Speakers

Ann O’Connell, PhD is a senior leader with deep expertise across industry, research, and strategic programme development. As Head of Funded Projects for Medtech and Engineering Skills at Ibec, Ann oversees the funding, design, and delivery of more than 100 professional upskilling programmes annually ranging from short webinars to full postgraduate qualifications. Her portfolio spans critical areas including R,D& I, Manufacturing and Digitalisation, Quality and Regulatory Affairs, Sustainability, and Leadership, with a particular focus on piloting and launching new initiatives to meet emerging sector needs.

Ann earned her PhD from University College Dublin in 2014, conducting research with the Centre for BioNano Interactions (CBNI). She is a long-standing advocate for lifelong learning and workforce development, especially within high-tech and regulated industries.

Before joining Ibec in 2019, Ann was European Programme Manager at Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), where she led strategic investment planning and secured coordination of a Horizon 2020 project under the ECSEL JU programme. Prior to that, she spent nearly two decades at Intel Corporation as a Senior Integration Engineer, supporting global business units and applying advanced technologies across diverse geographies.

Ann brings a strong understanding of how digitalisation, data science, and intelligent automation can transform industry. Her work today supports the medtech and engineering sectors in addressing some of the world’s most pressing health and environmental challenges.