Trinity celebrates its innovators and entrepreneurs at 2024 Awards

Posted on: 21 November 2024

The 2024 Trinity Innovation Awards last night celebrated exceptional achievements in research and innovation.  

Hosted by Trinity Innovation & Enterprise, this year's awards honoured the bold visionaries whose excellence, leadership and ambition are shaping our futures. 

The Provost's Innovation Award was presented to Professor Jane Farrar (below), a transformative figure in the field of inherited ocular diseases, advancing innovation and commercialising research at Trinity College Dublin.  

Dr Linda Doyle, Provost and President of Trinity, said: 

"Trinity College Dublin is a powerhouse of innovation. The outputs of the past five years alone are testament to that: 25 spin out companies have been formed, 14 of which are High Potential Start Ups; 288 invention disclosures have been completed; 88 patents have been filed; 124 licenses have been agreed, and Trinity has engaged in 530 industry collaborations, 45% of which have been with SMEs. 

“Our annual Innovation Awards ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate this fantastic dynamism. I am delighted, in particular, to see so many disciplines represented among the awardees - from genetics to transport, from biodiversity to education. 

“It is a privilege, in particular, to present Jane Farrar with the Provost’s Innovation Award. Jane's work in genetics is truly exceptional and has the potential to impact the lives of millions across the world.  

“I would also like to thank our Chief Innovation and Enterprise Officer, Dr Michelle Olmstead, and her team for organising this event and for the great work they do in promoting a culture of innovation in Trinity. I also want to acknowledge the huge amount of care that goes into curating and facilitating the protection of intellectual property and managing the transfer of knowledge to achieve societal good, nationally and internationally. It is truly valued." 

Jane Farrar is renowned for her pioneering genetics research, with a focus on gene therapies aimed at treating rare and inherited retina disorders. She has made groundbreaking contributions to the development of therapeutic solutions that address unmet medical needs, and her work has been instrumental in positioning Trinity College as a hub for genetic innovation. 

One of her most significant achievements is her role in the creation of Genable Therapeutics.  The company’s flagship gene therapy program targeted conditions that had no effective treatment, providing hope to patients suffering from blindness caused by genetic mutations.  Genable attracted the attention of global biopharma leaders, culminating in its acquisition by Spark Therapeutics, a leading player in the gene therapy space.  

This acquisition was a testament to the commercial potential and scientific excellence of the technologies developed under Professor Farrar’s guidance. It also paved the way for further advancements in gene therapy, with the potential to impact millions of lives worldwide.    Her work has also set a new standard for the treatment of rare disorders, providing a roadmap for how genetic research can be leveraged to develop targeted therapies. By pioneering new approaches to gene  therapy, Professor Farrar’s contributions are not only reshaping the landscape of genetics but also driving advances in personalised medicine—an area of healthcare that promises to revolutionise how diseases are treated on an individual basis. 

Trinity’s Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer, Michelle Olmstead (pictured above), said: 

“The strength of Trinity, as a research-led university lies in its commitment to foster innovation and provide robust supports for pioneering ideas, products and services. At Trinity College, this commitment is at the heart of our mission.  The Trinity Innovation Awards celebrate the extraordinary knowledge, talent, vision, and determination that drives innovation across our university and our teaching hospitals. As we move into a new phase of innovation maturity, public/private partnership is key, where our research and innovation partners can find spaces within Trinity to collaborate in a safe environment.  As a research-led institution, we pride ourselves on creating an innovation eco-system where groundbreaking ideas can flourish. We are committed to translating knowledge into social, environmental and economic solutions with far-reaching impact.” 

Prof Yvonne Buckley was presented with the Exceptional Achievement Award recognising her exceptional innovative and multidisciplinary approach in tackling grand challenges.   

Prof. Buckley is a Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Climate + Biodiversity + Water Co-Centre, a research centre funded by Research Ireland, DAERA in Northern Ireland and UKRI in Great Britain and supported via UK’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), and the Irish Government’s Shared Island initiative. The Climate + Co-Centre bring together a network of over 60 leading researchers from 14 academic and research partner institutions to collaborate across disciplines, agencies, and borders to deliver evidence-based solutions to address the critical challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and water quality degradation through research, innovation and policy development across the islands of Ireland and Great Britain.  For the next five years, the Climate+ Co-Centre will produce the research and thinking that will inform policy and drive applicable industry change, leading Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain towards a Net Zero future. 

The Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award was presented to Brian Kelleher of MicroDoc (pictured below with Provost Dr Linda Doyle).  MicroDoc is a digital assistant for doctors that helps manage, process and generate paperwork better. Part of LaunchBox 2023, Brian is studying Maths and Economics at TCD, is a Naughton Scholar 2022, a BT Scientist Award Winner, was the youngest in Ireland's 30 Under 30 and is one of The Irish Times 50 to Watch in 2024. This award acknowledges creative and innovative entrepreneurial ideas by students, with the motivation to turn their ideas into viable ventures.  

