Academy. Frances and Ruth will be involved in the design, co-ordination and delivery of the Academy's core modules in Creative Thinking & Innovation and Opportunity Generation & Recognition.
The TCD-UCD Innovation Academy Executive Board
Professor Suzi Jarvis Course Co-Director
Suzi Jarvis graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in Physics and began her research career by organising her own industrial sponsorship with Kodak Ltd for a DPhil in the Department of Materials, Oxford. This was followed by eight years international work experience at the Joint Research Centre for Atom Technology; a Government Research Lab in Tsukuba, Japan, working in the area of nanotechnology. Towards the end of her time in Japan she was actively involved in the policy changes and restructuring which occurred across the science and technology sector primarily through her connections with the Science and Technology office of the British Embassy. On moving to Trinity College Dublin in 2002 she gained experience in establishing major new ventures as one of the founding Principal Investigators of the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructure and Nanodevices (CRANN); a joint venture with multi-national partner INTEL. During this time she also established a multi-disciplinary team pursuing a number of research areas at the interface between electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and botany.
In 2007 she took up the Chair of Biophysics in the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research at University College Dublin. Recently her serendipitous discovery of patentable protein structures in a broad range of natural adhesives has opened up the potential for the biomimetic production of new biomedical adhesives (patent pending). In 2009 she was involved in Enterprise Ireland Business Partners Programme along with co-inventor Dr Anika Mostaert to further develop the commercialisation potential of the research. Her group also has particular strengths in the development of novel atomic force microscopy techniques for bionanotechnology, and work closely with industrial collaborator, Asylum Research.
In May 2010 Suzi took up the newly created position of UCD Course Co-Director for the UCD-TCD Innovation Academy to provide the academic leadership for a new programme to help PhD students generate and exploit their ideas for economic and social benefit. She also works to identify and instigate the cultural changes necessary to enhance creative thinking and innovation across the University.
Professor Paul Coughlan Course Co-Director
Paul Coughlan joined Trinity College Dublin in 1993 and is currently Associate Professor of Operations Management in Trinity's School of Business. Following an early career in engineering management in shipbuilding and off-shore construction Paul returned to academia as a lecturer in the Department of Management in University College Cork before completing a PhD in the area of product development at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. On graduation he joined the operations management faculty of the London Business School before moving to TCD. Paul's career has been largely research active and he has both developed and taught modules that focus on the improvement of product development and manufacturing processes, areas that are central to innovation practice and performance.
Paul's recognition of how doctoral education can provide researchers with the opportunities to influence and lead in the commercialisation of research findings grew out of his roles as President of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) and as a director of a TCD campus company, Magnetic Solutions Ltd, and its evolution into a competitor in the international market for semiconductor process equipment. Paul's experience, orientation and enthusiasm for teaching and research form the foundation of his role as Course Co-Director for the TCD-UCD Innovation Academy.
Ruth Kearney Academy Facilitator
Ruth has several years of traditional and online marketing experience with leading organisations in Ireland and abroad. She started her career as Online Project Manager with Elucidate, a strategic marketing and communications agency where she managed online strategies for clients including An Post, Department of Finance (eTenders Procurement), The Food Safety Promotion Board (safefood) and Udarus na Gaeltachta. Her next role was as Marketing Manager with the Irish eGovernment Awards where she rebranded and established a benchmark for excellence in Irish eGovernment services. Ruth worked as Marketing and Communications Manager for Australia’s leading recruitment portal building traffic and revenue online. While in Australia she also consulted for School of Volunteer Management (SVM) an initiative of University of Technology (UTS) Sydney. In her last position as Marketing Officer for Dublin Institute of Technology, Ruth promoted DIT Hothouse to different audiences including entrepreneurs, inventors, investors, researchers and students through innovative marketing strategies such as the highly successful Be Inspired. Be an Entrepreneur series, Researcher Video Series, Inventor Competition and DIT Researcher Awards.
In her current role as Academy Facilitator Ruth will coach, mentor and support students on multi-disciplinary projects central to the Innovation Academy programme.
Frances Mitchell Academy Facilitator
Frances has a Bachelor in Engineering from University College Dublin, an M.Phil. in Music and Media Technologies from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from Dublin City University. Following graduation Frances spent 2 years as a process engineer and manager with Procter & Gamble at their second largest global manufacturing facility in Amiens, France. Her core projects were technology, IT and motivational based, where she was the site liaison with the European centres of excellence. With a long standing interest in music Frances returned to Ireland to complete her Masters in Music and Media Technologies in TCD. She subsequently worked as an event manager with Catapult Event Management and Design (Dublin) for a diverse range of businesses, both public and private, including a major project for AIB in relation to the Ryder Cup. This was followed by four and a half years as CEO of Crash Ensemble, Ireland's leading new classical music ensemble. During her time with the company Crash Ensemble more than doubled output, touring in the US, Australia, Europe and the UK as well as Ireland. They also recorded for RTE, the BBC, ABC and WNYC, commissioned national and international composers, created new outreach programs, collaborated with many other arts companies and festivals and maintained a stable funding portfolio with the Arts Council. Her final project involved Crash Ensemble becoming the first Irish act to be signed to Nonesuch Records. The new album of music by Donnacha Dennehy (due for release in Spring 2011) features collaborations with Grammy Award winning US soprano Dawn Upshaw and Grammy nominated sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird.
In her current role as Academy Facilitator Frances will coach, mentor and support students on multi-disciplinary projects central to the Innovation Academy programme.
Margaret Ledwith Academy Facilitator and Sustainability Manager
Margaret has extensive strategic, commercial and entrepreneurial experience. An International Marketing and Languages graduate from Dublin City University, Margaret’s early career was as a management consultant in London, specialising in strategic channel management. Here she worked with global clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, ABB and Mitsubishi, building strategies to identify and successfully exploit routes to market for new and existing products and to increase market share in existing and target market sectors and geographies. Subsequently, Margaret moved into transaction advisory services, working at KPMG London’s new Strategic and Commercial Intelligence division and at AMR International. During this period she was responsible for commercial due diligence on merger, acquisition and investment projects for a range of investors, including leading venture capital houses and investment banks in the UK and Europe. In 2005, Margaret returned to Ireland to develop and grow Ledwith Shopfitting Solutions Ltd, a retail and commercial design and project management business. She was awarded “Best Woman in Business 2006” by Westmeath County Enterprise Board in recognition of her efforts and success. In 2010, Margaret completed her MSc. in Management and Organisation Studies at UCD Michael Smurfit Business School. She focused her studies on innovation and entrepreneurship which led to her MSc. Thesis, “From Policy to Practice: Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration in Small and Medium Enterprises in Ireland”. Margaret is passionate about the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in securing Ireland’s socio-economic future and works on a pro-bono basis with a small number of micro-business providing strategic and commercial advice.
In her current role as Academy Facilitator and Sustainability Manager, Margaret will coach, mentor and support students on multi-disciplinary projects central to the Innovation Academy programme. She will also be responsible for the economic sustainability of the Innovation Academy and will work to promote the Academy internationally as a world-class destination for entrepreneurial education.