Group Members

We are always looking for new PhD students, Postdocs, and Master students to join the team (see openings) !

People

Aaron Golden

Lab PI.; Assoc. Prof. 2022- (Physics/Natural Sciences, University of Galway); Vice-Dean for Research & Innovation, College of Science & Engineering, University of Galway (2023-)
email: aaron.golden@universityofgalway.ie

  • BA (Mod.) Physics, Trinity College Dublin
  • MSc Computational Science, Queens University Belfast
  • PhD Astrophysics, University College Galway

Pearse Murphy

SFI Postdoc, started March 2024
Pearse is working methods to determine subterranean soil moisture remotely using earth observation based synthetic aperture radar.
email: pearse.murphy@universityofgalway.ie

  • BA (Mod.) Physics and Astrophysics, Trinity College Dublin
  • PhD Astrophysics, Trinity College Dublin
  • Observatoire de Paris Postdoc (2022-2024)
  • Postdoc as part of the TAPAS project (2024-)

Michael Geever

SFI Postdoc, started January 2023
Michael is working on the application of AI & statistical analytics to earth observation data.
email: michael.geever@universityofgalway.ie

  • BSc Physics, University College Galway
  • PhD Atmospheric Physics, National University of Ireland Galway
  • EPA funded Postdoc (2019-2020)
  • SFI funded Postdoc (2020-2021)
  • Postdoc as part of the TAPAS project (2023-)

Dúalta Ó Fionnagáin

SFI Postdoc, started January 2023
Dúalta is working on the development of novel AI models to track and characterise the effects of climate change on biomass cycles.
email: dualta.ofionnagain@universityofgalway.ie

  • BA (Mod.) Physics and Astrophysics, Trinity College Dublin
  • MSc Space Science & Technology, University College Dublin
  • PhD Astrophysics, Trinity College Dublin
  • IRC Govt. of Ireland Postdoc (2021-2023)
  • Postdoc as part of the TAPAS project (2023-)

Patricia Codyre

Research Associate, started September 2022
Dr. Codyre is the TAPAS Programme Manager, focused on leveraging advanced digital technologies to address complex societal challenges. Her work explores novel AI approaches in current research on climate change, public health, and data analytics to support informed policy development.
email: patricia.codyre@universityofgalway.ie

  • BA Humanities, University of Galway
  • MSc Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
  • MSc Technology & Innovation, University of Galway
  • Dr Sci hum. Faculty of Medicine, Heidelberg University, Germany
  • Executive management certification, MIT Sloan School of Management, USA
  • Research Associate as part of the TAPAS project (2023-)

Parisa Taheri Foroushani

PhD Student, started Oct 2019
Parisa is studying the radiomics/radiogenomics of lung cancer.
email: P.TaheriForoushani1@universityofgalway.ie

  • BSc Physics, Isfahan University of Technology
  • MSc Medical Physics, Tarbiat Modares University

Deirdre Ní Chonchubhair

PhD Student, started Oct 2020
Deirdre is studying stellar magnetospheres using radio and optical observational data.
email: d.nichonchubhair1@universityofgalway.ie

  • BSc Physics & Astrophysics, University of Galway
  • MSc Astronomy, National University of Ireland Galway

Sai Chaitanya Susarla

PhD Student, started Oct 2021
Sai is using radio pulsars to remotely sense the interstellar and interplanetary medium.
email: s.susarla1@universityofgalway.ie

  • MSc Science (Theoretical & Mathematical Physics), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research

Mick Ryan

PhD Student, started September 2021
Mick is exploring the use of high cadence optical imaging to the study of planetary bodies in our solar system.
email: m.ryan109@universityofgalway.ie

  • MSc Astronomy, San Francisco State University
  • BSc Physics & Astrophysics, University of Galway

Dr. Brian Woods

ICAT Fellow, started July 2023
Dr. Woods is working with novel imaging, applied statistical & ML methods to the diagnosis and staging of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathies.
email: woodsbr@tcd.ie

  • MSc Artificial Intelligence, University of Limerick
  • MSc Biomedical Engineering, Trinity College Dublin
  • BA, MB, BCH, BAO, Trinity College Dublin

