Lecturer

Email: niamh.ohora@tudublin.ie

 

Profile

Niamh O'Hora is a UX lead and lecturer. She has led the design of FinTech product innovations for several years, most recently contributing to the Modern Workplace Transformation financial services design team at Microsoft. With almost 15 years of industry experience, she has delivered UX and digital projects for clients including Adobe, RTÉ, Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Irish Distillers and the European Union. 

Niamh has been a member of the Governing Body Member at MTU Kerry Campus (formerly Institute of Technology Tralee), a Steering Group Member on Tralee Chamber Alliance and a contributor to the Kerry Sci-Tech initiative.

Passionate about the application of Design Thinking and UX practices in innovation and product development processes, she provides monthly UX mentorship to startups through the RDI innovation hub's Founder Circle, works with technology companies through consultancy, and has facilitated Design Thinking programmes with New Frontiers startups at the Tom Crean Business Centre. 

Niamh is a regular speaker and organiser at international tech events and meetups; advocating for the voice of the customer and the validation of business hypotheses through testing and user research. Through the UX Book Club, she co-organises a monthly professional networking group with over 800 international members. 

Advocating for women in STEM, Niamh has provided mentorship to early-career engineers and designers through Microsoft internship programmes and has spoken at the Women In Technology World Series.

 

Teaching Profile

For Niamh, designers and technologists are enablers of positive change, playing a crucial role in the co-creation of products and services that promote innovative, inclusive and sustainable futures. Design as a discipline has transitioned from the production of tangible and visual objects, into a way of thinking that can drive transformational change in society. 

The goal of her teaching practice is to empower students with the confidence, skills and tools that support inclusive, sustainable and innovative design practices through research projects, Design Thinking, UX and design-innovation modules.