The Council of Trinity College Dublin has approved the appointment of Professor Gerard Parr from the University of Ulster at Coleraine to the position of Visiting Professor at the Centre for Telecommunications Value-Chain Research (CTVR), headquartered within Lloyd Institute on the Dublin campus. 

The Centre is directed by Professor Donal O'Mahony, a Fellow of Trinity College and the Centre's principal industrial partner is Bell Labs, headquartered at Murray Hill New Jersey and their Irish subsidiary, Bell Labs Ireland. 

Professor Parr, originally from Hilltown, County Down, currently holds the Chair in Telecommunications Engineering at the University of Ulster Coleraine campus and he will use his position to explore and develop collaborative opportunities in Next Generation Networks over the next three years.   

“I am deeply honoured to receive this appointment from such a distinguished institution as Trinity College Dublin.  All too often research active staff in Northern Ireland are working with industrial and academic colleagues in mainland Europe, Asia and USA and do not appreciate the wealth of opportunities and  internationally leading research capability that exists closer to home” , stated Professor Parr.

He continued, “ I am very impressed by the quality and impact of the research taking place at Trinity and I am delighted to have this opportunity to contribute to the work of  Professor O’Mahony and his colleagues at the CTVR and to also explore closer cross-border ties in teaching, technology transfer and research between Trinity College and the University of Ulster.”

Speaking of the appointment Professor O’Mahony said: CTVR has a policy of attracting leading academics in Telecommunications research from around the world to spend time at the centre to bring their experience and guidance to bear on our research and technology transfer activities.  We were very lucky to find Gerard Parr on our own doorstep who is able and willing to lend his expertise.  We are looking forward to great things coming from this collaboration.”

The centre will forge new partnerships with other companies in telecommunications and other relevant industries to bring in new ideas and funding and to maximise the impact of the centre's work.

It brings together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers drawn from many Irish Universities as well as international institutions, together with a carefully chosen set of industrial partners to work on those engineering and scientific challenges that will make the most difference to the telecommunications networks of the future.

CTVR brings together the expertise of scientists and Network architects who will work together with specialists in optical and wireless component technologies to design the next generation wireless network. Uniquely, this centre will couple the technology specialists with experts in constraint-based programming, modeling and optimisation techniques that will moderate each and every design decision. The initial funding for the CTVR  and the associated Bell Labs Ireland Research Centre comes from the Irish Government via Science Foundation Ireland and IDA Ireland as well as from their  industrial partner Bell Labs.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office, Department of Communication and Development
Tel: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk