Trinity Professor Vinny Wade has won the top prize at Trinity’s Innovation Awards this evening, winning the overall Provost Innovation award for this “outstanding contribution to innovation throughout his career”. The awards were presented at a ceremony in Regent’s House, with eight other recipients being presented with awards.
Provost Patrick Prendergast said that he was “delighted” to be presenting the award to Prof Wade. “Through his innovative research he is continuously exploring new ways to unlock the potential of digital content, empowering and enhancing online engagement”, Prendergast continued.
He added: “Trinity academics have constantly achieved excellence in discovery and innovation, and Vinny is one of our role models in converting breakthrough concepts into practical solutions.”
The Director of Trinity Research and Innovation Leonard Hobbs praised this year’s recipients and said that “at this year’s event, we celebrate our colleagues whose innovative research has led to commercial success, along with those whose work has had a significant societal impact across a wide breadth of disciplines from nanoscience to neuroscience, digital humanities to creative technologies and immunology to oncology”.
Professor Wade is the Co-Founder and Director of the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)-funded ADAPT Centre, which has over 50 industry partners working on intelligent digital technologies. The centre engages in various projects with indigenous start-ups and multinational businesses.
College presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Sean Corish, Fellow Emeritus in Chemistry. Corish, along with his colleague Professor Owen Corrigan, developed the world’s first transdermal nicotine patch in the 1980s. The technology has since been patented in over 20 countries, and Corish has served as Dean of the Faculty of Science, Bursar, and Trinity’s first Dean of Research.
Professor in Biomechanical Engineering Bruce Murphy, and Professor of Chemical Physics Johnny Coleman were awarded with the Campus Company Founders award and Inventors Award. Dr Ramesh Babu Padamati was also presented with the Inventors Award.
Professor of Neurology Orla Hardiman and Erasmus Professor of Modern History Jane Ohlmeyer were both presented with societal impact awards, while Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Danny Kelly was presented with the “One to Watch” award.
