The UA Global Summit 2021 was our first hybrid event and took place in Dublin and online over three days from 15–17 November 2021.
Guest Speakers
Roisin Kiberd
Roisin Kiberd has written essays and features for the New York Times, the Stinging Fly, the Dublin Review, Winter Papers, the White Review, the Guardian and Vice, among others. Her first book, The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet was published by Serpent's Tail in 2021.
Cormac Ryan
Cormac Ryan is a 28 year old physiotherapist from Dublin, Ireland. However, it is Cormac’s personal life rather than professional life that is of more interest. A cardiac pacemaker at the age of 18, followed by a bout of depression and an eating disorder, Cormac has committed himself to raising awareness of mental health struggles through sharing his experience. He has cycled around the coastline of Ireland twice and more recently over 5,000KMs across Europe raising approximately €100,000 in total through his various endeavours.
Liza Pavlakos
Liza Pavlakos is the founder of Positive Breakthroughs, she is a qualified psychotherapist and transformational executive coach empowering others to succeed in the face of adversity. Her life story is a narrative of grit and gravitas, a tale of one woman's journey of overcoming the impossible adversities and triumphing against all odds, inspiring others to thrive.
Liza is best known as an inspirational force for leadership, team building, and performance. Her heartfelt keynotes have led her to be recognised as one of the Top 10 Female Speakers in the World for 2020. She has also been recognized as a thought leader in empowerment on CNN and other media outlets around the world.
Sérgio Ribeiro
Sérgio Ribeiro is the CEO & Co founder of Planetiers. Finished his Master Degree on Biological Engineering in 2014. After working as an intern on an energy R&D laboratory and a Biofuel Unity in two multinational companies, realized that he wanted to create his own projects and become one of the major agents for sustainable transformation. In 2017, being already a CEO and co-founder of an educational game project for schools, he created Planetiers – an online marketplace exclusively for sustainable products and solutions. Since then, he made his life goal to keep promoting global sustainable transformation developing new platforms and speaking in schools, conferences and all kind of international events. Since 2019, his company Planetiers has been one of the co-producers of the event Planetiers World Gathering and co-leaders of a transformational program for companies and municipalities called Planetiers New Generation.
Jack O'Meara
Jack is a biomedical engineer turned entrepreneur and serves as the CEO of Ochre Bio. Having always been fascinated by the intersection of healthcare, technology and business, Jack co-founded Ochre to translate breakthroughs in transplant medicine and genomics into chronic liver disease RNA therapies, with a long-term vision in cardiometabolic healthspan. Jack has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Endpoints News, and Forbes, among others, for his vision and mission at Ochre. Among the life science and healthcare entrepreneurial ecosystem, he is an advocate for supporting young founders in biotech entrepreneurship, and hosts a weekly clubhouse show called 'Building Biotech' to try to demystify bioentrepreneurship for aspiring founders.
Kyle & Brent Pease
Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child, Kyle Pease had grown up supporting his athlete brothers Brent and Evan from the sidelines.
Since 2011, he and his brother, Brent, have competed in races across the country, most recently becoming the first brother duo in history to complete the grueling IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
Brent and Kyle speak to audiences across the nation, sharing their message of inclusion and define what is truly possible.
As well as being avid racers, they also founded and manage The Kyle Pease Foundation to empower athletes with disabilities to compete in the multi-sport and endurance world.
Sophie Roland
Sophie Roland’s lush voice, dazzling coloratura, engaging stage presence, and deeply expressive musicality have captivated audiences throughout North America and abroad.
In addition to her operatic credits and maintaining an active directing career, Ms. Roland currently holds the rank of Associate Professor of Music in the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario, where she is Chair of the Music Performance Studies Division. Ms. Roland’s students have won National and International competitions. She is also the General Director of both the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy and the Accademia Europea Dell’Opera.
Dr. Laura-Anne Furlong
Dr. Furlong received her BSc and PhD from the University of Limerick, Ireland prior to completing post-doctoral research in soft tissue mechanics at Loughborough University, UK in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She was appointed as faculty in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University in 2015, based in the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine. In 2019 she was the first female recipient of the Hans Gros Emerging Researcher Award from the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports for excellence in early career research that bridges the gap between research and applied practice, and was appointed a Fellow of the Society in the same year. She returned to Ireland in August 2021 as a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Biomechanics.
Jim Barry
Jim Barry is the Chief Investment Officer of BlackRock Alternatives Investors & Global Head of BlackRock Real Assets. Prior to this role, he was Chief Executive of NTR plc from 2000, having previously served as Assistant Chief Executive and General Manager of Development. Jim has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Cork and a Masters in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School. He is on the Council of Patrons of Special Olympics Ireland and is a board member of The Ireland Funds. He also sits on a number of Advisory Boards related to activities in University College Cork and Harvard Business School.