Mairead McGuinness is the European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability, and Capital Markets Union.

The Commissioner’s vision for the portfolio is focused on ensuring the financial sector’s strength and stability, so that it can deliver for people, society, and the environment.

Before joining the Commission in October 2020, Ms McGuinness was First Vice-President of the European Parliament. She served as an MEP from Ireland for 16 years and was a Vice-President of the Parliament since 2014.

In 2024, Ms McGuinness was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by University College Dublin (UCD), in recognition of her outstanding achievements as a member of the EU Commission and her contributions to the Agri-Food sector in Ireland and the European Union.

Prior to becoming an MEP, she was an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and commentator.

Colm O’Reardon was appointed Secretary General of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in September 2023.

Before coming to the department, he was Head of the Strategic Economic Development Division in the Department of Finance.

In previous roles, he was Secretary to the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, and Head of Strategy and Policy at the Department of Health.

He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Churchill College Cambridge and Wolfson College Oxford. He holds a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford, where he was also a Rhodes scholar.

Dr. Henriette van Eijl is the Deputy to the Director “People” and Head of Unit of the unit ‘Health and Societal Transitions’ in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. The Unit ensures that R&I policies and programmes, especially through investment in Horizon Europe, support the EU policy objectives in health and societal transitions, notably in health, socio-economic and inclusion areas, as well as Social Sciences and Humanities. She also serves on the Boards of the Human Frontier Sciences Program and EUROFOUND.

Henriette has 25 years' experience in three EC Directorates-General, in national administration, industry and academia. She holds a PhD in virology (smallpox) from Oxford University. In her spare time, she is a patron of the Flagey music centre in Brussels and she enjoys hiking in Europe with her family’s two Weimaraner dogs.

Leo Clancy is the Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland, the State Agency that helps Irish companies to start, scale and grow globally. Enterprise Ireland supports over 4,000 Irish companies through over 40 offices worldwide. The Agency also invests in innovation capability in universities and regional projects throughout Ireland.

Before being appointed as CEO of Enterprise Ireland, Leo was a member of the Executive Committee of IDA Ireland, the State agency for Foreign Direct Investment. There, he led the Technology sector, working extensively at up to C-level with the top global technology and services companies.

Leo spent most of his career in the telecommunications industry, working in senior management, technical and engineering roles. His most recent role was as Service Delivery Director at e|net, a high-growth Irish wholesale broadband provider. Prior to that, he was General Manager, Service Delivery at Ericsson Ireland, having spent his early career providing global services for deployment of mobile 2G and 3G networks and prepaid systems.

Leo graduated from Dublin Institute of Technology with a First-Class Honours degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland.

Micol is the acting National Director for Horizon Europe in Ireland and acting National Contact Point (NCP) for EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) – she is also the Programme Manager for Career-FIT and Career-FIT PLUS.

With more than 20 years’ experience in business support gained internationally in both public and private sectors, she has worked closely with EU institutions and has managed multi-million euros projects in internationalisation, local development, and research and innovation, supervising large and diverse teams.

Micol holds a Master’s degree in Political Science (summa cum laude) and a second MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), as well as professional diplomas in entrepreneurship and innovation (Stanford University) and business sustainability management (Cambridge University).

Anna Davies is Professor of Geography, Environment and Society at Trinity College Dublin where she leads the Environmental Governance Research Group and is Co-Chair of the Trinity Centre for Future Cities.

A founding member of Future Earth’s Knowledge Action Network on Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production and Future Earth Ireland, Anna examines whose voices, values and visions count when shaping policy and practice in matters of sustainability and how this impacts people and the planet. She is currently PI of the CULTIVATE project, an EU Innovation Action (2023-2026), and a member of the Naturescapes RIA EU Consortium.

She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and the International Science Council, and Chair of The Rediscovery Centre in Dublin; Ireland’s national centre for the circular economy.

Brian is Chief Strategy Officer at Ubotica Technologies with more than 25 years of experience in senior management roles in the digital sector.

Ubotica’s SPACE:AI solutions are delivered by technology innovators with deep insight into processing hardware, CV (computer vision) software, and AI system and solution integration. Their on-board AI/CV processing solutions have multiple space mission heritage.

Previously with Intel Corporation, as Intel Labs Europe lead, Brian led global and regional teams across a transformative technology research and innovation agenda. He was a member of Intel Ireland’s site leadership team, leading specific strategic initiatives for the site.

He has acted as policy advisor to the European Commission and served as an ‘expert’ reviewer, evaluator and advisor to the European Commission and Irish National Government (and agencies).

Brian has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science & Business from Dublin City University (DCU), post-graduate Diplomas in Accounting and Finance from ACCA, and in Innovation Management from the National University of Ireland.

Dr Claire O’Connell is an award-winning science communicator. She holds a PhD in cell biology from University College Dublin, where she is now an Adjunct Professor at UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science.

Claire holds a Master’s in Science Communication from Dublin City University, she has authored books about science and leadership, and has been writing for The Irish Times since 2005.

In 2016, Claire was named Irish Science Writer of the Year by the Association of British Science Writers. In 2024, she was the first journalist in residence at UCD Earth Institute.

Conor Kelly is an Engineering Team Lead at ÉireComposites. He joined ÉireComposites in 2020 after graduating with a First-Class Honours Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Limerick.

