Four Ireland-based researchers have been funded by IBM to focus on smarter cities. IBM is in the midst of creating 200 jobs in Dublin at the first-ever IBM Smarter Cities Technology Centre, which aims to revolutionise how cities provide services, such as water and transport.
The IBM PhD Fellowship Awards is an intensely competitive worldwide programme, which honours exceptional PhD students who have an interest in solving problems that are important to IBM, fundamental to innovation in many academic disciplines, while creating social and business value.
The awards include:
- Cathal Coffey, NUI Maynooth: pursuing research in the dynamic mapping and recognition of movement by people in urban spaces.
- Eamon Keane, Electricity Research Centre, UCD: pursuing research in the performance characteristics and power supply management of electricity-powered vehicles.
- Luminita Boblea, NUI Galway: pursuing research in hydrodynamical models for predicting coastal changes and estuary developments.
- Yang Li, DCU: pursuing research of events, such as transport usage, traffic and weather patterns in cities and developing mathematical modelling for event optimisation.
Drive for collaborative research and innovation
“These awards further represent IBM’s drive for collaborative research and innovation at our Smarter Cities Technology Centre in Dublin,” said Dr Lisa Amini, director of the centre.
“They are an essential part of attracting and supporting the best talent and hope these awards inspire future nominations who share and value IBM’s research strategy.”
The four IBM PhD fellows are matched with IBM mentors according to their technical interests, and they are strongly encouraged to participate in at least one internship at IBM while completing their studies.
