The recipients of University College Dublin’s (UCD) annual innovation awards, which highlight successes made in areas of knowledge transfer, consultancy, entrepreneurship and the promotion of an innovation culture, by members of the UCD research, innovation and entrepreneurial community, have been announced today by NovaUCD.
A total of 7 Awards were presented by Professor Orla Feely, President, UCD during an event held in the UCD University Club.
Among the Awards presented were the Licence of the Year, CEO of the Year and the Consultancy of the Year.
Speaking at the event Professor Orla Feely, UCD, President, said, “UCD is committed to delivering impact from our leading research and innovation across a broad range of disciplines. The NovaUCD Innovation Awards, which have become a key annual event, recognise the achievements of our research, innovation and entrepreneurial communities and demonstrate our strength in developing talent and creating and applying knowledge to deliver impact.
I congratulate all who have received this year’s Awards and wish the Awardees every future success as they continue to deliver impact in Ireland and further afield through their commercialisation, consultancy, entrepreneurial and innovation activities.”
Professor Peter Kennedy, a Professor of Microelectronic Engineering at the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and the inventor of novel methods to address ‘wandering spurs’ in the spectrum of frequency synthesisers, which have been licenced to Analog Devices, was named recipient of the 2025 NovaUCD Licence of the Year Award.
Professor Kennedy has over 400 research publications, including 5 US patents, in the fields of oscillator design, hysteresis, neural networks, nonlinear dynamics, chaos communication, mixed-signal test, and frequency synthesis.
Two of the patents of which he is a named inventor relate to novel methods to address the erratic and unwanted time-varying spectral components, known colloquially as ‘wandering spurs’, in the spectrum of frequency synthesisers. Frequency synthesisers are critical components in modern RF (radio frequency) communication systems. Reduction in wandering spurs is critical for high precision RF applications such as, high frequency sensing/sensors, 5G and next-generation wireless communications networks and high-precision test and measurement equipment.
One of the patents relates to research carried out by Professor Kennedy and his team at UCD and the other patent relates to earlier work carried out while he was at University College Cork (UCC). The patents were jointly licensed by UCD and UCC to Analog Devices following a collaboration between UCD and the company which successfully validated the patented methods in industrial frequency synthesisers.
The technology was subsequently implemented in an Analog Device product released during 2024 and the licensing of this technology will lead to the payment of licensing income to UCD and to UCC.
On receiving the 2025 NovaUCD Licence of the Year Award, Professor Peter Kennedy said, “I am honoured to receive this Award which reflects research focused on addressing the issue of unwanted wandering spurs in the spectrum of frequency synthesisers, carried out over many years by my students and me in UCD and previously in UCC. The Award also demonstrates the value of partnering closely with industry, in this case with Analog Devices, to validate technology prior to licensing, and ultimately deliver significant benefits to both the universities and the industry partner.”
The recipient of the 2025 NovaUCD CEO of the Year Award is Mike McGearty, co-founder and CEO of Meili, a travel tech company. The company which he co-founded in 2021 with Bobby Healy builds technology that enables car rental companies to integrate and partner directly with airlines and travel brands, delivering a friction-free traveller experience.
Since Meili was established, it has scaled rapidly and has already secured nearly 40 partnerships with major global players, including; FreeNow, SAS Airlines, Lufthansa, TravelStart, FrenchBee and Daa. The company is currently on boarding on average one new partner per month.
During 2024 the company raised €8.1 million in a Series A extension funding round, led by Schooner Capital, a Boston-based private investment firm, and Tribal Ventures, a Dublin-based VC firm, to fuel the company’s growth, to strengthen its existing partnerships, and to drive the development of new products. Schooner and Tribal led a similar raise in 2023 and Meili has now secured over €20 million in funding.
At the end of last year Meili, which currently has a staff of 40+ people, relocated its headquarters from NovaUCD to NexusUCD in Dublin.
On receiving the 2025 NovaUCD CEO of the Year Award, Mike McGearty said, “I’m honoured to receive this Award, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Meili team. From the start, our mission has been to transform how car rental integrates with airlines and travel brands, creating a seamless experience for travellers while delivering the highest-converting ancillary platform in the market.”
He added, “Meili will continue to grow its offering with new innovative products designed to support the wider travel industry. Our rapid growth, strong partnerships, and commitment to innovation are just the beginning. This recognition reaffirms our mission to redefine ancillary distribution and drive meaningful impact across the travel industry.”
The recipient of the 2025 NovaUCD Consultancy of the Year Award is Dr Siobhan Mullan, Chair in Animal Welfare and Veterinary Ethics at the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine.
A veterinary surgeon, Dr Mullan previously worked in mixed and companion animal practice but has now transitioned away from clinical work to focus on research and teaching to deliver large scale, long-term impactful improvements in animal welfare.
Since joining UCD in 2021 she has undertaken several consultancy projects, through ConsultUCD, and transferred her expertise to deliver long-term impactful improvements in animal welfare to clients in Ireland, Australia, the UK, Thailand, Indonesia, France and North America.
Dr Mullan is also a strong advocate and supporter of ConsultUCD within her School and within the UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences.
On receiving the 2025 NovaUCD Consultancy of the Year Award, Dr Siobhan Mullan, said, “I am both surprised and delighted in equal measure to have received this Award. The thing I really enjoy about consultancy work is collaborating with incredible people on science-led initiatives to make real-world changes to improve animal lives. I’m so very grateful for the support of the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, and to ConsultUCD, whose service is second to none.”
The recipients of the other four 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Award are;
2025 NovaUCD Innovation Award: Professor Wenxin Wang, UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology, UCD School of Medicine
2025 NovaUCD Invention of the Year Award: Dr Emer Doheny, UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Dr Jayne Carberry, UCD School of Medicine
2025 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award: LaNua Medical, co-founders, Tom Fitzmaurice, Dr Cormac Farrelly, UCD School of Medicine, Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill and Sajjad Amiri,
UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
2025 NovaUCD Innovation Champion of the Year Award: Professor Kevin O’Connor, BiOrbic, Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy and UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science.
