Linda Doyle facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Linda Doyle
Doyle delivering the WITS Mary Mulvihill Lecture 2021
45th Provost of Trinity College Dublin
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 August 2021
Preceded by	Patrick Prendergast
Personal details
Born	Cork, Ireland
Domestic partner	Simon Tonge
Residence	Provost's House
Education	University College Cork (BE) Trinity College Dublin (MSc, PhD)
Scientific career
Fields	Electrical engineering
Institutions	Trinity College Dublin
Thesis	Radio-wave propagation in Dublin City at 2 GHz (1997)

Linda E. Doyle is an Irish expert and teacher. She is the 45th leader, called the Provost, of Trinity College Dublin. She started this important job in August 2021.

She is an electrical engineer and has worked at Trinity College for a long time, since the 1990s. Before becoming Provost, she was a Professor of Engineering and the Arts. She also held other big roles, like Dean of Research. Linda Doyle has led important research centers for telecommunications at the university. She also helped set up CONNECT, a large research group involving many institutions.

Linda Doyle has also advised groups in Ireland and the UK on things like broadband and mobile phone signals. She has been involved in projects that help people learn about science and art, like Science Gallery Dublin.

Early Life and Education

Linda Doyle grew up in Togher, a part of Cork, Ireland. She went to Togher Girls National School and then St Angela's College.

She studied electrical engineering at University College Cork, finishing her degree in 1989. After that, she moved to Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1989. There, she earned her Master's degree in 1993 and her Ph.D. in 1997. She also got a special diploma in Statistics later on. Before her academic career, Linda worked in industry for a year, including a time with Siemens in Germany.

Academic Work and Research

Linda Doyle's work focuses on how information travels through networks. She has studied flexible optical networks and wireless communications. This includes managing how radio signals are used and creating smart mobile networks.

She also started new work that combines engineering with creative arts. She created a group called the Orthogonal Methods Group (OMG) to explore these connections.

TCD Connect (including CTVR) research centre

After her Ph.D., Linda Doyle joined the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin in the late 1990s. In the late 2000s, she became the director of CTVR. This was a research center for telecommunications based at Trinity.

In the mid-2010s, she became the first head of CONNECT. This is a national research center supported by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). CTVR later joined CONNECT. CONNECT grew to include about 250 researchers across ten Irish universities. They work on advanced network technologies.

One project she launched was "Pervasive Nation." This is an Internet of Things network using LoRa technology. They used this system to monitor flood and river levels with Dublin City Council. This LoRa project received 1.8 million euro in funding.

Linda Doyle also led the "Edge" project, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program. This project had a budget of 6 million euro and involved 71 researchers. They worked on digital content, telecom networks, and new materials. She is also a director of two companies that started from her research centers: Software Radio Systems and Xcelerit.

In 2014, she became a professor of Engineering and the Arts at Trinity's School of Computer Science and Statistics. By 2017, she had helped secure over 70 million euro in research funding. She also guided 26 students through their Ph.D. studies. In January 2018, she became the Dean and Vice-President for Research at the college. She held this role until 2020.

Key Publications

Linda Doyle wrote a book in 2009 called Essentials of Cognitive Radio. It explains certain radio technologies. She also helped with a book for the Science Gallery Dublin called "Systems : User or Used?" (2021).

She has written or co-written many research papers. Some of her important papers include:

• Cyclostationary signatures in practical cognitive radio applications (about cognitive radio).
• Spectrum without bounds, networks without borders (about managing radio signals).
• Painting style transfer for head portraits using convolutional neural networks (combining software engineering and art).

Her recent papers cover topics like:

• Toward Scalable User-Deployed Ultra-Dense Networks: Blockchain-Enabled Small Cells as a Service (2020), which combines networks and blockchain.
• Open Access Markets for Capacity and the Inseparability of Spectrum and Infrastructure (2020), about spectrum management.
• A method to enhance ranging resolution for localization of LoRa sensors (2017), about LoRa technology.
• Spectrum Monitoring for Radar Bands Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (2017), about using neural networks for radar.

Leadership and Advisory Roles

By the 2010s, Linda Doyle was an advisor to several important groups. She advised the National Broadband Steering Committee in Ireland. She also advised Ofcom's Spectrum Advisory Board in the UK.

She was the chairperson of the board for The Douglas Hyde Gallery from 2013 to 2021. She was also a board member for Pallas Studios. Linda Doyle has been a judge for Ireland's Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. She also helped with the Festival of Curiosity, a science event for children in Dublin.

Linda Doyle strongly supports getting more girls involved in STEAM subjects. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. She has worked with groups like Teen Turn, Girls in Tech, and HerStory. By 2017, she was also on the board of Science Gallery International. This is a global network of science outreach projects inspired by Science Gallery Dublin.

Becoming Provost

In April 2021, Linda Doyle was chosen to be the provost of Trinity College Dublin. This is the main leader of the university. She is in charge of all academic work, operations, and money. She was elected by staff and students.

The other two candidates were also women, Linda Hogan and Jane Ohlmeyer. This meant that Trinity College would have its first female provost since it was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. Linda Doyle won the election in the second round of voting.

She officially started her job on August 1, 2021. She moved into the Provost's House, the official home on campus. As Provost, Linda Doyle also became the chairperson of the board for Science Gallery Dublin.

Soon after she became Provost, there was a discussion about Science Gallery Dublin. The gallery was part of a big fundraising campaign. However, staff were later told it would close permanently in February 2022. This news caused concern among many people. Linda Doyle later said that the gallery would close as planned, but it might reopen with a new way of working.

Trinity's student newspaper, The University Times, noted that Linda Doyle seemed to want more openness. They also said she was easier to reach than the previous Provost. However, she faced challenges with the return to in-person classes and the Science Gallery closure.

Awards and Recognition

Linda Doyle became a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 2011. In July 2021, she was named Cork Person of the Month. She also received an Irish Tatler Women of the Year Award in 2021 for promoting STEM.

In 2022, she was chosen as a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Public Events

Professor Doyle has given public talks on various topics. In 2020, she gave a lecture called "Bricks, Mortar and Data: Technology and the Home of the Future." This talk was about the idea of the "smart home" and how technology affects our homes.

She also gave the 5th WITS Mary Mulvihill Lecture in 2021. This talk was called Communicating Communications. It focused on how to share information about science and technology, and about leadership.

Personal Life

Linda Doyle's father, Oliver, worked as a printer for the Cork Examiner newspaper for 35 years. Her mother left school early but later studied women's studies and geology. Linda has two brothers and a sister.

Linda Doyle lives with her partner, Simon Tonge. They moved from their home in Glasnevin to the Provost's House. This house is at 1 Grafton Street on the Trinity campus. It is the official home for the Provost during their time in office.

Images for kids

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  Linda Doyle delivering the WITS Mary Mulvihill Lecture in 2021.

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  The TCD Connect research centre in Dublin.