Centre Governance
Guided by expertise
Our governance structure and associated committees support and advise our leadership team ensuring optimal performance and oversight of activities and development.
Governance Committee
Role
To provide oversight of BiOrbic’s strategic vision and measure performance against this vision.
Committee Members
Michael Scannell (Chair)
Retired, European Commission
Prof Kevin O’ Connor
Director of BiOrbic
Prof Kate Robson Brown
Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact, University College Dublin
Prof Sinead Ryan
Dean of Research, Trinity College Dublin
Prof Pat Dillon
Director of Research, Teagasc
Darragh Cogley
EU Bioeconomy Youth Ambassador, European Union
Prof John Cryan
Vice President for Research and Innovation, University College Cork
Dr Fiona Grant
Head of International Programmes, Marine Institute
Rory Caren
Director Business Development, Meicnic Teoranta
Scientific Advisory Committee
Role
Provide the Centre with independent and impartial advice on recent scientific trends and developments worldwide, to ensure that the Centre is at the forefront of international state-of-the-art.
Committee Members
Prof Luuk Van Der Wielen (Chair)
Technische Universiteit Delft
Netherlands
Prof Sarah McLaren
University of New Zealand
New Zealand
Prof Diana Sousa
Wageningen University and Research
Netherlands
Prof. Michael Lee
Harper Adams University
United Kingdom
Prof Frank Convery
EnvEcon
Ireland
Industry Advisory Committee
Role
The role of the IAC is to:
Advise the Centre Director, Industry Spokes Committee, and Centre Governance Committee of BiOrbic as to prevailing industry trends and needs
Advise the Centre Director, Scientific Advisory Committee, and Centre Governance Committee as to the needs of the industry partners and influence the research agenda of the Centre as appropriate
Conduct industry ‘think in’ sessions to discuss global megatrends and to highlight gaps in BiObic’s research agenda as appropriate
Committee Members
Dirk Carrez
Executive Director, Bio-based Industries Consortium (Europe)
Alex Ward
Director of Public and Institutional Partnerships, Origin Materials (Ontario, Canada)
Colette Shirley
Director of Sustainability for its Corporate & Markets Division, Bank of Ireland
Karen Boyd
Director of Product Sustainability, World Energy (Colorado, USA)
Sean Boyle
CEO and Co-founder, UnitMode (Ireland)
Executive Committee
Role
Develop and maintain a long-term strategic plan for the Centre and ensure on-going, smooth operations of the Centre through the effective implementation that its long-term strategic plan.
Committee Members
Prof Kevin O’Connor
Director
Derek O’Brien
Executive Director
Prof Jane Stout
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Tommy Boland
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof James Lyng
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Brijesh Tiwari
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Ramesh Babu
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Maeve Henchion
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Nick Holden
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Fiona Doohan
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Eoin Casey
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Fionnuala Murphy
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Pat Guiry
Co-Principal Investigator
Prof Yurii Gun’ko
Co-Principal Investigator
Research Programme Committee
Role
To monitor research progress across all Centre-funded projects. Meetings occur every 6 months to review progress reports from anyone funded through BiOrbic.
Committee Members
Chair: Prof Kevin O’Connor
University College Dublin
Co-chair: Dr Rosanna Kleemann
University College Dublin
Pillar 1: Dr Matthew Saunders
Trinity College Dublin
Pillar 2: Prof Maurice Collins
University of Limerick
Pillar 3: Dr Ajay Menon
University College Dublin
Pillar 4: Dr Eoin Syron
University College Dublin
CDT: Prof Pat Guiry
University College Dublin
EDI Committee
Role
To progress the EDI principles of the Centre and provide a support for Centre members to contact regarding EDI.
Committee Members
Grace Vaughan
BiOrbic
Operations Team
Chairperson
Ajay Menon
Lecturer / Assistant Professor, UCD
Co-chairperson
Máire Nic an Bhaird
Assistant
Professor, Maynooth University
Unza Jamil
PhD Researcher, UCD
Ali Sultan Khan
Post-doctoral Researcher, University College Cork