Conor has a proven track record leading national and European funded R&D projects and has successfully completed projects worth over €2 million in both the aerospace and renewable energy sectors. He is currently leading several projects relating to additive manufacturing and turbine blade production, focusing on the use of sustainable materials.

Dipti is the Director of Research at University College Dublin leading the UCD Research Unit to develop a comprehensive research strategy, foster relationships that support the university’s ambitious research goals, and prioritise enhanced support throughout the entire project lifecycle for the UCD research community.

Prior to her appointment in 2024, Dipti was the Head of Pre-award funding leading the EU, national and international funding advisory and contract teams. During her years in senior management at UCD Research, the university realised a significant increase in research income, from €95 million in 2015 to €220 million in 2023/24. Dipti established the UCD EU Research Office and ERC Talent Team which has contributed to UCD’s positioning at No.1 in Ireland and Top 25 in EU for Horizon Europe research awards, with a total funding capture of €100 million to date.

Dipti is the Chair of the European Association for Research Managers and Administrators, EARMA. Dipti is committed to ensuring recognition of the Research Management profession, as a career of choice, in Europe by engaging in initiatives that advance the profession. Dipti is passionate about driving innovations that strengthen our research community’s impact on the research landscape by fostering collaboration across national and international stakeholders.

Dipti was also appointed by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to the board of Léargas, and was previously a board member for the Irish Universities Quality Board. Prior to joining UCD, Dipti was Director of the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences. Dipti has been involved in all aspects of the research funding lifecycle (since FP4!) as an Erasmus Alumni and now Board member, EC Stagiaire, funded researcher, Expert Evaluator, National Delegate for SSH, EU Research Infrastructures Advisory Group member, Senior Research Manager and funder.

Francesco Pilla is a Full Professor and the UCD Chair of Smart & Sustainable Cities. His work focuses on empowering local communities with cutting-edge technology and enabling them to act on pressing environmental issues in their local environment. His goal is to build better cities through technology, innovation, and citizen participation. He has been active in environmental research for 15 years and to date has attracted around €40 Million in research funding from international and national funding sources.

He’s currently coordinating a €13 million Horizon Europe City Mission project called REALLOCATE which will pilot infrastructural solutions to reallocate road space towards active and public transport in 10 European cities to support them to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.

Lise-Ann Sheahan is a Senior Programme Manager at Irish Manufacturing Research and Coordinator of FactoryXChange European Digital Innovation Hub.

Lise-Ann brings a unique perspective to digital solutions, combining her extensive background in urban and rural development with her recent role as Senior Programme Manager for Competitive Funding with Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR). Her experience in securing funding for Research and Innovation projects across various domains, from economic development to environmental sustainability, allows her to understand the specific needs and challenges faced by businesses seeking to implement digital solutions.

Lise-Ann's strong network of collaborators and her expertise in coordinating successful funding proposals help businesses looking for support in navigating the funding landscape and integrating digital technologies into their operations.

Luke O’Neill is Professor of Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is a world expert on innate immunity and inflammatory diseases. He is listed by Thompson Reuters / Clarivates in the top 1% of immunologists in the world, based on citations per paper. Professor O'Neill is co-founder of Sitryx, which aims to develop new medicines for inflammatory diseases. Another company he co-founded, Inflazome, was acquired by Roche and is developing therapeutics for multiple inflammatory diseases.

He was awarded the Royal Dublin Society / Irish Times Boyle Medal for scientific excellence, the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life Sciences, The Society for Leukocyte Biology (SLB) Dolph O. Adams award, the European Federation of Immunology Societies Medal, the Milstein Award of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society, the Landsteiner Award from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and holds honorary degrees from the Universities of Bath and Massachusetts. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation), a Fellow of the Royal Society, has won two advanced grants from the European Research Council and is also the Irish representative on the council of the ERC.

Stéphane Hogan is the Head of Unit for Health Research at the Health & Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), which implements the Horizon Europe Health Cluster and the Cancer Mission on behalf of the European Commission.

Stéphane was previously Head of Unit for Biotechnology for Health and subsequently Head of Unit for Strategy in the Health directorate of DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission. He has also represented the European Commission as Science Counsellor at the EU Delegation to the European Union to the African Union in Addis Ababa from 2012-2016, where his role was to foster cooperation between the EU and Africa, both at policy level and through the Framework programme.

Stéphane holds a degree in genetics and a masters in biotechnology from Trinity College Dublin, as well as an MBA with the Open University.

Tony is the Managing Director and co-founder of SiriusXT Ltd, a UCD spinout that has taken on the mammoth task of developing a 3D imaging microscope for biological cells for applications in disease and drug research. SiriusXT’s first commercial deployment is at the Conway Institute at UCD, with first international sales forecasted for 2025.

Tony has a passion for leveraging leading-edge technology, with the goal of developing easy-to-use solutions for complex customer problems. He has managed four VC-led start-ups, returning, in one case, a 700% return on investment for investors in less than two years. He was the inaugural Enterprise Ireland HPSU ‘Founder of the Year’ for 2017 and was a finalist in the Ernst & Young sponsored International Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005.

Tony holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering, a Masters of Engineering Science degree in Electronic Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the College of Science in University College Dublin.