AI FORWARD >Supercomputing the Future

Founder & Managing Director, CloudCIX

Bio: Jerry Sweeney graduated from UCC in 1980 with a B.E. (Elec.) degree and later earned an M.Sc. from DIT (now DCU). His career included working in the semiconductor and computer manufacturing industries. In 2008, Jerry founded Cork Internet eXchange (CIX), Cork's only commercial data centre. In 2019 the company launched a Cloud platform, CloudCIX, offering tailored Cloud and High Performance Computing (HPC) services to enterprise, government, research and education. In partnership with UCC, CloudCIX has formed a specialised team focused on artificial intelligence.

Director, Carbon3IT, NDCA

Bio: John Booth is a well-known figure in EU data centre circles, primarily for his role as reviewer for the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres (Energy Efficiency) (EUCOC) programme and his work with the Certified Energy Efficiency Data Centre Award (CEEDA) & Data Centre Alliance Certification (which assesses data centres to a subset of the EUCOC best practices and EN 50600 respectively).

He is also the chair of the Data Centre Alliance's (DCA) Energy Efficiency & member of the Sustainability steering group, shaping the DCA's policy on these topics as well as providing support to the DCA in other steering groups and the Alliance's wider activities.

He is the Vice Chair of the British Computer Society, Chartered Institute for IT, Green IT specialist group.

He is also the Chair of the BSI TCT7/3 committee that works upon the EN 50600 Data Centres Design and Build Standards and ISO/IEC 30134 series of Data Centre KPI's (PUE ETC).

John also sits on the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance and on the Infrastructure Masons Sustainability Committee.

He has recently been elected to the Tech UK Data Centre Council (Feb 24).

He runs his own Green IT consultancy, Carbon3IT Ltd, providing support to organisations that are preparing to adopt various data centre standards including the more general standards such as Quality, Environment, Business Continuity, Information Security, and Energy Management. They also provide specialist niche consultancy in the field of Green IT including Data Centre Energy Efficiency & Sustainability. Carbon3IT Ltd is currently working on a number of data centre carbon footprinting projects for 2 major clients.

John recently worked with the TIC Council developing audit criteria for the EU Taxonomy regulations.

John is a lead auditor for ISO50001: (2011/2018) Energy Management Systems and ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Systems, is a Certified Data Centre Audit Professional CDCAP TM (Recert 2021), a Certified Data Centre Sustainability Professional CDCSP™ (2021) and is an EMA ESOS registered Assessor.

John was recently received the Data Centre Solutions Magazine "Outstanding contribution to efficiency and sustainability" award for 2023.

He is also the Technical Director of the National Data Centre Academy, which provides practical technical, management and sales training to the data centre community.

Academic & Principal Investigator at TUS
CTO at Epona AI Labs

Bio: Dr. Flaithrí Neff is a Research Ireland Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Irish Digital Engineering & Advanced Manufacturing (IDEAM) Research Institute at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), where he leads research on Edge IoT and federated analytics for industrial plant and mobile machinery.

His work focuses on distributed sensing, real-time data analytics, and Edge–Fog–Cloud architectures that enable autonomous and semi-autonomous machine operations in safety-critical environments such as ports and quarries. These systems are designed to generate high-value operational data at the edge while supporting federated learning and interoperability aligned with European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) principles.

Dr. Neff is Head of Delegation for Ireland under NSAI to ISO and CEN in Intelligent Transport Systems, Internet of Media Things, and Acoustics, contributing to international standards for trusted, interoperable industrial data and machine perception systems.

CEO, AlloComp

Bio: Niall Smith is a technology leader with a passion for artificial intelligence and a proven track record in developing optimised and more sustainable AI infrastructure. His experience spans designing scalable, efficient systems that power advanced AI applications, driving innovation and operational excellence. Known for his hands-on approach and strategic vision, Niall consistently delivers robust solutions that meet the evolving needs of modern businesses.

CSO at AlloComp

Bio: Experienced marketing professional and co-founder of an innovative tech startup, dedicated to revolutionising AI infrastructure by optimising cost, energy, and water usage, while enhancing sustainability of AI applications. Drawing on a diverse background in telecommunications, engineering, and a variety of start-ups and impact-driven organisations, I specialise in unpacking technical complexity into clear, efficient strategies that deliver real, measurable results.

Holding a Master's degree in Business Management and Marketing, I thrive in challenging environments and am always keen to capitalise on opportunities to create lasting, positive change.

Experienced marketing professional and co-founder of an innovative tech startup dedicated to revolutionising AI infrastructure. In my role, I focus on optimising cost, energy, and water usage to deliver sustainable, high-performance AI applications. Passionate about sustainable technology, I am committed to building resilient, eco-friendly solutions for the data centres of tomorrow.

CTO of NS90

Bio: Declan Barry is CTO of NS90, a Cork-based software company operating in the betting and trading sector. With over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, Declan has worked across software development, architecture and technical leadership roles, including building and supporting financial trading platforms.

At NS90, he is responsible for technical strategy and platform direction, and is involved in operational decision-making, budgeting, and balancing commercial and regulatory constraints with long-term technical roadmaps. He brings a practical, delivery-focused approach to designing and deploying systems in a cost-effective, scalable and resilient manner.

