Prof Edward Curry. Image: SFI Insight centre for data analytics
Prof Edward Curry said he was looking forward to working with ‘world-leading AI and data researchers’ and engaging with data innovator businesses around the country.
The Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Insight research centre for data analytics has appointed Prof Edward Curry as the new director of its NUI Galway branch.
Curry is established professor of computer science at NUI Galway. He is also co-founder and vice-president of the Big Data Value Association, a non-profit industry-led organisation which works to increase the competitiveness of European companies with data-driven innovation.
Curry said he looked forward to taking on the position at Insight Galway, where he said his objective would be to “advance Ireland’s digital transformation”.
He added that the centre’s “world-leading AI and data researchers” are “equipped to drive the development of a national data infrastructure that benefits businesses and enables Ireland to make better decisions on everything from health to climate to government”.
Curry also said that the centre would continue to engage with businesses of all sizes around the country who are working with data.
He takes on the top job at the Insight centre as it surpasses the €200m funding mark. It is one of Europe’s largest data analytics centres, supporting 450 researchers working on areas such as data science, sensing and actuation, scaling algorithms, model building, multi-modal analysis, data engineering and governance, decision-making and trustworthy AI.
The centre has four university partners: Dublin City University, University College Cork, University College Dublin and NUI Galway. It is currently involved in more than 60 research partnerships.
Curry was welcomed to his new role by Insight’s CEO Prof Noel O’Connor, who said his addition would further strengthen “the already excellent multi-institutional leadership that is in place and that is needed to effectively run a successful national centre like Insight”.
Insight’s Galway branch has been involved in several interesting projects over the past few years, from its collaboration with hotel company Aró Digital Strategy to its work on machine learning research with business communications company Avaya.
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