Mary Dempsey is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Vice Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Science and Engineering. She was an elected member of Academic Council (2018-2021). Mary has significant industry experience including a leadership role as part of a start-team of 8 personnel for an American Multi-National Enterprise.  She has over twenty five years’ experience in academia and industry and her research has been funded by Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Ireland-China Fund and industry sources.  Mary teaches Lean Systems, Logistics and Transportation, Operations Strategy, and Operations Research. Mary has designed more than 25 Workshops/Seminars for national and international forums including; Germany Portugal and China, where she facilitates design thinking processes. Mary’s research interests are in Lean Six Sigma medical application, Teaching and Learning Innovation and Predictive Models for illness and clinical events. Mary co-founded NUI Galway’s Youth Academy and in 2018 she secured a donation of 250k to support this project for a further