Ned Costello has been appointed the new chief executive officer of the Irish Universities Association (IUA), who will take up duty in early January 2007. He is currently assistant secretary general at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment where he is head of the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation (OSTI). He has been the driving force behind the Government’s Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, which maps out the future for research and development in Ireland, including plans to double PhD output in the Sciences and Humanities and to strengthen the role of the higher education system in knowledge transfer and commercialisation. In his capacity as head of the OSTI and Chair of the Interdepartmental Committee on STI, Costello has worked closely with the university sector, the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Education and Science. He is currently a member of the boards of Science Foundation Ireland and the Tyndall National Institute at UCC. He holds a Bachelor of Education degree from NUI and an MSc in Strategic Management from the University of Dublin.
