Guest Speakers

Margie is Director of Research and Policy Insights, with key responsibilities for analytical and research functions within SEAI including the development and delivery of energy data and insights to support policy decisions, and investment in innovative energy research which contribute to Ireland's energy transition.  As a member of the Executive Leadership Team of SEAI contributing to the development and implementation of organisational strategy and operationalising that strategy for optimal delivery of results.

Margie is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of Engineers Ireland.  She joined SEAI from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), where she served as Head of Education and Public Engagement and as Interim Director of Science for Society.  Margie has served on several national education and skills policy groups and is currently Chairperson of the Gender Balance in STEM Education Advisory Group to the Department of Education.

Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer and documentary film director. He has written poetry, fiction, non fiction and science fiction. His work has been published or performed in more than 40 languages and he has won the Icelandic Literary Awards in all categories.

Andri has received international awards like the Philip K Dick honorary mention for LoveStar, the Prima Tiziano Terzani in Italy for On Time and Water and The Green Earth Book Award for his books for children.

He is the co-director of three documentary films that have premiered in international festivals like IDFA, RIFF, CPH:DOX and HOTDOCS.

Andri has been active in the fight to preserve the highlands of Iceland and raising awareness about our fast changing climate. His eulogy for the first glacier that Iceland lost to climate change, the Ok glacier was shared by millions in 2019. 

Oonagh is the Secretary General of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications.  Prior to taking up that role Oonagh served as Interim Chair of An Bord Pleanála, on secondment from her role as Deputy Secretary General in the Department of Justice with responsibility for civil justice matters, including immigration, courts and civil and family law. Oonagh had previously held the position of Director General in the Workplace Relations Commission.  Before that she worked at a senior level in a number of Government Departments, including the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform, Environment and Foreign Affairs. In her previous time in the Department of the Environment she worked for a number of years on planning policy and legislation and on wildlife conservation.

Oonagh is a graduate of UCC, the College of Europe, Belgium and Poland, and the University of London.  She was called to the Bar in 1996.  She has an MSc in Business from the Smurfit School in UCD and has been an adjunct professor in the School of Law of UCC since 2017.

Emma Lynch leads the Energy Modelling function in SEAI. The team develops and applies the National Energy Modelling Framework (NEMF) to produce the National Energy Projections and other modelled analysis providing evidence for energy policy. The energy projections form the energy portion of Ireland's National Emissions Projections reported to the EU.

Prior to joining SEAI in 2022, Emma worked as a data scientist in the tech sector. She has over 10 years of experience in modelling and analytics across a range of applications, including economics, computer vision and catastrophe risk.

Kerrie is currently Head of Research and Technology Department in Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The SEAI Research & Technology Department coordinates Ireland's energy research funding programme, National Contact Point for EU Horizon Europe, and houses technology research areas of offshore/ocean, onshore electricity/wind and renewable heat (bioenergy and district heating).

Kerrie has over 17 years' experience in management of funded research, with the last nine within sustainable energy. The roles have spanned central university functions, research performing teams and national energy research funding agency, covering programmatic development & management, finance and governance.  She holds a BA in Mathematics and Geography, a Master's in Environmental Public Policy and is an FCCA accountant.

She is active across several EU coordination committees and initiatives such as representing Ireland on the EU SET-Plan, Horizon Europe Programme Committee and the Atlantic Strategy Plan, and nationally includes participation on steering and working groups relating to offshore, district heating, hydrogen and funded research. She is committed to bridging the policy/education/research/industry interface and is a non-executive board committee member of Kildare Wicklow ETB.

Dr. Vikram Pakrashi (BEng, PhD, CEng. MIEI, MASCE) is Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director of Dynamical Systems and Risk Laboratory (DSRL) in UCD. Vikram is a Chartered Engineer and has served both industry and academia working on numerical and experimental applications of dynamics and risk/probabilistic analysis on traditional (roads, bridges) and bourgeoning (wind/wave energy devices and platforms) sectors of built infrastructure. Several of his projects are partly funded by the industrial sector. His recent research activities involve structural health monitoring, analysis of dynamic systems, vibration control, experimental methods in dynamics, damage detection algorithms and the use of new technologies for such applications. Vikram has supervised and mentored several doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and has received multiple awards for his research and leadership activities. He currently works with a dynamic and motivated team in DSRL close to industrial needs. Vikram is open for collaborations and participation in relevant funding calls.