The Campus Company Founders Award recognises academics who play a pivotal role in founding an investable, scalable campus company with high potential.  Dr Dara Meldrum is our 2024 award recipient.  Founder of Vertigenius, Dr Meldrum and her team have developed a novel technology platform to treat vertigo in a digital physiotherapy setting.  Vertigenius was established to develop a wearable device and software combination to help therapists treat vertigo more effectively; reduce patient visits and bring down lengthy waiting times.  Vertigo has a significant impact on quality of life - research shows that patients with vertigo are 12 times more likely to have a fall, while 63pc of them lose workdays and 50pc suffer from anxiety. 

The Trinity Impact Award was presented to Prof Brian Caulfield, Prof in Transportation, School of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering.  Prof. Caulfield is passionate about how research-backed policymaking can drive the transport sector towards a sustainable future.  An expert researcher and opinion leader nationally and internationally on sustainable transportation, transport infrastructure planning and climate impact.  

The Industry Engagement Award was awarded to Prof. Sarah Doyle, a Professor of Immunology at Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, and Director of Research in the School of Medicine. Her research interest is in inflammation, innate immunity, retinal degeneration, and how these interact. She is co-lead PI on the €3.2m SFI strategic partnership Eye-D. and has multiple strategic collaborations with multinational pharma companies. 

The Consultancy Award was awarded to Associate Professor Frédérique Valliere (Psychology), Director of Centre for Global Health (Trinity Centre for Global Health). In 2024, she successfully led consultancy projects involving World Vision Ireland to measure Child Hunger and a project supporting research within the World Health Organisation's Special Initiative for Mental Health. 

New in 2024 is the Learnovate Innovation in Research Award.   The Co-PIs Associate Professor Ann Devitt and Assistant Professors Aibhín Bray and Joanne Banks of the School of Education accepted this award on behalf of the project team.  The UDL-BOE project focused on developing practical tools to help teachers deliver effective and engaging learning in a digital space. Based on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework it addressed inclusion and digital pedagogical competences, targeting schoolteachers. The UDL-BOE digital teacher support tool was used by 1,670 primary school teachers as part of the Oide Technology in Education Summer Course in 2024. 

The Trinity Inventor Award is presented to an academic whose innovative research has led to the creation of intellectual property which has subsequently licensed to Industry/or a campus company.  Prof. Carl Vogel is a computational linguist and professor at the School of Computer Science & Statistics and key researcher involved in the creation of three Trinity campus companies. He is at the forefront of the Generative AI revolution in text processing through LLMs.  His intellectual property has been licensed into Trinity spin outs and MNCs including Microsoft and Digital Linguistics Ltd. 

Finally, the Ones to Watch category, presented to up-and-coming entrepreneurial academics whose research is most likely to result in the next Campus company, commercial licence deal or industry engagement.  This year’s winners included; 

• Tim Persoons, Associate Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering with a research focus in multiscale convective heat transfer in electronics thermal management.   With numerous engagements with both SMEs and multinational companies, this award recognises a CONNECT Centre collaborative research project with a large Japanese automobile company looking at motor cooling strategies for electric aircraft applications 

• Professor Ignatio Martin- Loeches, an ICU Consultant and Emily Naylor, an emergency room nurse in St James’ Hospital working with Dr Brooke Tornifoglio an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering in Trinity’s School of Engineering.  The trio are collaborating on tackling the major clinical problem of ventilator associated pneumonia, developing mitigation solutions using a novel ventilator tube. 
• Muhammad Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering who was recognised for contributions to sustainability through his multiple industry engagements, success in funding proposals to the National Challenge Awards and for his leadership in driving Trinity’s new Water Centre. 
• Mohammad Reza Ghaani, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil structural & Environmental Engineering whose research encompasses sustainable aviation fuel, the hydrogen supply chain, and sustainable life cycle assessment. Mohammad was specifically recognised for leading the pre-screening efforts for the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Clearing House at Trinity working with industry partners to advise on the SAF fuel certification process. 
• Professor Sara Pavia, from Trinity’s Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering School, focuses her research on sustainable building materials and improving the environmental impact of concrete by replacing cement with other sustainable waste products. With an active portfolio of invention disclosures and patent filings, Sara is collaborating with the new Construction Ireland Centre, has multiple EU projects, and has recently been awarded an Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership Project. Sara’s research is becoming more relevant in an environmentally-conscious world and Sara is aiming to commercialise her research. 

ENDS 

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