Olivia McDermott

Associate Professor in Regulatory Affairs & Lean Quality Management at University of Galway, Ireland

Speaker

Dr Olivia McDermott is an Associate Professor in Regulatory Affairs & Lean Quality Management at the University of Galway. She is the course co-director associated with the Medical Technology Regulatory Affairs (M.Sc. and Higher Cert) programs. She also lectures in Lean at the Centre for Adult Learning & Professional Development. She holds a DProf in Work Based Learning on Lean & Six Sigma in Supply Chain Management from the University of Middlesex. She has a MBA from UL and a M.Sc. in Quality Engineering from NUI Galway as well as a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology.

She completed her post-doctoral research in UL in the area of Lean in Healthcare and has lectured at UL in Lean and Supply Chain Management. She is also a FETAC Certified Trainer, an American Society of Quality (ASQ) Certified Black Belt and Master Black Belt, and is a Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE) as well as being trained in online course design and moderating. She has over 15 years of experience as a Lecturer, particularly within the Adult learning space.

Olivia spent 15 years within industry, having held various senior roles in multinational organisations, including the medical device and electronics industries, with experience in all levels of industry operations, especially Operations Quality, Regulatory Quality, New Product Introduction, Customer Complaints, Supplier Quality, Lean Six Sigma and Training. She has also worked as a self-employed consultant in Quality (Lean and Six Sigma) since she left industry in 2012. Her research interests are Quality 4.0, Industry 4.0, Lean, Six Sigma, and Operational Excellence. She has published and co-authored over 110 journal articles since 2021 and is currently involved in several global research projects in relation to Industry 4.0 and Lean & Six Sigma. She is a member of the editorial advisory board of the ¿International Journal of Lean Six Sigma¿ and ¿Technological Sustainability¿, a member of the Editorial Review Board of SAGE ¿Sustainable Futures¿, Emeralds TQM journal and BMC Health Service Research. She has also received several awards for her published work from Processes (Best Paper 2022), Lean Business Ireland (Best Contribution to Knowledge Paper 2022 and 2023), Machines (shortlisted for Best Paper 2023) and Emerald Publishing (Best Outstanding Paper 2021).