Current scholars

George is an OT/ICS security engineer with a background spanning RTU, PLC, HMI, SCADA and HV

protection work across energy and water critical infrastructure, alongside hands-on IT and

cybersecurity experience in vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, incident response and

secure infrastructure management. His career began in multidisciplinary electrical design across

regulated commercial, healthcare and industrial sectors, and has since evolved into a vantage point

spanning both the physical engineering and digital security layers of critical infrastructure.

Over the past decade, George has moved from electrical design engineering into infrastructure

security, cybersecurity analysis, and most recently OT/automation and OT/telecoms engineering,

maintaining PLC, HMI, SCADA and RTU systems across substation and water infrastructure sites in

the UK. This path has given him working knowledge of OT network segmentation and industrial

protocols including Modbus, OPC and DNP3, along with hands-on experience aligning OT and IT

environments to ISO/IEC 27001 and NIS Directive compliance requirements relevant to energy,

pharma and critical infrastructure.

George’s academic background includes an MSc in Cyber Security from Anglia Ruskin University,

Cambridge, where his research applied machine learning to IoT botnet detection, an approach now

being extended toward ICS anomaly detection, alongside a BEng in Electrical and Electronics

Engineering from Teesside University. His certifications include CISMP and TÜV SÜD ISMS Lead

Implementer status across ISO/IEC 27001, 27002 and 27003.

Joining Cyber Innovate, George’s objective is to incubate a cybersecurity company in Ireland that

meets the needs of cybersecurity clients across the Cork ecosystem, drawing on his OT/ICS

specialism to serve the region’s energy, water, pharmaceutical and wider critical-infrastructure

operators, with consulting as a complementary route to market. He is looking forward to using the

Cyber Innovate Immersive Environment (CIIE) and MTU’s academic rigour and industry support to

validate and shape this idea into a startup that helps position Ireland at the forefront of global

cybersecurity innovation.

For more than 25 years, John O’Sullivan has worked at the intersection of technology, consulting and business transformation.  As an AI solutions provider, he brings together deep consulting experience with a practical understanding of artificial intelligence, data and responsible technology adoption.

His approach to AI is grounded in solving real problems.  For example, from developing a machine-learning disease classifier using data from a leading US cancer research centre, to helping a UK cybersecurity consultancy as it established a new ethical AI services capability, his solutions span from human impact to business growth.   He holds MSc in Artificial Intelligence, MBA, and many other technical and leadership qualifications.

What increasingly matters to John is not simply what AI can do, but how it can be deployed securely and responsibly. In his work, he sees AI and cybersecurity becoming ever more closely connected, making security-by-design essential for organisations seeking to adopt AI with confidence.

He is particularly attracted to the programme’s combination of immersive cybersecurity challenges, innovation supports and mentoring. His ambition is to use that environment to identify meaningful problems, develop commercially relevant solutions and ultimately build a business capable of creating value for customers and employment in Ireland.

In UX and design leadership, Rachel has worked directly with users, clients and stakeholders to uncover pain points, validate markets, test concepts and translate research into user-centred product decisions. As Senior Design Manager at Click, she led UX strategy across SaaS and standalone platforms, balancing customer needs with business objectives and product viability while collaborating with cross-functional teams and executives.

Her approach is informed by experience well beyond design. A decade in software quality assurance taught Rachel to examine complex end-to-end workflows, identify failure points and edge cases, and test critical and high-risk scenarios. Her subsequent career in education strengthened her ability to listen, communicate complex ideas and design experiences around diverse needs. Together, these experiences have shaped a practical, evidence-led approach to problem solving.

Rachel joined Cyber Innovate because its immersive, industry-led model reflects how she believes meaningful innovation should happen: by engaging with real users and understanding real problems before designing solutions. She wants to bring her experience in customer discovery and validation to cybersecurity while developing the commercial and sector expertise required to turn worthwhile opportunities into scalable ventures.

Jackie is a seasoned software development leader with extensive experience across technical and managerial roles in transportation, lottery systems, telecommunications and financial services in both on-premise and SaaS environments.

As former Programme Manager of CyberSkills, Ireland’s leading cybersecurity education provider, she built the initiative from inception into a recognised national brand.

Her most recent role as programme manager of Cyber Skills, Ireland’s leading experts in cybersecurity education, she built the initiative from inception into a recognised national brand. Jackie previously worked as a senior researcher in the Nimbus Centre leading national and European projects in the areas of digital transformation and skills for Industry 4.0.

Committed to strengthening Ireland’s cyber resilience, Jackie specialises in supporting small and medium enterprises with their cybersecurity challenges. Her experience across organisations of all sizes provides unique insight into diverse business needs.

Jackie has a BSc (Hons) in Applied Mathematics and a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Engineering from the University of Limerick. She is currently working towards her Professional Doctorate in the area of the co-design of cybersecurity Micro-credentials with industry.

Brian believes that product sits at the heart of entrepreneurship: that technology creates real commercial value when it answers a genuine customer need, makes commercial sense, is well packaged as an offering, and resonates strongly enough to make people really want it.

That perspective has been shaped by 15 years in consumer technology across retail, technical support, distribution, marketing, design and product development, particularly in EMEA markets. Over time, Brian progressed through a small Irish business to become a director, creating and commercialising consumer products and brands from concept through to market in highly competitive categories.

Working across so much of the product journey gave him a practical understanding of how opportunities are identified, propositions are shaped, products are positioned and customers ultimately decide what is worth buying.

Brian is now bringing that experience into cybersecurity through Cyber Innovate, applying a product and commercial perspective to the challenge of turning technically complex ideas into clear, credible and desirable customer propositions.

He holds a BA in Visual Communications and an MSc in Interactive Media. Outside work, he restores and tinkers with vintage cars, reflecting a long-standing curiosity about design, engineering and why certain products become so relevant to the people and culture around them.