Emer Dennehy is Programme Manager for Offshore Renewable Energy with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). An electronic engineer, Emer now holds both a Masters and PhD in Energy Engineering from University College Cork, Ireland. Emer has over 15 years of experience in analysing energy systems both at national and international levels, through energy statistics analysis and senior modelling specialist roles for SEAI, as well as in the Energy Technology Perspectives Division in the International Energy Agency (IEA) from 2013 to 2016. Emer joined the SEAI Offshore renewable energy team in early 2022, where she is responsible for Research and Innovation supports, policy support and advice, as well as the national offshore renewable energy test site infrastructure.

Dr. Jimmy Murphy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering in UCC and Lead Technical Engineer of the Lir National Ocean test Facility  (Lir NOTF) in the SFI MaREI Centre. He has over 25 years' experience in the area of engineering in the marine environment and particularly tank testing, hydrodynamic modelling and field studies in both offshore and coastal environments.  Dr. Murphy has responsibility for the Lir NOTF which houses Irelands only infrastructure for small to medium scale laboratory testing of ocean and maritime systems.  It is a world class facility consisting of 4 test tanks, an electrical laboratory as well as mechanical and instrumentation workshops.  

Dr. Murphy has been a leading figure in research in the field of offshore renewable energy in Europe, having coordinated such projects as FP7 LEANWIND and the H2020 MaRINET2, MARINERG-i and TAOIDE.  He received an EI Champion of Research award in 2017 for success EU projects and Lir NOTF, under his management, won the award for Excellence in Marine Infrastructures at the Marine Industry Awards in 2017.

Sofia Tisocco is a PhD candidate within the University of Galway and Teagasc, under the Walsh Scholarship Programme. Her PhD research studies the assessment and optimization of the co-digestion of grass silage and cattle slurry from a technical, environmental and economic point of view. The main aim of her PhD research is to enhance our understanding of the full-scale co-digestion of grass silage and slurry, with the purpose of integrating AD into livestock farming in Ireland and internationally, providing the research and industry community valuable and practical knowledge. Sofia holds an Agricultural Engineering Degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has an avid interest in Sustainable Production and Circular Bio-Economy.  

Divyanshu is a PhD student in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and UCD Energy Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland. His research is developing Next-Generation Residential Building Archetypes for Energy Consumption and Indoor Environmental Quality Analysis at Various Spatial and Temporal Scales associated with the project "ALIVE - Assessing Indoor Environmental Quality and Energy Efficiency In a range of Naturally-Ventilated Buildings." The research focuses on the effect of natural ventilation on the building's energy performance and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in Irish buildings. Divyanshu did his undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Technology degree in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management. He is a member of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) Project- 1, which addresses urban-scale energy performance simulation of domestic and non-domestic buildings. He is an active participant in the Ireland Building Stock Observator Group, which manages Irish energy-related data resources and building stock. His commitment to sustainability is reflected in efforts to identify energy inefficiencies and promote the adoption of effective energy systems. His research not only aids in informed policy-making but also bolsters a transition towards sustainable energy practices. 

Chitaranjan is currently working as a Senior Power Systems Researcher (postdoctoral researcher) at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University College Dublin. He completed his PhD degree at the IITB-Monash Research Academy, Mumbai, India, which is a joint PhD degree awarded by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India and Monash University, Australia. His current work is focused on the secure and stable operation of low-inertia power systems with a mix of diverse generation technologies.  His research interests include - integration of renewable energy sources in power networks, frequency and voltage stability in low inertia systems, monitoring power system inertia, understanding the role of grid-forming inverters in system dynamics, understanding the complex system stability dynamics of future power networks, and developing relevant solutions.

