Gordon Lightbody graduated first in his class with the MEng degree (distinction) (1989), and then PhD (1993) both in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Queen's University Belfast. After completing a one year post-doctoral position funded by Du Pont, he was appointed by Queen's University as a Lecturer in Modern Control Systems. At Queens, his research focused primarily on the application of intelligent control, system identification and fault detection/diagnosis to the chemical process industry. In 1997 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Control Engineering at University College Cork, and subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008. His current research focuses on the application of intelligent control techniques to key application areas, which include; biomedical applications, renewable energy, wind and wave power, micro-grids, the smart grid, advanced motor control, and power systems control. He has published 194 peer-reviewed papers in these areas and has received prizes at ACC 1995 in Seattle, IEE Control 1994 in Warwick England and an honourable mention at the IFAC World Congress in San Francisco, 1996. His H index (according to Google Scholar) is currently 33. His recent research into seizure detection algorithms for neonates has produced a patent application, - this invention won the “UCC Invention of the Year Award”, in April 2010. Significantly, this research work was one of only several projects that were singled out for praise in the recently published Innovation Task Force Report of the Irish Government. This seizure detection algorithm is currently undergoing European multi-centre clinical trials towards its regulatory approval and clinical adoption (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02160171). He was a member of the Applied Control Techniques

My current research focuses on the application of intelligent control techniques to key application areas, which include; biomedical signal processing, renewable energy, wind and wave power, micro-grids, the smart grid, advanced motor control, and power systems control. Currently most of my research effort is channelled along two research streams: A) ENERGY/POWER ENGINEERING: Sustainable Energy Research Network: This is a team of interdisciplinary researchers across the university including: Energy Policy, The Hydraulics Maritime Research Centre (HMRC), Power Electronics Ireland Research Laboratory, Control and Intelligent Systems group, Biofuels, SERG, Environmental Engineering etc. This group was set up through funding from the President's Strategic Fund Allocation. This critical mass has allowed us to develop a highly successful taught Masters in Sustainable Energy and an innovative BE program in Energy Engineering. As well as personal supervision of my own postgraduates, I supervise MEngSci masters projects in Energy and contribute expertise to a number of projects as a member of this team. These have included: i) Autoproduction and load optimal load management ii) Microgrids. iii) Smart grids. iv) Modelling and control for wave energy. v) Embedded generation. vi) Modelling and control of windfarms. Power Electronics Research Laboratory: We are currently working on advanced control schemes for field weakening in high specification permanent magnet drive systems, supported by Moog Ltd. We are also currently supported by United Technologies to investigate advanced converter controls for micro-grid applications. Marine Renewable Ireland (MAREI): I am one of the 9 PIs in the SFI funded research centre, Marine Renewable Energy Ireland (MAREI) which attracted €28M of funding, and which started in June 2013. This is a major 6 year research