IEEE WIE International Leadership Summit Limerick 2025: Innovation, Inspiration and Leadership
The IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Summit and EU CATCH_VR event will take place at UL on 12th December 2025 (9:30-11:30 am). The theme is “ILS Limerick 2025: Innovation, Inspiration and Leadership”
Get ready for an exciting day packed with Innovation, Inspiration, and Leadership in the heart of Limerick. This is the perfect chance to connect, learn, and grow alongside amazing people in person. Don’t miss out on fresh ideas, engaging talks on emerging and immersive technologies, and hands-on experiences that will spark your creativity. Mark your calendar and be part of something awesome at ILS Limerick 2025!
Panel Members for Fireside Chat:
1. Prof. Valentina Donzella (QMUL), UK,
2. Dr Fiona Gilchrist (Jaguar Land Rover) and
3. Prof. Donna O’Shea (UL).
A student poster session will follow this.
Please Register, mark your calendars and prepare for insightful discussions and innovative ideas.
Join us for the Event at the International Business Centre Hall, University of Limerick
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We look forward to welcoming you there!
Date and Time
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- International Business Centre
- University of Limerick
- Limerick, Limerick
- Ireland V94 T9PX
- Room Number: IBG-013
- Click here for Map
Speakers
Prof. Valentina Donzella
Innovative Technologies and Trends in the domain
Biography:
Prof. Donzella is currently a Full Professor, head of the SPRING group at the School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, UK. She is currently leading the work package on perception sensor noise models as a part of the EU Horizon ROADVIEW project. She was previously awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship on camera sensors (2020-22). Her previous roles include MITACS and SiEPIC postdoctoral fellowships at the University of British Columbia (Canada). She is first author, co-author, and last author of several journal papers on top tier journals. Her research interests are perception sensors for intelligent systems, Intelligent Vehicles, noise modelling, machine learning, integrated optical sensors, sensor fusion, and silicon photonics. She has a H-Index of 20, more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, and 2174 citations She is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a co-founder of the IEEE ITSS UK & Ireland Section.
Email:
Dr. Fiona Gilchrist
Practical ways organizations can experiment with emerging tech
Biography:
Dr. Fiona Gilchrist - Research & Development Lead, JLR, Shannon, Co. Clare. Fiona is part of the Commercial team in Shannon. She has broad expertise within the pharmaceutical, engineering & life science sectors. Fiona’s previous roles have included a combination of project management of key R&D projects at Universities in the UK and Ireland. A BSc in Biological Sciences, MSc in Environmental Biotechnology, PhD in Chemical Engineering and significant post-doctoral experience in the development of point of care & genomic technologies within start-up companies. Valuable combination of academic, start-up commercial, business development, event management, training expertise, local and external outreach activities, mentorship and funding agency expertise. Fiona is a key advocate of STEM, mentoring secondary school students and internship of both transition year and PhD students. She has also mentored numerous undergraduate and postgraduate students in her previous roles within Universities and Enterprise Ireland funded research centres. Within her current role in JLR she is actively involved in the internship of SFI Advance CRT placement students and mentoring them whilst they are in residence within JLR.
Email:
Prof. Donna O'Shea
How do we balance innovation with responsibility, within the rapid technological change?
Biography:
Prof Donna O’Shea (PhD-07, MEng-04, BSc-02) is a leading national figure in cybersecurity research and innovation. She holds the position of Chair (Full Professor) of Digital Engineering at UL specialising in cybersecurity. She has extensive experience in winning funding and leading large-scale national cybersecurity initiatives including the ‘Cyber-Ireland’ Industry Cluster/EI Innovator’s Initiative ‘Cyber-Innovate’ focused in increasing the number of SMEs/HPSUs in cybersecurity/HEA-HCI3 ‘Cyber-Skills’ project on responding to the critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals and Research Ireland(RI) ‘Cyber-Futures’ EPE project in cybersecurity. She is involved with government and the National Cyber Security Centre(NCSC) on policy development and collaborates extensively with industry. She is an FI, in RI CONNECT Centre for Future Networks with a strong track record in doctoral supervision. Prior to joining UL she was Chair of Cybersecurity (2020-2025), Head of Department and Lecturer in Computer Science(2013-2020) at MTU, and worked in IBM as a Software Developer(2008-2013)
Email:
Agenda
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 9:45 AM – 10:00 AM | Tea / Coffee |
| 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Fireside chat with Prof. Valentina Donzella (QMUL, UK), Dr. Fiona Gilchrist (JLR), Prof. Donna O'Shea (UL) |
| 11:00 AM – 11:25 AM | Research Poster Presentation by the Department of ECE and D²iCE PhD Students. |
| 11:25 AM | Closing Session |