Jemima O’Farrell

Research Assistant on the TAPAS project, started February 2023
Jemima is an expert in the development and deployment of data science solutions to a range of environmental and climate science problems using earth observation data.
email: jemima.ofarrell@universityofgalway.ie

  • BSc. Physics with Astrophysics, University of Galway

Dr. Lisa Kiely

ICAT Fellow, started July 2024
Dr Kiely is working on combining hyperspectral/3D imaging and clinical biomarkers to diagnose, stage and determine the prognosis of localized scleroderma, otherwise known as Morphea.
email: lkiely@gmail.com

  • BM Medicine & BS Surgery, University of Limerick
  • BSc Physiology, University of Galway

Bachelor Students & Interns

Conor Sheridan

School of Natural Sciences (Physics) Summer Intern 2024
Conor worked with Sai Chaitanya Susarla on the identification of bright pulses of radio emission from nearby pulsars using the I-LOFAR radio telescope.

  • BSc Physics with Theoretical Physics, University of Galway

Eoin Disney

School of Natural Sciences (Physics) Summer Intern 2023
Eoin analysed SuperDARN observations of recent coronal mass ejection impacts and their associated aurora.

  • BSc Applied Physics, University of Galway

Eva Langan

HRB Summer Scholarship Programme, Summer 2023
Eva worked with Dr. Sian McGarel (University Hospital Galway) on the genomics of adrenocortical carcinoma.

  • BSc Genetics & Genomics, University of Galway

Elif Adıgüzel

Erasmus+ Internship Programme 2022.
Elif worked on data taken with the I-LOFAR radiotelescope to detect Uranian electrostatic discharges.

  • BSc/BE in Electrical Engineering & Physics, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye.

Jemima O’Farrell

Final Year Project (School of Physics), 2021-2022.
Jemima worked on methods to analyse data from the Hale Telescope’s CHIMERA high-speed imaging camera.

  • BSc Physics with Astrophysics, University of Galway

David O’Callaghan

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Internship Programme, Summer 2021.
David used the I-LOFAR telescope to study the radio emissio from a nearby pulsar.

  • BSc Physics with Astrophysics, University of Galway

Alumni

Dr. Sumaira Malik


Role: Sumiara completed her PhD on the immunotherapeutic potential of long non-coding RNA expression in solid cancers in 2024
Dr. Malik is currently a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Walton Institute, South East Technological University, contributing to the PRIME project.
Contact Ross here

Ross Trearty

2023
Role: Ross worked as a Research Assistant on the TAPAS project
Ross lead the development of statistical models applied to crop yield production.
Contact Ross here

Yared Tessema

2022-2023
Role: Yared worked as a Research Assistant on the TAPAS project
He did a terrific job on studying the impact of climate change on agronomy practises.
Contact Yared here

Katie Pighini

2021-2022
Role: Katie completed a MSc (Res) on the transient optical emission from nearby brown dwarfs
Katie currently works as a data scientist for Plasmabound in Dublin.
Contact Katie here

Robert Ferguson

2021-2022
Role: Robert completed a MSc (Res) on a study of the radio pulsar PSR B0656+14 using the I-LOFAR radiotelescope
Robert currently works as an optical engineer for mBryonics in Galway.
Contact Robert here

Eamon McAndrew

2020-2021
Role: Eamon worked as a Research Assistant funded by the HRB on the application of generative adversarial networks (GANs) in COVID radiology.
Contact Eamon here

Ben Nolan

2020-2021
Role: Ben completed a MSc thesis on the radiogenomic properties of luminal breast cancers.
Contact Ben here

Clare Lamont

2020-2021
Role: Clare completed a MSc thesis on a topological data analysis of the colorectal microbiome.
Contact Clare here

Gavin Farrell

2020-2021
Role: Gavin completed a MSc on the biosynthetic gene cluster diversity in the colorectal microbiome.
Contact Gavin here

Luke Heneghan

2020-2021
Role: Luke completed a MSc on the diversity of Connemara kelp biofilm microbiomes.
Contact Luke here

