University: UCC
Akasha Shafiq
PhD Researcher
Akasha Shafiq currently pursuing a PhD.
Akasha Shafiq is a PhD researcher at University College Cork, specializing in differential privacy. Her research is focused on designing and validating privacy-preserving mechanisms that protect individual privacy while ensuring data utility. Akasha holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from COMSATS University, Islamabad, where she was part of the Network Security Research Group, and she was recognized as one of Business Post’s Tech 30 under 30 in 2024.
Her current work combines theoretical and practical approaches to differential privacy, particularly in fine-tuning privacy parameters like epsilon to optimize the privacy-utility balance. Akasha’s research spans applications in secure data sharing, IoT environments, and machine learning, where she emphasizes empirical validation and addresses the challenges of deploying differential privacy solutions in real-world settings.
Supervisor: Dr Paolo Palmieri
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Dr. Rosane Minghim
CRT in AI Supervisor
Rosane Minghim is a lecturer at the School of Computer Science and Information Technology, UCC. Before that she was an Associate Professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where she was involved in teaching and research for over 30 years. Her has a BSc in Computer Science (University of São Paulo), an MSc in Electrical Engineering (University of Campinas), a PhD in Computer Studies (University of East Anglia – UK) and continues to collaborate with researchers in Computing and Application areas in Brazil, Peru, USA, Canada and Europe, where she visits frequently. She is an adjunct professor at University of São Paulo and Dalhousie University, Canada.
Her main field of research is Visual Analytics, which comprises visual techniques for data analysis and for support in building and understanding classification models. Her projects involve the subjects of Visualization and Artificial Intelligence as well as applications of data analysis, such as document, images, soundscape ecology for environment monitoring, systems biology, medical records, and others.
Current PhD project proposal:
Novel approaches for AI and visualization of soundscape ecology data for environment monitoring.
Monitoring natural environments via sound, both on the surface and underwater, has been at the centre of new developments to support geographical and ecological studies, from sustainable exploration of the land and oceans to understanding climate change. Recordings made for long periods of time can be used in tackling a very large variety of problems, such as diversity evaluation, detection of target species, verification of the impact of human activity, and monitoring the impact of climate change, to mention a few. While the application and adaptation of AI and ML techniques to these problems have been gaining momentum, much more research is necessary to define how they can be adapted to each specific problem and what the best algorithms and techniques are to draw different observations from the same data (sound recordings). Novel approaches are required on an urgent basis.
This project is meant to develop the next generation of AI models and visualization strategies to support the science of soundscape ecology for sustainable activities, such as renewable energy and ocean exploration. The student will start by studying and evaluating previously developed methods to new problems and new data, then to develop effective and fast approaches to advance AI in soundscape ecology. The candidate, while working at UCC, will interact with partners in the USA (Purdue University), Northern Ireland (Ulster University), Brazil (USP and UNESP) and at MaREI – SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and Innovation, Cork.
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Samaksh Chandra
PhD Researcher
My name is Samaksh, you can call me Sam for short. I am a doctoral researcher in the field of artificial intelligence at CRT in AI. I have worked on building recommender systems, predictive analytics for classification and regression problems, federated learning for energy modelling of battery electric vehicles, and using machine learning for product matching tasks. My interests are towards human-compatible AI systems, explainable AI, constraint programming and optimization problems, federated learning, and applied machine learning. My supervisors are Dr. Steve Prestwich and Dr. Andrea Visentin (UCC).
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Daniella Traynor
PhD Researcher
Daniella Traynor recently graduated with a first-class honours degree in Digital Humanities from University College Cork and was awarded UCCDH student of the year. Her final year project ExploringSHUA focused on using deep maps to explore socioeconomic changes in urban areas. Her artefact was nominated for the 2021 Global DH awards for best data visualisation. Since then, she has assisted the department in academic research projects while simultaneously working on part-time data projects and various contracts in technical consultancy. Daniella has owned and run a web development company for 5+ years and did her undergraduate work experience with Google. She is now a full-time PhD student with the CRT-AI. Her research aims to bring forward the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence into Digital Humanities, with her thesis focusing on methods for preserving and promoting cultural heritage. Her supervisors are Professor Claire Connolly, Dr. Rosane Mingham and Dr. Orla Murphy.
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Ege Duran
PhD Researcher
Ege Duran received her Bachelor’s degree from Yasar University, Department of Industrial Engineering in 2019. She received her Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Yasar University, Izmir, Türkiye in 2022. She continues her PhD studies in Computer Science at UCC, Ireland. Her research interests include Modelling, Optimisation and Heuristic approaches. Her supervisor is Professor Barry O’Sullivan, UCC.
Recent publications: Duran, E. et al. (2020). The Uniform Parallel Machine Scheduling Problem: A Case Study. In: Durakbasa, N., Gençyılmaz, M. (eds) Proceedings of the International Symposium for Production Research 2019. ISPR ISPR 2019 2019. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31343-2_69
Professor Claire Connolly
CRT in AI Supervisor
Claire Connolly is Professor of Modern English at University College Cork and Head of the School of English and Digital Humanities. She was PI of the interdisciplinary IRC-funded project, Deep Maps: West Cork Coastal Cultures and is currently project lead for Ports, Past and Present, funded by the European Regional Development Fund via the Ireland Wales Programme. Across both projects she has developed research interests in digital technologies and their role in preserving, visualising and communicating cultural heritage.
