Dr Aoife Brady has been appointed as the new Chief Operations Officer (COO) of iCRAG, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre in Applied Geosciences hosted at University College Dublin.
Aoife graduated with a BSc Hons in Earth Science from the University of Galway in 2006 after which she completed a PhD in carbonatites, kimberlites and lamprophyres also at the University of Galway. Following this, she worked as an exploration geologist for 4.5 years on the Songwe Hill Carbonatite Project with Rare Earth Element (REE) exploration company, Mkango Resources, in southern Malawi, Africa. She then took up the role of Geodata Product Manager at International Geoscience Services (IGS) Ltd., based at the British Geological Survey (BGS) in Nottingham, where she oversaw the company’s new mineral prospectivity software. In 2016 Aoife moved to the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) where she managed Tellus, the GSI’s national ground and airborne data acquisition programme. In 2018, Aoife joined iCRAG as Research and Industry Programme Manager, and more recently held the role of interim iCRAG COO.
Commenting on her appointment Dr Brady said: “I am pleased to take up the position of iCRAG COO and to continue working with the existing leadership team of iCRAG. I am confident that, with the excellent foundations laid by my predecessor Dr Jennifer Craig, and with our outstanding team, iCRAG will continue making important contributions to the economy, environment and society."
iCRAG Director Prof. Murray Hitzman, commented: “Geoscientists, engineers and social scientists make a real and tangible difference to the major challenges we are facing today. From developing new approaches to the sustainable discovery of raw materials needed for the energy transition to the protection of terrestrial, groundwater and marine environments our team of researchers, working in conjunction with our Operations team led by Aoife, are creating impacts both in Ireland and beyond.”
Mary Kelly, Chair of iCRAG’s Governance Committee, added: “We are delighted to welcome Aoife on board as COO and we look forward to working together towards iCRAG’s mission of creating solutions for a sustainable society, and in undertaking world-leading research.”
iCRAG, the SFI Research Centre in Applied Geosciences is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, Geological Survey Ireland and industry partners. Established in 2015, iCRAG is Ireland’s national geosciences research centre. Comprising 150 researchers, across eight Irish universities and research institutes, and collaborating with more than 20 industry partners, its vision is to be a world leader in applied geoscience research, discovery, and public understanding of Earth’s critical resources and environment for a sustainable society.