Prof. Denis Shields focuses on developing students’ skills in data analysis, interpretation, and critical thinking, particularly when working with complex biological datasets. He leads a research group comprising three PhD students, three postdoctoral researchers, and a research assistant, alongside several collaborative projects. Prof. Shields’ career spans academia and industry, including roles at UCD, TCD, RCSI, and the University of Southampton, as well as computational analysis of clinical datasets at ICON Clinical Research and Surgen Ltd. He also collaborates with industry partners through the Enterprise Ireland-funded Food for Health Centre, working with the dairy sector.

An advocate for interdisciplinary research integrating computational and experimental approaches, Prof. Shields serves as Director of the UCD Bioinformatics Centre and the UCD Bioinformatics and Systems Biology PhD Programme. He plays a key role in SFI-funded PhD programmes in genomics data science and fundamentals of data science. He is also Head of Node for Elixir Ireland, part of the European bioinformatics infrastructure. With over 170 peer-reviewed publications and more than 15,000 citations (H-index >60), Prof. Shields’ work appears in leading journals such as Nature. Alumni of his group hold prominent academic and industry roles, including professorships, leadership in pharmaceutical companies, and founding bioinformatics enterprises like Nuritas.

LINKS

https://people.ucd.ie/denis.shields