Gerard Culley

Dr Culley has been Director of Information Technology Services in UCC since 2012. In this role Gerard is part of the executive management team of the University and leads out on the Universities Digital Journey and for the service delivery of the IT function in UCC. Technology has never had a greater impact on Higher Education, with the world of work more digital than ever and the impact on Artificial Intelligence on how we live and work.

Gerard spent the first the first 15 years of his career working on IT infrastructure and Cyber Security in Tyco, Microsoft,  Heineken and Musgrave. He spent 5 years working in Amsterdam for Heineken as an SAP consultant and Cyber Security Officer. Gerard joined Higher Education in 2008, starting as IT manager in Cork Institution of Technology (now MTU) , prior to taking up his position in UCC in 2012.

Gerard is a member of the Board of HEANET, the national Shared IT Services company, in this role Gerard chaired the HEANET audit and risk committee for 2022-23, and has been a member of the board since 2016.

He completed a Doctoral Study in the University of Bath in 2016, his thesis topic was Cloud Computing and its implications for Higher Education, he is research active and has supervised 2 PhD students over the past few years.

Gerard has particular interest in how technology and digitisation can transform education, also how we might use Data to improve our decision outcomes, and leverage AI to help build more scalable services and support models. In addition to this Gerard is ISC2 certified IT Security professional and very interested and active in looking to protect and insulate the Higher Education sector from Cyber Threats.