MARK DAVIES BSc MA PhD MASME CEng MIEI
Professor of Engineering Science

e: mark.davies@ul.ie

t: +353-61-202467

Prof Mark Davies recieved his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bath in England. He went directly from there to Cambridge University to research for his PhD funded by a Rolls Royce sholarship. The thesis was on the coupled vibration of the front fans of high by-pass ratio jet engines, known as blade flutter. From there he went to Oxford to work on the design, build and test of single stage axial flow turbine which was an accurate model of the thermophysics in aircraft engine turbines. In Oxford  he was also a College Lecturer in engineering at Hertford College. In 1989 he moved to Ireland to take up a lectureship at the University of Limerick, where he is still employed. He was the founding director of the Stokes Institute which grew out of his research group. The early work of the Institute focused on the thermal reliabily of electronic systems and on continuing his interest in jet engine thermofluidics. He was head of the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical engineering for four years and appointed professor in the 1990's.

In 2001 he started, with his busines partner Tara Dalton, a new project looking into the automation of genetic testing. A large group of engineers and scientists looked into various solutions until Stokes Bio Ltd was formed to commercialise this work in 2005. The company was VC backed from the start of 2006 and was then acquired by Life Technologies in 2010 for $44m. At this time (2011) Mark Davies is employed by Life Technologies whilst also retaining his faculty position in the university and his research position in the Stokes Institute.