We recently held the inaugural meeting of the Atlantic Futures Strategic Advisory Group at The ATU Campus in Letterkenny, County Donegal.
This newly formed non-executive group brings together a highly experienced team of experts and practitioners in policy development, implementation and cross-sectoral leadership from across the island. who will help guide the ongoing collaborative efforts of Atlantic Features and ensure that our research informs changes in policy making towards releasing the West and the Northwest region's full contribution to sustainable economic competitiveness for Ireland, Northern Ireland, and on an island-wide basis.
Representatives from all six Atlantic Features research streams presented their work and emerging findings throughout the day. This gave the group a comprehensive overview of the project's progress, and it highlighted the potential for developing impactful and policy-relevant outcomes from the research that can help guide regional transformation in the West and Northwest of Ireland.
It was a fantastic day of connection and discussion, and it provided much insights and inspiration to everyone involved. We would like to thank everyone who was involved for their time and very, very valuable input.
If you'd like to find out more about the Atlantic Futures Strategic Advisory Group, who's involved their role, and others in attendance at our first meeting, please continue reading:
Caroline Creamer
Ms. Caroline Creamer is Director of the International Centre for Local and Regional Development and a Research Fellow with both the Social Sciences Institute and the Innovation Value Institute at Maynooth University. A qualified town planner, Caroline has for the past 20+ years worked in a research and management capacity on a number of funded projects in the areas of regional development, urban and rural regeneration, strategic spatial planning, place-making, multi-level governance, collaborative networking and community engagement. This has entailed working in partnership with a range of stakeholders including central and local government, regional authorities, NGOs, research centres and communities across the island of Ireland. Caroline is also Facilitator of the All Ireland Smart Cities Forum and ESPON Contact Point for Ireland
John Daly
For just under 10 years, John Daly has worked as an Economist in both the private and public sector. In 2021, John became the Economist of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. Such a role involves undertaking economic research relating to regional development, supporting the implementation and monitoring of the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy of the Northern and Western Region, applying for EU funding and assisting the elected members of the Assembly and the region. Prior to his time in the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, John worked as the joint Economist of the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland and as a Senior Economist in DKM Economic Consultants and EY Economic Advisory Services.
Michael D'Arcy
Michael D’Arcy is a business consultant and advisor who is also a interlocutor, speaker and writer playing a central role in researching how prosperity underpins peace and stability. His deep all-island strategic insights are informed by being an pioneer of North/South economic and business interaction before the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and throughout its operation since, now impacted by Brexit and the Windsor Framework.
Michael currently supports the work of the Ibec/CBI Joint Business Council (JBC), and helped to develop Ibec’s ‘for Peace + Prosperity’ campaign to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. He is on a Steering Group overseeing a ground-breaking macro-economic modelling Research Programme for Northern Ireland and the all-island economy led by the ESRI and the UK’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) supported by Ibec, and is their representative on the SEUPB’s Programme Monitoring Committee for the PEACEPLUS Programme.
He is also a Senior Research Associate of the Centre for Cross Border Cooperation (CCBC) who has made several notable contributions guiding the peace process, cross border relations and the all-island economy, most recently a Briefing Note on: Re-setting Ireland/UK Relations to Enhance Prosperity and Embed Peace.
Nicola Doherty
Since qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2000, Nicola has had ongoing clinical and research interest in various areas including, trauma, paediatric cardiology, acquired brain injury, neuro-developmental conditions, staff wellbeing, perinatal and infant mental health. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship in 2017 which allowed her to research best practice in Canada and the USA for medically fragile babies and is a Visiting Professor at Ulster University. Her work has a focus on prevention and early intervention. Nicola currently works in the Department of Health in Northern Ireland as Lead Psychologist for the Regional Trauma Network, she is comms rep and committee member of the Division of Clinical Psychology, NI, part of the British Psychological Society, is a research associate with BHSCT and maintains her research programme with medically fragile babies and the systems that they are part of including exploring the long term impact of early traumatic experiences.
Marilyn Gaughan-Reddan
A dynamic and results-driven executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in cultural management, European programmes, and public service. A highly skilled strategist with expertise in policy development, governance, stakeholder engagement, and financial oversight. Proven ability to foster international partnerships, drive innovation in the cultural and creative industries, and contribute to strategic development at regional, national, and European levels.
