Dr. John Kennedy

Noise 2050 is a pioneering research initiative aimed at predicting and assessing the future noise environment in Ireland by 2050. This project addresses the critical issue of noise pollution, which is a significant but often overlooked environmental and public health challenge. With increasing urbanisation, evolving transportation technologies, and ambitious climate goals, understanding and managing noise pollution has become more important than ever. The project will: 1.Forecast Ireland"s national soundscape out to 2050 (transport, renewables, new tech). 2.Engage citizens in the country"s first large-scale participatory noise-monitoring campaign. 3.Design & test next-generation mitigation solutions and provide policy guidance. Noise 2050 is about more than just reducing noise " it"s about creating healthier, more liveable cities for the future. Noise pollution is a growing public health concern, linked to heart disease, stress, sleep disturbances, and impaired childhood development. It"s also a significant barrier to achieving our climate goals, as many renewable energy technologies and transport innovations come with their own noise challenges. By understanding and predicting future noise levels, Noise 2050 aims to protect our communities, improve public health, and ensure a sustainable, quieter environment for generations to come.

Urban mobility across Europe is under unprecedented strain, with congestion, emissions, and infrastructure limitations threatening climate neutrality and liveability. Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) including drones and eVTOL systems, offers a transformative solution for low-emission logistics and services. Yet, widespread adoption depends not only on technical feasibility but also on societal readiness: trust, acceptance, and integration with daily life. PEGASUS addresses this challenge by embedding societal readiness as the central axis of IAM innovation, co-design, and deployment. Bringing together four of Europe"s leading IAM operators with social scientists, city authorities, and citizens, PEGASUS will pioneer a Societal Readiness Score (SRS) for IAM. Leveraging over 200,000 completed missions and 200 daily ongoing operations, the project will define, test, and improve this multidimensional metric covering noise, privacy, safety, energy, climate, and inclusivity. Real-world demonstrations in Ireland, Portugal, Italy, and Bulgaria will validate technical and operational innovations designed to increase societal readiness, from low-noise propulsion and optimised flight paths to participatory planning frameworks.

Sea-Scan is a pioneering project that uses undersea telecommunications cables for advanced maritime surveillance, with the aim of enhancing Ireland"s ability to detect and classify "dark vessels" " those operating without active transponders " within our coastal waters. Utilising Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and State of Polarisation (SoP) technologies, the Sea-Scan project repurposes existing fibre optic infrastructure so it can also serve as a vast network of underwater sensors. In addition, the system is capable of detecting potential threats to the cables themselves, such as from boats anchoring nearby or trawling, or from other seabed disturbances that could arise from accidental or deliberate interference with critical communications infrastructure. Advanced AI algorithms are applied to the data collected, enabling the system to detect vessels and assess threats, reducing false alarms. The Sea-Scan project is one of five to have successfully progressed to the Seed Phase of the Research Ireland"Defence Innovation Challenge.

This project will conduct research on the modelling and experimental testing of next generation audio equipment for theatres. The work is a collaboration between IMAX and the ADAPT centre and hosted in the Department of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering.

The renovation and public closure of Trinity College Dublin's (TCD) Long Room of the Old Library present an unparalleled opportunity to conduct pioneering research "on", "through", and "for" this iconic space. This initiative will redefine how we preserve and enhance one of Europe"s premier cultural heritage landmarks. This project will delve into aspects of the Long Room that have been largely overlooked: its acoustic experiences and sonic architecture. This project will use state-of-the-art robot-aided acoustic measurements and employ advanced computational and acoustic modelling techniques to create a versatile Acoustic Digital Twin, which will be combined with existing 3D image data. This approach allows for an unprecedented exploration of Long Room's physical properties, enabling new acoustic experiences for both physical and virtual visitors. Previous related research includes the "Jonathan Swift in VR/AR Long Room Project" in 2018. The From Silence to Story project will create immersive XR experiences that preserve and reimagine the library's significance through site-specific media art and storytelling. This research will set a precedence for future heritage preservation efforts by developing a preservation-by-design strategy accompanied by experts at TCD"s digital library and the Digital Repository of Ireland. This project addresses the Trinity College"s research themes on "Identities in Transformation" and "Digital Humanities" by preserving and innovating the Long Room through state-of-the-art acoustic and digital technologies. By creating immersive and interactive experiences, we aim to foster meaningful connections between visitors and the cultural significance of the Long Room. Furthermore, this project aims to promote inclusiveness by enabling personalised experiences for vision-impaired and hearing-impaired visitors and for those with diverse linguistic backgrounds and neurodivergent needs. We aim to create a resilient digital preservation system for sustainable long-term inclusive access. The project comprises four work packages including the training of four PhD researchers in four different disciplines under one unifying project goal: To preserve, enhance, and reimagine the Long Room Library"s unique acoustic and cultural heritage by creating a pioneering Digital Acoustic Twin that integrates advanced acoustic measurements with immersive storytelling tools, fostering innovative interdisciplinary research and transformative cultural experiences.