Research Associate

Maria Paola Vercesi was a Research Associate – Digital Skills and STEM Education, contributing to a range of EU-funded initiatives including Code4Europe and Digital4Security. Her work focused on creating and delivering inclusive, engaging, and future-facing educational materials and events in relation to the Code4Europe and Discover Digital programmes.

As part of her role, she contributed to a key deliverable within the Digital4Security project, assisting Adriana Chis. Through these contributions, she helped advance high-quality educational outputs aligned with digital skills development and STEM education priorities.

EU Deliverables Coordinator

Kelda McManus was the EU Deliverables Coordinator, involved in the Digital4Business programme, where she was responsible for communications relating to the CCC Department. In this role, she played a key part in supporting the coordination of WP4 (Programme roll-out and delivery), working closely with the EU Project Manager, Meri Cvetkovska. Through her contributions, she helped ensure effective delivery processes and clear communication across the project, supporting the successful implementation of programme activities.

Research Associate

Alba González-Cebrián is a Research Associate at the Cloud Competency Center, National College of Ireland (NCI). She earned an FPI grant for her Ph.D. in Statistics at the Universitat Politècnica de València in 2018. Her expertise lies in developing innovative solutions for Exploratory Data Analysis and integrating Machine Learning tools into healthcare environments. She is passionate about bridging the gap between machine learning and statistical reasoning, facilitating a deeper understanding of model decisions. Additionally, Alba is actively involved in promoting FAIR principles within the Open Data and Open Science community, working on data versioning standards.

Postdoctoral Researcher

An esteemed researcher at the Cloud Competency Centre, Dr Fanny Rivera-Ortiz is at the forefront of creating forensic-ready software systems. With a PhD in Computer Science from University College Dublin, her ground-breaking work focuses on assisting software developers in crafting systems that support digital investigations, especially in scenarios involving software data misuse. This entails logging capabilities that shed light on potential security incidents and unexpected data vulnerabilities. Fanny's vast experience spans a 15-year tenure as a Software Engineer in Mexico, complemented by her Master’s in Information Technologies and Bachelor's in Computer Systems Engineering. She passionately delves into areas like digital forensics, cloud computing, machine learning, and robotics. 

Assistant Professor in Computing 

Extensive ICT project experience (e.g., implementation and integration of business-critical systems) in the financial sector prior to joining NCI. Extensive software development experience across a wide range of technology stacks and programming environments. Qualifications include MSc in Mathematics, University College Dublin and BSc (Hons) in Mathematics, First Class Honours, D.I.T., Kevin St., Dublin. Extensive experience in the development of academic programmes. Led and acted as main contributor to the initial design and continued development of the MSc in Data Analytics programme in NCI. Research interests include Quantum Computing and Information Retrieval.

Mohammadreza Azimi is an accomplished researcher with extensive expertise in Image Processing, Data Processing and AI. He holds dual PhDs from the University of Tehran in Aerospace Engineering and the Warsaw University of Technology in Computer Science. Before joining Cloud Computing Centre team at NCI as a Postdoctoral Researcher, Mohammadreza used to be a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where my research involved advanced image processing techniques to analyze multiplexed immunofluorescence tissue images. 

Over the last few years, his work spans multiple domains, including security and privacy in personal voice assistants, mobile biometrics, transfer learning and bio image processing. His publication record reflects his diverse interests and contributions to both AI and biomedical sciences. He has been the recipient of several prestigious fellowships, including the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship and funding from the Health Research Board in Ireland. Dr. Azimi is also actively engaged with the academic community, serving as an invited reviewer for numerous high-impact journals

Research Associate Postdoctoral Researcher

Lorraine Gorimani was a Research Associate for the Cloud Competency working on the DIGITAL4Sustainability project. Having previously worked at Google she put her skills and experience to create content for a number of modules offered within the DIGITAL4Sustainability programme. Working closely with Grace Herbert, she hosted webinars, recorded video content, and built modules for the CCC.