Qualifications and Experience includes: Professional Arts Experience, Legal, Financial, Corporate Governance, Strategic Planning & Risk Management, Operations, HR, Public Policy, Local.
Paula Leonard
Paula Leonard is an experienced community development practitioner with skills in a range of areas including equality, social justice, policy, management, funding, facilitation and human rights. Having graduated with a Masters in Community Development, Paula initially worked in the area of peace building and reconciliation as part of the Peace Programme for Northern Ireland and the Border Counties and then spent many years working in the area of health inequality with the Irish Traveller and Roma communities. She has been CEO of a national charity, Alcohol Forum Ireland since 2023 and previous to that was AFI's national lead for community action on alcohol working with Drug and Alcohol Task Forces across Ireland. She is founder member of the Irish Community Action on Alcohol Network and has worked closely with a range of international organisations, including the WHO (both the European and Global offices)
Eamonn Molloy
Eamonn is a retired civil servant having served in a number of government Departments. These include , most recently, the Department of the Taoiseach (2016-2020) where he headed the British and Northern Ireland Division and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (2020-2022) where he was Head of Corporate Services and Capital Programmes. As Assistant Secretary in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (2010-2015) he was responsible for Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Postal policy as well as Corporate Services.
Seamus Neely
Seamus Neely served as Chief Executive of Donegal County Council from July 2010 until July 2020. He started his public service career with Donegal County Council before moving to various Local Government roles in Monaghan and Cavan. Seamus holds an honours degree in Business Studies from Ulster University and an MBA from Dublin City University. He is currently a Board Member of The Land Development Agency DAC, the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority, and the City of Derry Airport Ltd. Seamus is currently Chair of the Forestry Appeals Committee and is a director of Seamus Neely Consulting Ltd which provides Business Advisory and Leadership Mentoring services. Seamus has served previously on the Boards of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Local Government Management Agency, Donegal County Enterprise Board Ltd, Donegal Tourism CLG and was appointed to perform the functions of Inland Fisheries Ireland between February 2023 and January 2024.
Tom Reid
Tom is the Deputy Secretary in the NI Executive Office with responsibility for Intergovernmental and International Relations. In this role Tom has responsibility for the North South Ministerial Council, the Northern Ireland Executive’s overseas offices in Brussels, Washington and Beijing and the Northern Ireland Executives International Relations strategy. Since joining the Executive Office in 2020 Tom also led on co-ordinating the Executive’s preparations for and subsequent response to the UK’s exit from the European Union, including on the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol, Windsor Framework and future relations.
Prior to joining the Executive Office in 2020, Tom has worked across a range of roles in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, including Health, Social policy and the Executive’s Programme for Government. Between 2009 to 2020 he worked for the Department of Infrastructure, where he spent 11 years working across sustainable transport, regional development, transport planning, public transport governance EU funding and engagement, including the department’s preparations for EU Exit. He has also worked in the community development and voluntary sector, and started his career teaching in Higher Education.
Donal Traynor
Donal Traynor was appointed Group CEO of Community Finance Ireland (CFI) in 2020, the only cross border provider of social finance to the VCSE sector on the island. Having joined the group in 2004, he was originally responsible for managing the first ever cross border business mentorship programme for community enterprise, before his role evolved into developing a southern social finance loan portfolio for CFI. As of 2023, CFI have been responsible for investing over €110m into voluntary led entities across the island. It is also responsible for managing the Northern Ireland Small Business Loan Fund, on behalf of Invest NI, a role held since that fund was established in 2013, to the present day.
In 2024, CFI accessed investment of £13m in Financial Transaction Capital (FTC) for onward lending to the VCSE sector in Northern Ireland, the first time this instrument was used for this purpose.
Donal holds a BA in Economics and Geography from UCD, a Grad Dip in Tourism and Business Studies from UL, and an MBS in Co-operatives and Social Enterprise from UCC. He is also QFA accredited with the Irish Institute of Bankers since 2016.
Jan Vom Brocke
Jan vom Brocke is the chair of Information Systems & Business Process Management at the University of Münster and the director of the European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS). Jan has published among others in Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and MIT Sloan Management Review. He is a visiting professor at the University of Liechtenstein and has been named an Academic Research Fellow at MIT CISR, a Fellow of the AIS, a Schoeller Senior Fellow at Friedrich Alexander University FAU, a Fellow of the ESCP Center for Design Science in Entrepreneurship, and a Distinguished Professor at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth University. Professor vom Brocke has secured over €60 million in competitive research funding as for example from the European Union (EU), the Liechtenstein Research Foundation, the Swiss Research Foundation, the German Research Foundation, the local government, and industry. Jan vom Brocke is an invited speaker and trusted advisor to many DAX 30 and Fortune 500 companies as well as Start-ups and supports governments across Europe on their digital transformation journey.