Ubaid Illahi is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering at Atlantic Technological University Sligo and a Research Fellow in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. With a PhD and MTech in Transportation Engineering and Planning, and a BTech in Civil Engineering, Dr Illahi is committed to advancing the fields of safe, green, and sustainable transportation. His research centers on the intersection of human behaviour and the mobility of people and goods, with a particular focus on developing innovative strategies for sustainable transportation planning and policy. Currently, Dr. Illahi is contributing to the interdisciplinary project, TRAnsport Behaviour Change Trials (TRACT), funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). His primary role involves overseeing the ongoing TRACT e-mobility trial across Ireland, aiming to study potential shifts in transport behaviour towards uptake of electric vehicles. Dr. Illahi has published fifteen research articles in esteemed international journals and has presented his research work at eight major conferences in the area of Transportation Engineering and Planning.

Professor Tudor Pitulac is a seasoned expert with almost 30 years of diverse experience across academia, the public sector, not-for-profits, and industry. With a BA in Sociology, a Doctoral degree in Philosophy, a Higher Diploma in Science in Computing (National College of Ireland), a Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Enterprise Development (Trinity College Dublin), and being a Project Management Professional (PMP), Tudor specialises in bridging Social Sciences and Humanities with Information Technology. His work fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and drives impactful research that aligns with societal needs.

He has authored four books and over 60 scientific articles. Active in European funding programs since 1999, he has contributed to social intervention (European Social Fund) and Framework Programmes (Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe). Tudor is well-connected in the European academic, regulatory, business, and NGO ecosystems.

Since 2019, Tudor has led the Research Projects Division at OpenSky Data Systems, demonstrating his commitment to innovation. He also serves as an AI Expert in Residence with the Alan Turing Institute (UK) and is a member of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators-ARMA (UK) and EARMA (EU), reinforcing his dedication to stakeholder engagement in research management

Jim has over 20 years' experience working in the field of policy analysis and development related to environmental issues. He joined SEAI in 2007 and is currently Head of Department (Data and Insights) responsible for energy statistics, modelling, behavioural economics and finance at SEAI. He holds a Professional Diploma in Advanced Management Performance (Smurfit Business School), MSc. Economic Policy Studies (Trinity College Dublin), BSc. Environmental Science (Flinders University, South Australia). Jim is passionate about getting people connected to the need for climate action now.

Dr Trish Morgan is an assistant professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University. Her research is concerned with the systemic aspects of environmental crisis, and the communication of these multiple environmental issues. She approaches the communication of environmental issues through an interdisciplinary perspective from the domains of geography and communications, and through theory and practice-based approaches. 

Her key research interest is in analysing the nature/society relationship through political economy, (urban) political ecology, human geography and environmental geography perspectives. This research takes a systemic approach by acknowledging environmental crisis as connected to nine planetary boundaries, and safe operating limits for society. She is interested in the urgency of communicating transition towards sustainability through novel communication approaches, doing this through traditional research, along with a multimedia practice that uses sound, photography, video and augmented reality.

Kevin O'Sullivan is Environment and Science Editor and former editor of The Irish Times. He has a special interest in climate disruption (and solutions), renewable energy, the United Nations' sustainable-development goals, and sustainable food.

Dr. David Connolly is CEO of HeatGrid Ireland, which develops and funds low-carbon district heating networks in Ireland, and Chairperson of the Irish District Energy Association, which he co-founded in 2017. He previously worked as an Associate Professor in Aalborg University Denmark, where he specialised in national energy planning and in particular the potential for district heating across Europe. He led the Heat Roadmap Europe project which underpinned the first Heating & Cooling Strategy ever developed by the European Commission. He returned to Ireland from Denmark in 2017 and went on to become the CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, Ireland's largest energy association and subsequently worked on the delivery of solar PV and high-temperature heat pumps for industrial customers, including as part of the team which delivered Ireland's first heat pump to supply over 100°C.

Irene joined the SEAI RD&D team in 2021 as a Programme Executive. Prior to this she worked in Research Project Management roles based in UCD for national and international funded projects for 12 years. She has also held roles in the UK as a Centre Manager for in an International Centre for Mathematical Sciences at Heriot Watt and University of Edinburgh and a Community Education Manager in Cambridgeshire. Irene is committed to lifelong learning and research and has a BSc in Geography (Ulster), a PGCE (Leeds), an MSc in Management (UCD Smurfit) and recently completed an MSc in Environmental Sustainability (UCD).