Kim Lau received his Ph.D. from Birkbeck College, University of London (Biochemical sensors 2002).  He has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, is a named inventor in 10 patents. Dr Lau was awarded the DCU Research Fellow 2007-2009. He is currently the Beaufort Scientist at Dublin City University, associate lecturer in School of chemical and biological studies and visiting professor of NorthEastern University of China, School of Chemistry. Dr. Lau is the co-founder of the China-Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and Sensor Development in Northeastern University that includes members from 4 universities form china and DCU. His research interests include materials research, sensors and biosensors, low-cost sensing platform development for environmental and healthcare applications.

Fiona Regan studied Environmental Science and Technology at the Institute of Technology in Sligo and graduated in 1991.  She obtained her PhD in Analytical chemistry in 1994, at Dublin City University (DCU). Following her PhD she carried out Postdoctoral research in the physics Department of DCU. On completion of the postdoctoral research programme she took up a position at Limerick Institute of Technology as lecturer in Environmental and Analytical Science in 1996.  In 2002 returned to the School of Chemical Sciences, DCU, as a lecturer in analytical chemistry and in 2008 she was promoted to Senior Lecturer.  There she an active research group in the area of separations and sensors for environmental application.  Her group (Analytical Environmental Research Group (AER) currently consists of 13 researchers.  In 2009 she was promoted to Associate Professor in Environmental Sensing and is PI of the Beaufort Marine Sensing Programme at DCU. 

Timothy Sullivan has a degree in Environmental Science and joined DCU in November 2007 as a postgraduate student of Prof. Fiona Regan, researching the Beaufort funded project entitled “Novel antifouling methods for application to the marine environment”. The focus of his work is on preventing the growth of biological material on environmental sensors and sensor platforms in the marine environment. Since beginning his postgraduate career Timothy has presented several posters and presentations on the use of biomimetic strategies for prevention of biofouling, most recently at the 2009 5th annual biofilms conference of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), held in Cancun, Mexico.

Prof. Brett Paull received his B.Sc. (Hons) Degree in Environmental Sciences (Environmental Chemistry Option) from Polytechnic Southwest, Plymouth, in 1991. He was awarded a Ph.D from the University of Plymouth 1994. He took up the position of Associate Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry within the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tasmania, Australia in 1995. In January 1998 Prof. Paull moved to the School of Chemical Sciences in DCU and in December 2006 he was promoted to Associate Professor. Prof. Paull is the Director of the Irish Separations Science Cluster. His research interests include Analytical and Environmental Chemistry: Particularly fundamental and applied aspects of separation sciences, including high-performance liquid chromatography, ion chromatography, capillary zone electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography.

Mirek Macka received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Tasmania, Australia (1997) and held prestigious research fellowships in Australia (mid-career Australian Council Research Council Fellowship, 2000-2005) and since 2006 in Ireland at the Dublin City University (EC-FP6 senior fellowship and grant “Marie Curie Excellence Grants”).  He has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers in international journals and book chapters and is a member of editorial boards of 3 international journals.  His research interests include separations by capillary electrophoresis and liquid chromatography, miniaturisation of analytical instrumentation, microfluidics, ‘exotic’ monoliths, solid-state light sources, and computer-based approaches including numerical fluidic simulations.

Aine Moyna is currently a third year post graduate student in Dublin City University.  She carried out her undergraduate studies in Letterkenny Institute of technology where she graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Analytical Science in 2004.  Following graduation, she commenced work as a quality control analyst in Norbrook Laboratories in Newry for 6 months before moving to Helsinn Birex in Blanchardstown where she worked for two years.  In December 2007, she commenced work on a PhD based on the development of a capillary ion chromatography system for the separation of small ions with focus placed on analysis of environmental samples such as seawater.

Prof. Alan Smeaton - Principal Investigator

Prof.Brian MacCraith is Director of the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) at DCU. The BDI is is a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Centre for Science, Engineering & Technology (CSET) focused on developing the underpinning science leading to next-generation biomedical diagnostics. Established in October 2005, the BDI is an academic-industry partnership involving 6 industrial and 4 academic partners and is funded for 5 years in the first instance.  The funding awarded to the BDI includes over €6m from its industry partners and €16.5m from SFI. Prof. MacCraith was founding Director of the National Centre for Sensor Research at Dublin City University (DCU) and held this position from its establishment in October 1999 until the establishment of the BDI.

Gabriel Kofi Nzulu received his Bachelors of Science degree combining a major in Physics and Geology from the University of Ghana, Legon in June 2000. After working as a high school Physics tutor and Physics Examiner for the West African Examinations council for four years, he completed his Master’s degree in Materials Physics and Nanotechnology at the Linkoping University, Sweden in 2007. He then pursued other postgraduate certificate courses in areas such as Energy, Environmental Management Systems and Energy, and Sustainability. He begain his PhD at the School of Physical Sciences in DCU, working on the project "Optical waveguide platform for microbial sensing" and his supervisor is Prof. Colette McDonagh.