Caitriona Mullan
Caitriona is a cross-border cooperation and governance specialist working across the EU, with over three decades of hands-on experience in North South cooperation across a range of sectors including health, regional development & economic cooperation, local government & democratic governance, and tertiary education and research cooperation. She is a Senior External Expert with European Commission DG REGIO (structural funds), currently advising on territorial cooperation and cross-border health systems in Central and Eastern Europe. She also works with the Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise in Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, with recent missions supporting the Governments of Armenia and Finland in relation to decentralization processes and intermunicipal cooperation. In addition, Caitriona advises the Association of European Border Regions on the EU b-Solutions initiative delivered for the European Commission by the Association of European Border Regions, which addresses and solves cross border obstacles to mobility, integration and EU citizens’ rights across the EU and on EPA borders including supporting the Western Balkans EU integration process. She represents AEBR on the working level of the CoR European Alliance for the Reconstruction of Ukraine.
She has authored a range of publications and articles on a range of territorial co-operation themes with NESC, CCBS, ICLRD, the European Commission and AEBR – most recently co-editing the inaugural issue of the Journal of Advanced Studies on Borders, Co-operation and Development with AEBR, UPS-Central European Service for Cross Border Initiatives, and the University of Eastern Finland. Caitriona holds senior research associate roles with the Centre of Cross Border Studies and the International Centre for Local and Regional Development. She provides strategic advisory support to a number of North South co-operation initiatives including the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland and the Shared Island HEA Atlantic Futures research initiative. In 2025 she is also a guest lecturer on the University of Strasbourg M.A. in Territorial Diplomacy and an advisor with AEBR to the Horizon Europe B-Shapes initiative led by the University of Southern Denmark.
Prof. Malachy O'Neill
Professor Ó Néill is Director of Regional Engagement at Ulster University (since August 2021) and is currently Interim Director of Development and Alumni Relations. He is former Provost of Ulster University’s Derry~Londonderry Campus (2016-21) and Head of the School of Irish Language and Literature (2012-2017). He has played a central role in a range of strategic initiatives for the University including City and Growth Deals (UK Government), Shared Island (Irish Government), the inception of a School of Medicine (opened 2021), the development of the North West Cross-border Tertiary Cluster (with FE/HE partners), the establishment of a Manchester United Foundation Hub and the accreditation of Derry/Strabane as a UNESCO Learning City Region.
He was awarded a Personal Chair in Irish (2020) and appointed to the Department for Communities’ Irish Language Strategy Expert Advisory Panel in 2021. Prof. Ó Néill is Lead Investigator (Northern Ireland) in the c.€4million Shared Island social capital ‘Atlantic Futures’ research initiative with NUI Galway, University of Limerick and Atlantic Technological University and a member of the EPIC Futures NI (UKRI) steering group, funded by UKRI as part of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (March 2024). He is Temporary Chair of the Governing Body of North West Regional College (since June 2023) and a member of the Irish Language, Literature and Celtic Cultures Committee of the Royal Irish Academy. Prof. Ó Néill is also a Director of Causeway Chamber of Commerce and Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2019, the highest accolade in UK Higher Education.
Dr. Eoin Cullina
Dr. Eoin Cullina is Head of Research for Galway and Mayo at Atlantic Technological University. Eoin is also a researcher in the domain of Science of Science Policy (SoSP).
After completing a Bachelor of Civil Law at University College Cork, Eoin worked as a lawyer and mediator prior to entering academia. He completed a M.Sc. in Information Systems Management at NUI Galway in 2013. He completed his PhD under scholarship from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) with Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software. He subsequently completed Postdoctoral studies in the recruitment of star scientists under SFI Science Policy programme prior to joining the research office at ATU.
Eoin is interested in how governments and public agencies communicate and interact with the public in an open manner through digital platforms. Eoin’s research also investigates the impact of star scientists on small open economies. He has won awards for his research and teaching and has presented his research at leading conferences and workshops around the world.
Atlantic Futures is funded by the Higher Education Authority as part of the North South Research Programme.