Article by Sean Duke, science journalist.

 

 

Professor Kate Robson Brown, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact (pictured right), is on a mission to help Ireland gain a place among the leading space science nations and for UCD, as the nation’s top space university, to drive that ambition.

She arrived at UCD in March 2024, having been attracted by its vibrant campus and ambitious research agenda, with interesting things happening around AI, space and high-performance computing.

Prof Robson Brown previously held high level roles at University of Cambridge, Strathmore University in Nairobi and University of Bristol. In search of a leadership position in an EU university, UCD, and Ireland, appeared an attractive option.

“Ireland has some particular areas of expertise. I’m thinking about the traction we have with headquarters of deep tech companies, the data centre side of things, pharmaceuticals – there is much more concentrated expertise here than other countries I’ve worked in.”

“I was also aware, from the space side of things, that UCD had developed and flown the first Irish satellite. That was of interest to me. I thought this is a country, and in particular a university, that has a specific interest in these areas and I’d like to be part of that.”

Space for Ambition

Prof Robson Brown said that while the Irish space sector can appear fragmented when seen through an external lens, there is a great deal of energy and creativity here bubbling under the surface.

“We have discovery researchers here at the top of their game – I mean globally recognised. If you are interested in gravitational waves, there are people in Ireland leading that charge. If you are interested in planetary evolution and habitable worlds, we have people here who are leading that charge.

“We are also strong in what you might call applied AI – looking at how we can use Earth observation for transport modelling or designing energy grids, or where to put wind turbines.

“We have some pockets of expertise around engineering and manufacturing for space. I am thinking of Dr David Mc Keown’s group and the work they have done with EIRSAT-1 and the National Space Subsystems and Payloads Initiative (NSSPI).”

Yet, despite this excellence Ireland, she said, could do better at telling its space story and much has flown under the radar even though it is a founder member of the European Space Agency.

One of Prof Robson Brown’s ambitions is to develop a national centre for space science and engineering. This centre could unite space companies with researchers, provide testbed equipment for SMEs and act as a hub for public engagement, she said. Given its size, she believes that Ireland should pick a handful of priority areas when it comes to space and drive these forward as a collaborative community.

“We’re not going to do everything but I think we could come together and decide on priorities over a five or ten-year life, because the projects take a long time to get into space.”

UCD C-Space, the Centre for Space Research, has provided a foundation for this ambition and is already a national hub for interdisciplinary collaboration in space-related research, innovation and education, working with Irish and international space companies and researchers. 

AI in Space

Prof Robson Brown believes that Ireland is strong in the field of AI and should use its technological edge to look at ambitious projects such as developing data centres in space. She said: “The next generation of in-orbit technologies will need to be reprogrammable, have multiple functions, be semi-autonomous and maybe have swarm intelligence.”

Ireland’s expertise in algorithmic efficiencies, hardware and low-power solutions, she said, could make it a leader in the use of AI in space. The idea of data centres in space, for example, is already being discussed and could be an area where Ireland can excel.

“There is almost unlimited solar power, in theory. You are not using any fossil fuels on the ground apart from the launch. You are getting away from the quite greedy coolant requirements and water use.

“I think in the next 20 years, for sure, we are going to see data centres in space, and I would rather that our expertise was in that room, driving those conversations.”

There may also be opportunities for growing co-operation in space between the Republic and Northern Ireland, she said. There was a meeting recently to scope out what might be possible to do together and given that ministers, industry representatives and academics were in the room, she said, it was a promising first step.

UCD Strategy

Prof Robson Brown said that the new UCD strategy, ‘Breaking Boundaries’, launched in late 2024, is all about collaboration and service to communities, with the university investing in leadership and infrastructure to support innovation and commercial outcomes.

As Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact, she wants to set up the best opportunities for discovery researchers on campus to develop an innovation pipeline, towards a commercial outcome.

She said: “It’s about understanding what kind of outputs we have here at the university and finding the best way of supporting those to match people’s ambitions. On the space side, UCD is positioning itself as a national leader. I see space all over the campus, in discovery science, upstream technologies, life sciences, and downstream applications like Earth observation, agriculture and energy systems.”

The value of investing in space goes beyond the immediate financial returns, she said. “There is monetary value, yes, there’s financial value in being engaged in the commercial opportunities there are available in space. There is academic and research impact that is really important for discovery science and discovery engineering.”

The greatest value, however, she said, may be in how space can motivate people. “If a young person can be inspired by a space narrative they will take that through into their choices for leaving cert, for university, and even if then end up not working in space, they will be on that pathway. I think that is massively valuable.”

If UCD is at the table nationally when it comes to space affairs, it can better maintain important connections with European space colleagues, and the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, she said.

There’s place in space for all areas of expertise that Ireland is leading. “That’s the message I’d like to get,” she said.

 

More about Kate

Though always interested in space, it was not where she began.

“My PhD was in phylogenetics and bioinformatics but the core of my research has remained the same - which is how we use computational modelling to understand the performance of complex materials.”

At the start of her career she worked with organic materials such as bone – in research that was particularly relevant in forensic science, archaeology, and ecology.

“Then I became interested in how the body responds to extreme environments. That’s when I first got into working with space enabled technologies and different types of computer vision – to understand bone or tissue changes.”

“In a sense I’m an engineering mathematician working in biology largely, but not exclusively.”

Today, her research group develops computational models to predict how materials perform in the harsh conditions of space, and her team has experiments running on the International Space Station.