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Moving to Belfast? Here are 10 people you need to know

14 Mar 2018

Thinking of relocating to Belfast? Beef up your Twitter news feed with some of the top people from your new home.

As we continue our journey around Belfast this month, we want to focus on some of the big names you should be paying attention to from the city’s vibrant sci-tech scene.

For those considering relocating to Northern Ireland’s (NI) capital city, there is a wealth of sci-tech opportunities.

If you’re moving there, you might want to know who’s who in the Belfast sci-tech scene. Don’t worry, we’ve picked out 10 top people to get you started.

Sheree Atcheson (@nirushika)

Sheree Atcheson is a tech business consultant at Deloitte and UK expansion director at Women Who Code. She is widely considered to be one of the UK’s most influential women in tech.

Atcheson is also the founder of I Am Lanka, a social responsibility project that shines a light on Sri Lankan innovators. A passionate advocate for women in the tech industry, Atcheson is a major force in eradicating the gender bias in STEM. She will speak at Inspirefest this summer.

Andrew Bolster (@Bolster)

As the founder of the maker space Farset Labs, Andrew Bolster is a strong advocate for Belfast and NI, and the tech community that resides there.

In his own time, Bolster is also a data scientist, consultant and speaker, and has given a TEDxBelfast talk. Bolster also completed a PhD in electrical, electronics and communications engineering in 2017.

Elaine Smyth (@CIConnect)

Elaine Smyth is head of programmes for Connect at Catalyst Inc, a not-for-profit network of experienced entrepreneurs, business professionals and top research talent.

Through her work with Connect, Smyth is committed to supporting the growth and success of NI-based entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.

Rick Monro (@monro)

Rick Monro is a user-experience architect at Puppet and a very respected voice in local design, tech and UX in the Belfast tech scene.

Monro speaks at events throughout Ireland and the UK, and he also organises local meet-ups for both professionals and students. Previously, he was a member of the part-time lecturing team at Ulster University.

Emma Mulholland (@e_mulholland)

A self-professed product geek, Emma Mulholland is the co-founder and organiser of ProductTank Belfast, part of a global series of meet-ups by and for product managers, designers and developers.

Mulholland is a senior product manager at Allstate’s agile development hub, CompoZed Labs. She is passionate about design thinking and all things product-related.

Barry Adams (@badams)

Barry Adams is an award-winning SEO specialist and speaker.

While originally from the Netherlands, Adams moved to Belfast almost 10 years ago and settled there.

He is the founder of SEO consultancy Polemic Digital and co-chief editor and blogger at State of Digital.

Nuala Murphy (@nualafmurphy)

Innovator Nuala Murphy is the founder and CEO of Moment Health, a technology company working proactively in the femtech space to provide global solutions for maternal mental health.

Murphy is also a Belfast regional leader for Lean In, a global community of men and women dedicated to gender equality.

Peter Edgar (@PEdgar15)

Peter Edgar is a thought leader at NI Science Park, where much of the cryptocurrency scene is centred. He is also part of Ignite Northern Ireland, an accelerator launching tech start-ups in NI.

Edgar is also a member of the Global Shapers community, a network of city-based hubs developed and led by young leaders who want to develop their leadership potential towards serving society.

Victoria McCallum (@v_mccallum)

Victoria McCallum is a prolific community builder in the NI STEM scene. She is the founder of Women In Tech Belfast and former ambassador for Code First Girls at Queen’s University Belfast.

Women In Tech Belfast is rapidly growing. It provides a space for female professionals in the field to build networks and generate ideas, providing support to one another.

Tim Brundle (@TimTendo)

As the director of research and impact at Ulster University, Tim Brundle is an important member of the research community in Belfast. Brundle is also the CEO of Innovation Ulster Ltd, a wholly owned knowledge and technology venturing company of Ulster University.

Brundle is also a non-executive director of a number of early-stage high-tech companies and is a board member of Invest NI.

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Jenny Darmody
By Jenny Darmody

Jenny Darmody became the editor of Silicon Republic in 2023, having worked as the deputy editor since February 2020. When she’s not writing about the science and tech industry, she’s writing short stories and attempting novels. She continuously buys more books than she can read in a lifetime and pretty stationery is her kryptonite. She also believes seagulls to be the root of all evil and her baking is the stuff of legends.

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