Theme: One Small Step Towards Tomorrow

At university, we often look towards the future and what we can do to contribute to the world to make it a better place. At TEDxUniversityCollegeCork we want to showcase the brightest talents we believe are taking a step towards tomorrow, today.

Devere Hall
Áras na Mac Léinn (Student Centre)
1st Floor
Cork, Cork, T12 K8AF
Ireland

Andrew McGovern

Neuroscientist UL and Researcher of Sex Differences in Neurological Disease

Andrew J. McGovern is a neuroscientist at the University of Limerick who studies sex differences in neurological disease. He joined the neurosciences in University College Cork studying sex differences in the brain following early life stress in relation to anxiety. After this Andrew joined the University of Limerick as a teaching assistant before being offered a scholarship to study sex differences (genetic and hormonal) in metabolism. He hopes this work may explain sex differences in diseases which could inform more precise treatment strategies. He is an award-winning science communicator who talks science on his podcast Living Room Logic which peaked at #1 science podcast in Ireland and TikTok @ScientistIreland which has over 3.5m views. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrew was invited by a member of NPHET to communicate COVID-19 information to young adults. This work was highlighted by the European Centre of Disease Control as best practice in COVID-19 and vaccine communications.

Dr. Marguerite Nyhan

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Environmental Engineering & Future Sustainability at University College Cork and Visiting Scientist at Harvard University

Dr. Marguerite Nyhan is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Environmental Engineering & Future Sustainability in the School of Engineering & Architecture at University College Cork and a Visiting Scientist at Harvard University in Boston. Marguerite's research focuses on developing intelligent solutions for sustainable, net-zero, healthy, liveable and equitable cities of the future. Dr. Nyhan previously led the Urban Environmental Research Team within MIT’s Senseable City Laboratory. Subsequently, she was a Post-Doctoral researcher at Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Later, she led research on the ethical use of new technologies in sustainable development and humanitarian efforts. Marguerite has spoken to a range of audiences globally. This includes lecturing at MIT and Harvard in the US, addressing the United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya, speaking at the World Health Organisation in Moscow and speaking at COP26 in Glasgow.

Dr. Patrick Treacy

Internationally Recognised Aesthetician Voted 'Top Aesthetic Doctor in the World' and Author

Dr Treacy was awarded the “Top Aesthetic Practitioner in the World 2019” at the MyFaceMyBody Global Awards. He is among a few doctors in the world to have won the AMEC Trophy in 2014, 2016 & 2019 for varied research relating to the use of stem cells and platelets in treating cancer cachexia and reversing skin necrosis. He won the MyFaceMyBody Trophy in London (2016) for medical research relating to the use of platelet-rich plasma, growth signalling factors and 633nm red light in both facial rejuvenation and hair transplant. He is recognised as one of the most influential aesthetic practitioners in the world being named in the MyFaceMyBody Ultimate 100 Global Aesthetic Leaders in 2017, 2018 & 2019. His research has strongly influenced this specialist area where he has developed global protocols relating to dermal filler complications and wound healing, as well as pioneering techniques for HIV facial lipodystrophy facial endoprosthesis and radiosurgery venous thermocoagulation.

Dr. Shubhangi Karmakar

Academic Doctor, READ Advisor, Journalist, Educator and Advocate

Dr. Shubhangi Karmakar is an Academic and Hospital Doctor in Dublin, currently working across Intensive Care and Academic Psychiatry. They are a Trustee of Choice Support UK, and an Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry. Their research interests span from artificial intelligence and psychedelics, to Crisis Psychiatry and exploring educational approaches in postgraduate psychiatry training. They are a READ Advisor to the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, and having addressed spaces from the Oireachtas to the BBC on issues of ethical and equitable diversity, equality and inclusion, they are now embarking on their training in the Law. They are passionate about developing rights- and choice-affirming mental health and social services for vulnerable people, in their life's work. In their spare time, they are a freelance journalist and columnist, a goldsmith, a target shooter, an amateur music producer, and a consumer of media in twelve languages.

Gráinne Flynn

Diabetes advocate, Thriveabetes Co-founder and Public Administration and Communications student

Gráinne Flynn has been living with diabetes since 1993 and lives in Co. Clare, Ireland. Gráinne started volunteering with Diabetes Ireland (the Irish national charity for people with diabetes) in 2007 and helped to set up local support groups and information events. She began blogging about her life with diabetes on BloodSugarTrampoline.com in 2010 and co-founded Thriveabetes; an Irish diabetes community-led conference in 2014 that has, to date, organised five successful national conferences. She also volunteers on the Diabetes Ireland Advocacy Group, the National Transfusion Advisory Group and the Diabetes Self-Management Alliance conference organising committee. In 2020, Grainne went back to education is currently doing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration and Communications.

Karen Underwood

Singer, writer, storyteller and public speaker

Singer, writer, storyteller, and public speaker Karen Underwood, resides in Cork. From Chicago Illinois, Karen found her way to Cork in 1997. Karen has performed The Cork Opera House, The Everyman, The Olympia, The Gate, Vicar Street, The Blackbox, The National Concert Hall and Marley Park and countless other venues in Ireland. Only beginning her professional singing career in her mid-30’s she has covered a lot of ground. She states, “Life has been incredibly joyous and incredibly painful, but I think we humans become better humans when we accept this and just choose to live.”

Lindsay MacMillan

Best-selling novelist and former Vice President at Goldman Sachs

Lindsay MacMillan is an author, businesswoman, and hopelessly hopeful romantic. After graduating magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, she worked at Goldman Sachs for six years in both New York and London, rising up to become a vice president. While working in finance, she carved out early mornings and weekends to pursue her dream of being a novelist and has now taken the leap to write full-time. Her debut novel, The Heart of the Deal, is a contemporary love story publishing in June 2022, and her second book is forthcoming in 2023. Strong, relatable women who are re-defining success in their careers and relationships are at the centre of her stories.