The main focus of his current research at Tyndall is next generation fibre to the home networks, and in particular new large scale networks that can significantly reduce the cost and energy consumption of the whole network by eliminating unnecessary electronic switches and routers. His group has developed a number of inventions related to this, and other access or data centre applications, which are under development within his core research programme. His team’s work on long reach access has been highlighted by BT at major conferences such as the Broadband World Forum, ECOC and OFC, and is of interest to standardisation bodies such as the IEEE 802.3 Extended EPON Study Group. He collaborates widely with industry, working with some 15 companies over the last five years, including major ICT multi-nationals such as BT, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks. Paul Townsend was awarded a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 1987.

He subsequently worked in the international communications industry with Bell Communications Research, BT and Corning, where he held research leadership positions, before moving to Tyndall/UCC in 2003. He has authored more than 170 peer-reviewed publications, including 40 invited papers, and holds granted patents in 16 families to date, with several other applications pending. Professor Townsend is also an Honorary Professor in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

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He has also worked as a technical consultant for a number of international biotech and pharmaceutical companies. In these roles, he applied his knowledge of photonics and optics to determine solutions for manufacturing and diagnostic related problems. Dr O’Brien also worked for a number of years for a US multinational (General Instrument, Power Semiconductor Division), where he was responsible for manufacture of a range of Silicon IC devices. Dr. O’Brien has a PhD in Physics and Masters in Engineering from University College Cork and a degree in Physics from Trinity College Dublin. He has also been a visiting researcher at University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Marburg (Germany) and Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electronique et de Radioélectricité de Grenoble (France).

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