WITS Ireland (Women in Technology and Science)

Announcing Engineers Ireland's newest society - the Wind Engineering Society - founded by Reamonn Mac Reamoinn, Rubina Ramponi and myself This will be the Irish chapter of the International Association for Wind Engineering IAWE and our inaugural meeting will take place online on Thursday, 1st October 2026 at 5pm Register here: https://lnkd.in/eQgFUmFD Focus areas include structural wind loading, wind-induced motion, pedestrian wind comfort, ventilation, air quality, wind-driven rain and snow, computational wind engineering, wind tunnel testing, urban climate, site wind conditions, and forensic wind investigations. Webpage: https://lnkd.in/eyPR62-E Many thanks for all the support from Hassan Hemida, Cornelia Kalender and Claudio Borri.

Belated congratulations to Nadine Hobeika on publically (and very successfully) defending her PhD in TU Delft Department of Geoscience and Engineering last week! Her thesis was on "Improving indoor airflow assessment through low-cost experimental and numerical methods" and it was great to hear all about Milou - the robot she designed for collecting measurements. It was a privalage to be part of her examination committee (in full ceremonial dress) with Rubina Ramponi, Twan van Hooff, and Femke Vossepoel. Warm congratulations also to Nadine's supervisor, Clara García-Sánchez!

Supporting the next generation of women in STEM is a cause I'm deeply passionate about I was delighted to feature in this The Irish Times article in the Education supplement yesteday, alongside colleague and friend Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain (PhD) I was particulary pleased that Geraldine Walsh included my advice to "find people who will sponsor and challenge you. Mentoring is particularly powerful for confidence and career clarity, so actively look for it, and when you’re established, pay it forward." 🖇️ Link to full article here: https://lnkd.in/eFNiiYyj WITS Ireland (Women in Technology and Science), UCD Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Unit, University College Dublin, Women in STEM Summit & Awards, Grace Aungierpleased

17 seconds of fame on TG4's main evening news last night about our #DETECT project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ireland. Work that Kevin Walsh led, under the supervision of Aaron Lim, PhD, has created Ireland's first national map showing where the coast is most exposed to erosion and flooding The clip was captured on Sandymount strand, one of the areas identified as having the 🚫 highest coastal exposure index 🚫 ➡️ Full press release here https://lnkd.in/ec-v48Nv University College Cork, University College Dublin, UCD EngArch, UCD Civil Engineering

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for Pegah’s PhD research as we approach the beginning of her final year 🥳 Mark, Pegah and I have had some very enjoyable days in the lab recently with Kevin Nolan and his high-speed camera - looking at flow patterns in the narrow flume in the UCD School of Earth Sciences We’ve been spending time mapping out her thesis, and she’s also presented her work at both the OpenFOAM Workshop and the #CERI conference in Queen's University Belfast UCD Graduate Studies UCD Research UCD College of Engineering & Architecture UCD EngArch University College Dublin

And three months later… some photos snapped today showing: — in-situ concrete construction — flat slab construction (no beams distinct from the slab) — safe systems of work — lift core providing stability Such a great learning opportunity for students to be able to show them these “progress photos” of a building on their campus at University College Dublin

I had the chance to speak with Dr Jennifer Keenahan for Women Inspiring Women. Jennifer is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at University College Dublin and works at the intersection of wind engineering and computational fluid dynamics, helping designers create safer, more comfortable cities. She also plays a big role in engineering education and serves as deputy chair of WITS Ireland (Women in Technology and Science), advocating for a more inclusive STEM community. In our conversation, she spoke about separating your work from your worth, why collaboration is the engine behind complex projects and what future engineers need beyond the technical. If you have a few minutes, I think you will find this conversation encouraging, especially if you care about STEM, inclusion and how we teach the next generation to solve real problems with empathy. #WomenInspiringWomen #WomenInSTEM #Leadership #CareerStories

A fantastic few days with the team at the Civil Engineering Research in Ireland Conference (CERI 2026) last week at Queen's University Belfast. A major highlight was my PhD student @David Cunningham winning the prize for best student paper 🥳 Hard to believe it’s been 15 years since Eugene, Myra and I started on the first US-Ireland project 😱 The team presentations included: Edel: Clarifying Eurocode flat-roof zoning under oblique winds: a practical load-case interpretation for Irish design practice (funded by Construct Innovate) Pegah: Wall-Boundary Distortions in Narrow Flumes and Their Relevance to Near-Bed Flow in Offshore Scour Analysis (funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)) @David: Recalibrating Wind Actions for Ireland: A Code-to-Code Assessment for Typical Building Types (funded by UCD Civil Engineering) Alexandra: Measuring perceptions, shaping futures: Introducing the JEDI model for improving engineering career awareness (funded by Research Ireland) Eímear: Co-designing stereotype-aware engineering education: Methods and insights from the Junior Engineer Development Initiative (funded by Research Ireland) Huge congratulations to Sree, Danny and Jonathan for a fantastic event and seamless organisation, and looking forward to the next one in the University of Limerick with Declan Phillips in 2028! #CERAI UCD EngArch University College Dublin UCD Research