TU Dublin
Meet Our Partner: Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin)
Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) is one of Ireland’s largest and most innovative higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland. TU Dublin offers an extensive range of undergraduate programmes at Bachelor’s Degree levels and postgraduate programmes at Taught Masters, Research Masters and Research PhD Degree levels. With more than 29,000 students enrolled on full and part-time programmes and over 1,500 international students. Furthermore, its excellent industry engagement is reflected in successful technology transfer, enterprise creation and a strong applied research base. Since 2000 TU Dublin knowledge transfer office, Hothouse, has helped over 200 entrepreneurs launch companies that have attracted over €100 million in investment and created over 1000 smart economy jobs in the Dublin region. TU Dublin’s research is clustered into two research Institutes, one of which is the Environmental Sustainability & Health Sciences Institute (ESHI) (http://www.dit.ie/eshi/) and the Focus Research Institute (http://www.focas.dit.ie/).
TU Dublin is awarded the Bronze Athena Swan status, addressing gender equality, and has committed to its objectives. TU Dublin is a member of the European Universities Association and the International Association of Universities. Staff of TU Dublin have served on the steering committee of the EUA Council of Doctoral Education and have acted as chairperson of
European Association of Research Managers and Administrators.
Activities, experiences, skills and expertise
Human factors and participatory design, co-creation and end user engagements, human-computer interface design, software usability and evaluation, serious gaming, are only some of the competencies and skills developed by the TU DUBLIN.
As Ireland’s first technological university, TU Dublin brings cutting-edge expertise in:
🔹 Digital innovation
🔹 Human-computer interaction
🔹 Immersive tech & serious games
Their role in START-DS? Co-designing the “Dear-IO” app — a creative digital tool that helps students build self-awareness, reflect on emotions, and use smartphones more mindfully.
in particular TU DUBLIN collaborates with the following departments:
1) The Environmental Sustainability and Health Institute (ESHI) at TU-Dublin provides the main focus for health-related research at TU-Dublin (www.dit.ie/eshi). It is a dedicated national translational research platform, uniquely based on strategic collaboration between TU-DUBIN, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Dublin City Council (DCC), building national and regional capacity and capability.
2) Digital Futures research Hub – focused on providing solutions that support the use of ICT by actively investigating issues including ‘big data’, machine learning and more for assessing the expansive role of ICT in modern life.
3) The Virtual Interactive Research Lab (VIRaL) at TU Dublin is a cutting edge virtual, and augmented, reality research and development environment, in a large dedicated space. The lab serves several functions as a research space for postgraduate research, a development space for students on the MSc in Creative Digital Media and the BA in Game Design, and a development space for commercial and innovation partnerships with TU Dublin’s Hothouse. VR and AR technologies have tremendous potential to provide deeply immersive experiences across a variety of fields: digital media, journalism, games development, simulation based medical education, manufacturing, and business. It is important It is important to explore innovative, forward thinking solutions to complex problems, examining how AR and VR technologies can be used to augment, improve, and innovate existing practices and methods.
With research hubs like VIRaL (Virtual Interactive Research Lab) and a strong background in participatory design, TU Dublin is helping us foster healthier digital habits in classrooms across Europe.
👉 Learn more: www.tudublin.ie
📸 Peek inside TU Dublin life: www.tudublin.ie/explore/our-campuses/images/
STAFF:
Dr Maria Chiara Leva – Co-chair of the technical committee on Human Factors for the European Safety and Reliability Association (ESRA), chair of the Irish Ergonomics Society and co-chair of the Symposium on Human Mental Workload. In 2016 she was awarded a Female Founder Competitive Start Fund by the National Digital Research Centre and Enterprise Ireland for her Campus Company ‘Tosca Human Factors Solutions’. The company is a spin out of one of the EU project. Dr Leva led as a PI, She currently holds a scientific advisory role in the business.
Dr. Pierpaolo Dondio – Dr Pierpaolo Dondio is a lecturer in Computer Science at TU Dublin. He has a PhD from Trinity College Dublin and extensive industry experience at IBM and AON. His main interests are intelligent systems and game-based learning. In 2019 he founded Happy Maths (www.happymaths.games), a multi-disciplinary project on the effects of digital game-based learning on Maths learning in primary schools, with a specific attention to pupils affected by Maths anxiety. The project has engaged with more than 1200 students and 50 primary school classes. He is leading the ‘Intelligent Games Lab’, a research unit at TU Dublin funded by SFI and TUD investigating the application of AI to game design and analysis.
Bojana Bjegojevic – PhD Researcher at TU Dublin (Neuroergonomics) | MSc Psychologist – Research and Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience. Bojana’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree and MSc degree in Psychology: majoring in Research Methods and Experimental Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience. This foundation has provided her with rigorous training in research design, methodology, advanced statistics, psychometrics, questionnaire development, and survey design. Consequently, I possess advanced quantitative research skills and a comprehensive understanding of human behavior, cognition, and social dynamics, enabling me to critically analyze complex issues from both bottom-up and top-down perspectives.
Together, we’re making smartphones tools for well-being and learning — not just distraction!