Professor Catherine Mooney

Catherine is a Professor in the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin where she leads the Life Science Data Analytics Group (LiSDA). Her research focuses on using machine learning, including deep learning, to develop biomarkers and clinical decision support systems that can make a real difference to patients, their families, and caregivers.

As the head of LiSDA, Catherine’s expertise is helping to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of applying machine learning in healthcare, such as data protection, ethics, bias, and transparency. Before joining UCD, Catherine worked as a Research Fellow in the Physiology and Medical Physics Department of The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where she specialized in bioinformatics and computational biology.

Catherine earned her PhD in Computer Science from UCD and completed a four-year post-doc in clinical bioinformatics in the School of Medicine and Medical Science, also at UCD. Catherine was VP for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Science from January 2022 until December 2024 and is a vocal advocate for women in computing.

She has published several papers on the issue of underrepresentation in the field and has served on the executive committees of Women in Technology and Science (WITS) and UCD Women@STEM, and is the founding chair of UCD Women@CompSci.