IT Sligo research student Linzi Ryan has won InterTrade Ireland’s prestigious Marion McAneney Graduate Research which was set up to recognise excellence in reviewing academic literature.
The 28 year old Leitrim-based postgraduate student said that the award felt like “coming to end of a long tunnel” so great was the relief of knowing that her work had been recognized.
Linzi arrived at the Centre for Design Innovation at IT Sligo as a research PhD student after completing a Master of Science in Product Innovation and Development in Brighton University. She has an honours degree in Industrial Design and has worked as product designer in a small start-up medical device company in Waterford.
The Marian McAneney Award was set up to promote understanding between the academic and wider communities and it acknowledges excellence in reviewing academic literature on any aspect of innovation.
“It’s great honour to win such a prestigious all-Ireland award and to be honest it is very reassuring to know that after so much hard work that what you did made sense and was deemed valuable,” said Linzi.
The award comes with a bursary worth €580. It was designed to foster links between emerging research scholars and relevant policy and practice audiences.
“We have a wonderful post graduate society in IT Sligo – everyone is very supportive,” said Linzi. “My two supervisors, Dr David Tormey head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Dr Perry Share, Head of the Humanities Department, have really encouraged me.
“When you are battling your way through a project and have so much literature to review, you could feel isolated but I have been supported all the way and now this award has really encouraged me as I face the last lap”.
The award winner has her sights set on getting into the area of product service systems. “I am fascinated by the idea of combining products and services, for example how to marry the iPod and iTunes,” she said. “My main interest is in the medical services area”.