CEO of ICHRC (Immersion Cooling, Heat Recovery Consultants)

Bio: Tony Virr is a seasoned data centre specialist with a strong focus on innovative liquid cooling and thermal management solutions. With a background in engineering and years of hands-on experience, Tony has successfully designed and optimised data centre operations to boost efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. His expertise in implementing advanced liquid cooling systems has not only improved operational uptime but also reduced energy consumption, making him a trusted advisor in the field. Tony's passion for leveraging cutting‐edge technology continues to drive transformative advancements in data centre infrastructure for the UK Nuclear Defence and other industries.

Harry Nguyen is an Associate Professor/Director (MSc CS) at the School of Computer Science and Information Technology, University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland.

Bio: Harry is affiliated with the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics and the Research Ireland Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence (CRT-AI). Dr Nguyen has been working on large-scale research projects to develop reliable artificial intelligence for sustainable development goals. His work in knowledgeable machine intelligence, robust decision optimisation and mobile interactive systems have been published in many conferences and journals, including AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), AI Open, ACM Multimedia (ACMMM), and Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. He has been chairing many AI/ML competitions and events, such as reliable intelligence on social media, AI for COVID-19 detection and MLOps challenges. Dr Nguyen is also a Director of Tech Industry Alliance, connecting Tech, Business, and Innovation with over 200 organisational members in Ireland.

Head of ESG & Sustainability at Masterlink Logistics

Bio: Enda has extensive experience in both energy and IT as he is currently Head of ESG & Sustainability at Masterlink Logistics having previously held the role of IT Manager in the same company.

CEO of BH Associates

Bio: With more than three decades of experience specialising in transport, warehouse, and logistics solutions, Mike is a SaaS solutions expert who has been active in the industry since 1992. He delivers practical, forward-looking insights on digital transformation and modern supply chain technology, helping organisations optimise operations, improve visibility, and scale with confidence.

CEO of BioFigR

Bio: Dr. Stephen Stockdale is founder and CEO of BioFigR. BioFigR is a contract bioinformatics and scientific data-visualisation service helping researchers, labs, and biotech companies turn complex sequencing data into clear, reproducible insight. The name BioFigR reflects the company’s focus on bioinformatics, publication-quality figures, and statistically robust analysis in R. Founded in 2024 by Dr Stephen Stockdale, BioFigR specialises in Linux-based workflows across genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and metagenomics. Operating as a founder-led CRO and Bioinformatics-as-a-Service provider, BioFigR fills the gap between raw data generation and interpretation without the overhead of in-house platforms or teams.

Strategic Partnerships Manager at BnM

Bio: David is BnM's Strategic Partnerships & Business Development Manager, leading the commercial strategy and delivery of the company's multi-GW Energy Park portfolio. He has nearly 15 years' experience across the energy, utilities and manufacturing sectors, having previously served as VP of Strategy at CRH plc and held senior roles with Grant Thornton.

David is a Chartered Member of Engineers Ireland and formerly chaired its Energy, Environment and Climate Action Division.

He holds an MBA from UCD and a BEng from the UCG.

Business Development Manager at R+D Tax Solutions

Bio: Business Development Manager at R+D Tax Solutions.

EMEA Enterprise AI Business Development at Dell Technologies

Bio: EMEA Enterprise AI Business Development at Dell Technologies

Consumption & Software Sales Leader at Dell Technologies

Bio: Consumption & Software Sales Leader at Dell Technologies

Senior Head of Group Bioelectronics, Head of ICT for Health Strategic Programmes, Head of Life Sciences Interface Group, Director - ENTIRE EDIH

Bio: Senior Head of Group Bioelectronics,
Head of ICT for Health Strategic Programmes,
Head of Life Sciences Interface Group,
Director - ENTIRE EDIH,
Tyndall National Institute,
University College Cork

Head of AI & Platform at Catalyx

Bio: With over two decades of experience in technology, software development, and leadership, I currently serve as Head of AI & Platform at Catalyx, where I drive innovation at the intersection of artificial intelligence, life sciences, and manufacturing. My previous roles have deepened my expertise in solution architecture and full-stack development, with a focus on delivering scalable, productized machine learning and AI solutions. I'm passionate about improving operational efficiency and fostering a collaborative environment that empowers teams to deliver impactful outcomes.

Head of Department of Computer Science at Munster Technological University

Bio: Dr George O'Mahony is the Head of Department of Computer Science at Munster Technological University and a cybersecurity/AI researcher specializing in cyber resilience, IT/OT/IoT cybersecurity, cyber-range technologies, anomaly detection, offensive security and AI-driven cybersecurity. He completed his PhD at UCC, developing low-complexity AI techniques to enhance security on resource-constrained Wireless Sensor Network, IoT and GPS devices. Since joining MTU, his work has advanced cyber resilience through cyber range technologies, AI-driven security, anomaly detection and explainable AI, contributing to peer-reviewed publications, national and EU projects, and high-impact IT/OT demonstrators. Dr O'Mahony is Ireland's WorldSkills Cybersecurity Expert, an Associate Investigator in the CONNECT Centre, a PI within MTU's Cybersecurity Research and Innovation Group, and a contributor to the €4M HEA North–South CyberUnite initiative. He led the development of MTU's cloud and mobile cyber ranges and supervises multiple PhD and MSc researchers. He works on national and EU initiatives supporting critical-infrastructure security and leads research projects on maritime cybersecurity, trusted digital ecosystems, and human-centred AI.