Résumé, Achievements, and Portfolio

Welcome! From here, you can

access my one-page résumé and two page CV,
learn more about me,
see some career highlights, and
browse through a portfolio of some of my work.

Please contact me for the most up-to-date versions.

Brief Background

My educational background is in physics, for which I was awarded a PhD in 2018. After almost two years as a post-doc, I migrated to Canada in 2019 where I joined Saltworks Technologies in January 2020. I have since become a Canadian citizen and completed Mohawk College’s Certificate in Research Administration. My family and I returned to Ireland in June, 2024 and I am now working in the Research Development Office in Maynooth University.

Career Highlights

Industry

At Saltworks, I investigated business opportunities, including innovation and scale-up grants. Working with the CEO, COO and technical teams I wrote and project-managed proposals that resulted in more than C$18M of funding to the company. Highlights include:

C$6.5M of federal support for research and development,
C$4.8M in a multi-purpose, interest free scale-up loan from the federal government,
Support for multiple pilot and demonstration projects, including from the (federal) Government of Canada (the highest value contribution of which was C$4.8M), and
The employment of several early career engineers at the company.

For some successful projects, I worked on reviewing contribution agreements before contracts were finalized. For ongoing projects, I ensured that all requirements were met such as monthly and milestone reports, presentations of results to stakeholders, and dissemination of results and impacts to the public. I also wrote one-third of the company’s 2021 SR&ED technical narrative, helping to secure a tax refund of ~$1M.

Note: I have a detailed list of funding agencies and successful applications that is available on request.

Academic Research Development

In my current role at Maynooth University, I support researchers with proposals for funded research programmes in Horizon Europe, ensuring compliance with legal, financial, risk, IP, recruitment and ethical guidelines. I also support Research Development Office leadership with analysis of international partnerships and opportunities.

As a Technology Specialist and Manager of Marketing at Saltworks, I was responsible for communicating the company’s offerings to prospective customers. Since starting in 2020,

I tripled the company website’s organic traffic by creating, editing, and optimising content and improving website ease of use and technical performance.
I increased the click-through rate (CTR) of the company’s Google Ads account to twice its previous value by restructuring campaigns and rewriting all ad copy.
I project managed an overhaul of the company’s HubSpot customer relationship management (CRM) account, increasing system reliability, data accuracy, and automation to reduce business development team load.
I reduced the website’s average page loading time by approximately two-thirds by project managing updates and upgrades.
During my tenure, the company’s LinkedIn follower count increased from ~3000 to ~25,500.
I presented the company’s technology at an international semiconductor industry conference.
I oversaw all trademarks and worked with the company’s law firm to meet all requirements for trademark maintenance.
I wrote a paper for the International Water Conference, 2021, for which the presenter won an award.
During my time working in marketing at Saltworks, the company’s customer revenue (excluding grants) grew by over 10 times and employee headcount increased from ~50 to ~165.

As a PhD student and Post-Doc at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, I am particularly proud of my publication record, which includes three first-author peer-reviewed papers and co-authorship of more than twenty papers in total.

My PhD largely focused on engineering the properties of 2D materials, namely graphene and molybdenum disulfide, using ion beams. I achieved success in the precise altering and characterizing of the chemical, electrical, tribological, and spectroscopic properties of these materials as can be seen in my thesis and published works.

As a Post-Doc, I spent almost two years working on an industry partnership. The project was on the customization and prototyping of Fabry Perot lasers in collaboration with Eblana Photonics Ltd. As the lead researcher on the project, I conducted all literature review and experiment design. I developed novel manufacturing processes and integrated partial automation, then characterized and analyzed data from the prototype lasers produced. I lead regular project meetings and produced detailed technical reports for the project stakeholders.

The project was completed with outstanding results, overcoming scientific and technical challenges to achieve “97%” total completion, according to the consortium’s final report. The industrial partner requested extension and expansion of the project.

During my 6 years conducting research in Ireland’s most advanced microscopy laboratory, I developed a successful publication record and also thrived in outreach and science communication activities.

I regularly took part in or was employed in science communication events and programs such as Famelab, SFI Smart Futures, Science LIVE!, and Scholars’ Ireland to name a few.
I wrote a press release for the School of Physics in relation to a scientific paper of which I was the first author.
For three-and-a-half years, I served as the information officer at the Microscopy Society of Ireland, a small non-profit dedicated to advancing the field of microscopy in Ireland and cooperating internationally on scientific initiatives. The role meant that I was responsible for internal and external communications, responding to public enquiries, the website and social media presences, and facilitating cooperation between Irish research institutes.