Speakers

Scroll down to read more about the speakers presenting at the conference. For further updates, follow us on our socials #iopspring26. Further speakers to be announced soon.

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Mark Thomson, CERN staff and Director-General Designate

Professor Mark Thomson is set to assume the role of Director-General of CERN in January 2026, following his appointment by the CERN Council in December 2024 for a five-year term. He currently serves as the Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in the United Kingdom and holds a professorship in Experimental Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge.

Professor Thomson’s background spans significant contributions to the field of particle physics. His early work at CERN included participation in the OPAL experiment at the Large Electron–Positron Collider, focusing on precision measurements of the W and Z bosons. He also joined the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider, furthering research at the forefront of experimental particle physics.

After earning his doctorate in particle physics from the University of Oxford, Professor Thomson became deeply involved in neutrino physics and the development of future collider technologies. He played an integral role as co-spokesperson for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), a major international effort led by Fermilab and supported by CERN’s neutrino platform. His work contributed to the advancement of large-scale detector construction and optimisation, particularly for linear electron–positron colliders such as the International Linear Collider (ILC) and the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC).

Throughout his career, Professor Thomson has authored over 1,000 scientific publications and wrote the textbook Modern Particle Physics, widely used in university curricula worldwide. His leadership roles extend to serving as the UK delegate to CERN’s Council since 2018, and from 2018 to 2024, he directed the UK STFC, conducting research in particle, astro- and nuclear physics, and research infrastructure. He also represented the UK on the councils of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory and the European Spallation Source, and sponsored work on the UKRI Infrastructure Roadmap, resulting in significant investment in UK research facilities.

Prof. Ronan McNulty, University College Dublin

Ronan McNulty is a professor in the School of Physics at University College Dublin. After working on the Large Electron Positron Collider at CERN, and then the Tevatron collider at Fermilab near Chicago, he returned to Ireland in 2003, where he leads the Irish participation in the LHCb experiment on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. His group found the first W and Z bosons at LHCb as well as new tetraquark states. Recently, he has helped spinoff LHC detector technology for medical imaging and dosimetry. For over 20 years, he has campaigned for Irish membership of CERN.

Speakers

Dr. Niall Smith, Head of Research, MTU

Niall Smith has a PhD in astrophysics from University College Dublin and is presently Head of Research at Munster Technological University.

He recently served as a member of the Expert Committee of the Government’s Creating Our Future initiative which has fed into the next national R&I Strategy. Niall writes a monthly column in the Irish Examiner national newspaper called “Skymatters” and is a regular contributor to newspaper articles and radio programming. He is the Founder-Director of the internationally award-winning Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO) which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 1.5 million visitors and which provides educational workshops and informal supports to over 10,000 students annually. BCO coordinates Ireland’s National Space Week which has ranked in the top three globally for the past three years according to the World Space Week organisation.

Niall is a founder-Director of Dark Sky Ireland and a strong advocate for the protection of the natural environment and responsible use of lighting.

In 2020 Niall was awarded the Science Foundation Ireland “Research Image of the Year Award” for work on the efficiency of masks against Covid-19 that used techniques originally developed at Blackrock Castle Observatory to measure the brightness of stars.

Niall is Deputy Chair of the current National Steering Committee for the Space R&I Strategy and the MTU lead for the University’s membership as Ireland’s only Associate Technical Institute of CERN-ATLAS.

Robert Aare

Robert Aare, working for Enterprise Estonia, is the Industrial Liaison Officer of Estonia in CERN as well as a member of the Estonian representative delegation in CERN’s Council and Finance Committee. His primary role is to foster collaboration between Estonian industry and CERN through commercial and R&D opportunities, often engaging research institutions. Robert has been involved in overseeing the industrial and scientific relations between Estonia and CERN since 2021, when Estonia became an Associate Member State of CERN, leading up to accession as Member State in 2024. In addition to CERN, Robert is also a member of the Estonian delegation in the European Space Agency.

Panellists

Prof. Tara Shears, Vice-President for Science and Innovation

Tara is a fellow of the IOP and an experimental particle physicist at the University of Liverpool, where she leads an experimental particle physics group that works on the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva.

Her group tests the limits of the Standard Model by making detailed studies of the behaviour of matter and forces, and designs and builds sensitive next-generation particle detectors.

After completing her PhD in 1995, she held Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), CERN and Royal Society University Research fellowships to work on at experiments at CERN and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the US. She started an academic position at Liverpool in 2007 and became a Professor of Physics in 2012.

Besides research, Tara chaired the principal scientific strategic advisory board for the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) (2020-2023), has acted as a core panel member for Royal Society fellowships (2018-2023) and still acts as a panel member for UK Research and Innovation research fellowships (2018-), and enjoys engaging with different audiences about science.

Dr. Eimear Conroy

I am a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics, working with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. I completed my DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford, which included a 15-month placement at CERN, and I hold a BSc (Hons) in Physics from University College Dublin.

My research focuses on precision studies of proton–proton collisions to investigate the dynamics of the Standard Model at the highest accessible energies, specifically with measurements of the differential cross-sections for the production of W bosons in association with jets. These measurements provide stringent tests of perturbative quantum chromodynamics, constrain theoretical models used in simulations, and form critical background benchmarks for searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. In addition, I contribute to analyses of Parton Distribution Functions, using ATLAS data to improve knowledge of the proton’s internal structure and enhance the accuracy of collider predictions.

Alongside my research, I also contribute to particle physics outreach. I helped develop an award-winning programme that trains UK secondary-school students to analyse the publicly-available ATLAS Open Data using professional analysis techniques, an initiative which has reached hundreds of students across dozens of schools.

Oleksandr Minaiev, Student, South East Technical University

Oleksandr Minaiev is a Robotics and Automation Engineering student with experience in Industrial Control Systems for high-energy physics. He worked at CERN as an Automation and Control Engineering Technical Student in the Accelerator Systems Department, contributing to the development of a new powering system for the Proton Synchrotron. As a panellist, he will share insights from these experiences and discuss the importance of having young Irish engineers and scientists applying to and collaborating with CERN.