Professor Denis Dowling

I am the director of the 20+ million Euro I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, which was established in November 2017. Its research focus is on materials processing (particularly additive manufacturing), as well as the integration of digital technologies into the manufacturing environment. I also lead UCD's participation in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in manufacturing. My own research incorporates the related areas of additive manufacturing and surface engineering. The latter includes the use of plasma treatments to tailor surface properties. I have published extensively in the areas of plasma processing (particularly using atmospheric treatments) and more recently on the processing of polymers, composites and metals by additive manufacturing. My teaching includes modules on Manufacturing and Nanomaterials. 17 PhD and 5 MSc research students have completed their studies under my supervision. I was previously deputy director of the SFI Precision Cluster, which was focused on plasma processing (2009 – 2014). I was the recipient of the UCD Innovation Award (2012) and the gold medal of the Institute of Materials Finishing (2013). Prior to taking up an academic position in UCD in 2008, I worked with Enterprise Ireland for over 25 years. I led several EU funded research projects, I also assisted indigenous companies to develop their own R&D programmes. Web Pages: www.ucd.ie/surfaces & www.I-Form.ie