Dr. Salam Dulaimi

2017-2021
Role: Completed a PhD on the optical properties of late-M and early-L dwarf stars.
Contact Sal here

Donal O’Shea

2019-2020
Role: Donal completed a MSc on the functional association of genome duplications & and autism spectrum disorders.
Contact Donal here

Aran Casserly

2019-2020
Role: Aran completed a MSc on the development of a pipeline to process microbial microbiome data
Contact Aran here

Ella Lillis Greally

2018-2019
Role: Ella completed a MSc on profiling endogenous retroviral activity in prostate cancers.
Contact Ella here

Lydia King

2018-2019
Role: Lydia completed a MSc on karyotype instability within chromosome 11 in breast cancers.
Contact Lydia here

Ritasree Sengupta

2018-2019
Role: Ritasree completed a MSc on assessing dysbiosis in the colorectal microbiome.
Contact Rita here

Brian O’Sullivan

2018-2019
Role: Brian completed a MSc on radiosensitive gene expression profiles in prostate cancer.
Contact Brian here

Tom Huxford

2017-2018
Role: Tom completed a MSc on modeling aptamer-conjugated Au nanoparticle radiosensitization.
Tom has vanished!

Dalal AlSultan

2017-2018
Role: Dalal completed a MSc on screening for chemotherapeutic genes in marine fungal genomes.
Contact Dalal here

Olateju Idowu

2017-2018
Role: Olateju completed a MSc on studying the retroviral transcriptome in prostate cancers.
Contact Olateju here

Barry Digby

2017-2018
Role: Barry completed a MSc on a metabolite cluster analysis of thermophilic fungal genomes.
Contact Barry here

Jack Mc Mahon

2016-2017
Role: Jack completed a MSc on characterising the prostate cancer microbiome.
Contact Jack here

Laura Fahey

2016-2017
Role: Laura completed a MSc on extending codon usage bias to study putative pathogen genes using neural networks.
Contact Laura here

Dr. Kevin Shieh

2012-2016
Role: Completed a PhD on computational studies of de novo motif discovery in aptamer selections.
Contact Kevin here

Dr. David Rhee

2012-2015
Role: Postdoctoral Fellow. Supported a systems biology research effort for the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii by architecting and developing a data warehouse, toxoMine, based on the InterMine platform.
Contact David here

Dr. Pilib Ó Broin

2008-2014
Role: Completed a PhD on a genome-scale study of genetic & epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Contact Pilib here

Dr. Leon Harding

2008-2012
Role: Completed a PhD on the kinematic properties of several nearby field brown dwarfs and tight binary systems using the GUFI high speed photometer at the Mount Graham International Observatory.
Contact Leon here

Dr. Stephen Bourke

2007-2012
Role: Completed a PhD on novel high throughput algorithms applied to interferometric imaging using networks of radio telescopes.
Contact Stephen here

Dr. Alan Fergus

2004-2010
Role: Completed a PhD on boundary layer tracer suspension & dynamics by computationally modeling particulates in indoor environments.
Contact Alan here

Dr. Gregg Hallinan

2004-2009
Role: Completed a PhD on magnetospheric processes and auroral emission from brown dwarfs and very low mass stars.
Contact Gregg here

Dr. Andrew McLellan

2006-2008
Role: Completed a MSc on predicting imprinted genes in the mouse genome using neural networks.
Contact Andy here

Paul Geeleher

2006-2008
Role: Completed a MSc on the design & implementation of a web-based microarray analysis platform.
Contact Paul here

Dr. Caoilfhionn Lane

2004-2008
Role: Completed a PhD on a survey of magnetic spot activity on radio transient brown dwarfs.
Contact Caoilfhionn here

Dr. James Mc Donald

2003-2007
Role: Completed a PhD on novel computational implementation of the Discrete Dipole Approximation for high performance modeling of light scattering off particulates.
Contact James here

Dr. Shaun Mahony

2002-2005
Role: Completed a PhD on the development and application of self organising neural networks for biological sequence analysis.
Contact Shaun here

Dr. Padraig O’Connor

1999-2003
Role: Completed a PhD on the emission characteristics of pulsar magnetospheres by inverse-modelling methods.
Contact Padraig here