Martha S. Shaka
PhD Researcher
Martha Shaka is pursuing her PhD in computer science at the University College Cork, supervised by Professor Ken Brown and Professor Barry O’Sullivan. Her research interests focus on developing novel data analytics and deep learning techniques, especially for applications in health science, multi-agent interaction and resource optimisation in intelligent systems. She received an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Leeds in 2021. Her thesis leveraged deep learning techniques to capture essential differences and classify C.elegans mutant strains based on their behaviours to understand behaviour dynamics in relation to the nervous system.
Martha is one of the co-founders of capital space Ltd, aiming to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship through skills development and technology in Tanzania. In addition, She is an assistant lecturer at the University of Dodoma (UDOM) and occasionally volunteers to teach programming languages to girls in public high schools and organise local and national events inclined to share AI knowledge, such as Annual IndabaX Conferences and UDOM AI Community. Ms Martha enjoys reading and is a massive fan of football.
Supervisor: Professor Ken Brown
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Janet Choi
M.Sc, BSc.N
Janet Choi is the Senior Research Co-ordinator and program manager for Research Ireland Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence since April 2019.
For 12 years beginning in 2007, she worked as a Project Manager and a Clinical Nurse Research Co-ordinator at the Centre for Research in Vascular Biology, (CRVB) University College Cork. This group were the first to carry out a first-in-man placebo controlled randomised control trial at Cork University Hospital by examining the role of IGF1 in acute heart failure in the context of ST elevation myocardial infarction. Janet has contributed, two scientific papers in the American Heart Journal (AHJ, 2018) and Stem Cells (2016) and is a named author. She was awarded a EI Commercialisation Feasibility Fund (2013) for her work in the role of wireless wearable 12-lead ECG sensors for clinical use and holds a 1H Masters Degree in Digital Health, College of Business and Law UCC (2020).
She is a qualified Registered Nurse having completed her education and hospital training in Toronto, Ontario. She took a position in the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory, Cork University Hospital as a registered nurse and later appointed as a Clinical Nurse Manager (2005). Subsequently she took a post at the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork as a Clinical Nurse Manager in the Cardiac Catheterisation Lab, and later guided and directed undergraduate nursing students during their clinical rotations as a Clinical Placement Coordinator, Nurse Practice Development Unit (2006).
Janet is particularly interested in artificial intelligence and its application tertiary healthcare centres. In her work, she emphasises people first, encourages processes, and follows principles that will garner and improve results.
Lavanya Pampana
PhD Researcher
Lavanya Pampana is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, UCC, Cork, Ireland and she is supervised by Dr Emanuel Popovici and is co-supervised by Andriy Temko. Her research is in the field of EEG signal analysis where she will be applying ML techniques. She holds an MSc in Software Engineering from BTH, Karlskrona, Sweden. Prior to joining the CRT-AI funded Ph.D. programme, Lavanya worked in Volvo Cars, Gothenburg as a Function Visualization Developer in their R&D team. In her spare time, she reads books, learns music, loves to hike, practices dance and watches documentaries. She has also volunteered for several educational outreach programs in her spare time over the last year.
Supervisor: Dr. Emanuel Popovici
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Liam de la Cour
PhD Researcher
Liam de la Cour is a first-year PhD student in University College Cork, where he is being supervised by Dr. Derek Bridge. His research is in the field of Recommender Systems which is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence that seeks to predict the ‘rating’ or ‘preference’ a user would give to an item. These systems are deployed to help users overcome information overload, and help them find items that will delight them. He is particularly interested in how these systems can describe to the user why particular items will appeal to them. In his spare time, Liam can be found playing basketball, cooking, or meeting with friends.
Supervisor: Dr. Derek Bridge
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Professor Gregory Provan
CRT in AI Supervisor
Gregory Provan is a Professor of Computer Science at UCC. His research interests include machine learning, systems modeling and control. In particular, his recent work has focused on deep learning and deep reinforcement learning. Prof. Provan is the director of the SFI Spoke on Autonomous Vehicles, and this is one of his key application areas.
Fabio Magarelli
PhD Researcher
Fabio Magarelli, is a first-year PhD student at the Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence, University College Cork, where he is supervised by Professor Geraldine Boylan and Dr. John O’Toole. His research is in the field of EEG data analysis and applied Machine Learning (ML)which is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence applied to Medicine that is concerned with tools and techniques to produce diagnostic instruments for clinicians in the field of Paediatrics such as EEG abnormalities and patterns detection. Fabio holds a BSc. In Nursing and an MSc. in Computer Science. Prior to joining the CRT-AI funded PhD programme, Fabio worked as a Research Assistant on the Delphi project at Infant Research Centre in Cork University Hospital. The project aimed to produce a ML model to detect and classify Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) in EEG data of term babies. Fabio has also experience working as a Nurse, both in Beaumont Hospital (Dublin) and the Italian Red Cross, and as a Software Developer in University College Dublin (UCD). In his spare time, Fabio enjoys DIY, software development and electronics.
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
