Tyndall and Trinity appoint joint professor of wireless communications

24 Apr 2023

Holger Claussen. Image: Tyndall National Institute

Prof Holger Claussen will build a team of researchers at Tyndall, UCC and Trinity to advance wireless comms tech in areas such as quantum systems and AI.

Prof Holger Claussen has been appointed professor of wireless communications by both University College Cork’s (UCC) Tyndall National Institute and Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

The joint appointment will see Claussen preside over advancements in wireless comms in both universities simultaneously.

He comes to the role from the wireless communications department of Nokia Bell labs, where he led a team working on the future evolution, deployment and operation of wireless networks to enable growth in mobile data traffic and low latency communications.

In his new role, he will also research the potential for the future of wireless comms. He will begin building up research teams specialising in areas such as protocols, AI and quantum systems.

Commenting on his ambition for the professorship, Claussen said that future comms networks would connect the human, physical and digital worlds.

New functions such as high-resolution sensing and localisation tech will become crucial for industrial advancements, while improvements on 5G networks will depend on a “hyper-flexible AI defined network, which can automatically adapt to meet even the most extreme requirements.”

Claussen’s appointment is a first for Irish universities. It will boost collaboration between UCC and TCD and Tyndall. The professorship role was created for Tyndall’s new Dublin research laboratory at Connect, a research centre for future networks that is based at TCD.

Prof William Scanlon, CEO of Tyndall claimed Claussen’s appointment was an “exciting development” in Tyndall’s growth plans.

“Our expansion into Dublin is testament to Prof Claussen’s reputation as a renowned thought leader in wireless communications and an internationally recognised scientific authority in the area of small cell networks.”

Linda Doyle, provost and president of TCD also welcomed Claussen’s appointment, remarking that the focus of his work is very exciting.

“It has the potential to unlock the full capabilities of augmented reality, virtual reality and holographic video by using artificial intelligence to manage the demands on wireless networks. This will have a wide range of potential applications in areas such as medicine, education and entertainment.”

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Blathnaid O’Dea is Careers reporter at Silicon Republic

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