Advancing health through technology, design and data
The development of digital health and the application of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, data science, and health informatics are cross-cutting strengths of the Health Research Institute, with direct and indirect impact across all of the Institute's research themes.
The HRI has a strong tradition of incorporating digital innovation into health research and healthcare delivery. We view digital technologies as key enablers of a healthier society through technology-supported prevention, early intervention, personalised care, and more efficient, evidence-informed health services.
Research activities span a broad range of areas including digital health transformation, health informatics, connected health, medical devices, wearable technologies, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cybersecurity, human-computer interaction, and the development and evaluation of digital health solutions. These activities support improvements in health outcomes, healthcare delivery, patient experience, and population health.
Through initiatives such as the Rapid Innovation Unit, a collaboration between UL and healthcare partners across HSE Mid West, researchers have access to advanced rapid prototyping facilities and pathways towards translation, licensing, and commercialisation.
Over the coming years, we aim to further strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration across the University and with external partners to drive innovation in digital health, health data, and emerging health technologies. Particular emphasis will be placed on supporting the responsible use of health data, advancing research aligned with the European Health Data Space, and developing innovative solutions to address current and future healthcare challenges.
Our multidisciplinary membership is uniquely positioned to deliver impactful research that contributes to the design, implementation, and evaluation of next-generation healthcare solutions, while supporting the development of robust data infrastructures and digital capabilities across the health ecosystem.
The lead for this research area is Associate Professor Dr Katie Crowley.
Katie is an academic in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at University of Limerick. Her research focuses on digital health, health informatics, human-computer interaction, affective computing, connected health, and technology-enabled healthcare transformation. She is Course Director of the MSc in Health Informatics and leads interdisciplinary research at the intersection of health, technology, and data.
She has secured competitive national research funding and has extensive experience leading and contributing to multidisciplinary research programmes involving academic, healthcare, industry, and public-sector partners. Her work focuses on the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of digital health solutions that address real-world healthcare challenges through collaborative and user-centred approaches.
Technological activities that have applications across our research areas are conducted by the HRI in diverse areas such as the design and development of medical devices, hemodynamics, the use of advanced data analytics for diagnosis and treatment, and the design and optimisation of medical software workflows.
Moreover, through the Rapid Innovation Unit, a research group comprising UL and colleagues across all Acute Hospitals, HSE Mid West that aims to apply cutting-edge 3D printing technologies to address unmet clinical needs, HRI members have access to state-of-the-art rapid prototyping facilities and an avenue towards licensing and commercialisation.
Over the next five years, we aim to drive technological and data analytics innovation through focused collaboration amongst our multidisciplinary membership across and with our external partners. We recognise that digital innovations, in particular, play a vital role in enhancing treatments and therapies and thus help to sustain and improve the health of the population.
Our interdisciplinary membership is ideally positioned to drive such innovation and make a lasting impact on the healthcare solutions of the future, including personalised ones. This aim is underpinned by the ambition to create robust data collection, storage and processing facilities at university level.
The lead for this research area is Associate Professor, Dr Katie Crowley.
Katie is an academic in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at UL. Her research interests include Affective Computing; Human Computer Interaction; Psychophysiology and Wearables; Health Information Technology and IoMT. She is the Course Director for the MSc in Health Informatics in the University of Limerick and she teaches a number of modules on this course.
She has experience working with, and in industry, including securing national funding for industry partnerships (SFI). She has been a team member in multi-disciplinary international research projects co-funded by industry and national funding bodies and has led projects as Principal Investigator and Senior Researcher. Dr Crowley regularly works in interdisciplinary teams working across disciplines and domains, forging strategic relationships and multi-disciplinary partnerships, and building effective research consortia.
Research Group Lead
