Trinity immunologist and LaunchBox graduate among Ireland’s Most Powerful Women

Posted on: 22 June 2017

Associate Professor in Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Professor Lydia Lynch, and LaunchBox graduate and FoodCloud co-founder, Iseult Ward, have been named among the Women's Executive Network (WXN) 2017 Ireland's Most Powerful Women.

The pair will today be acknowledged among Ireland’s 25 most influential and successful women. Both Professor Lynch and Iseult Ward will be acknowledged within the ‘Trailblazers’ category, which recognises women who have ignored boundaries and burst through barriers, furthering the cause of other women through their work, or establishing a precedent for others to follow.

Professor Lynch is spearheading research into the role that our immune system has in regulating metabolism, with the aim being to understand how we might one day use our own immune systems to target cancer.

Professor Lynch said: “I am delighted to be recognised with this award for the work we are doing here in Trinity and in Harvard. Cancer immunotherapy is at an exciting time and the more we are finding out about how to reinvigorate the immune system to attack cancer, the better the chances are of it working in more people.”

“I'm also proud to receive this award as a woman and mother in science as I hope it shows that if I can do it, others can too. It doesn't matter what kind of background, gender or family you're from — science, like most things, benefits from diversity.”

LaunchBox graduate Iseult Ward is the co-founder of not-for-profit social enterprise, FoodCloud, which helps businesses redistribute surplus or short-dated food to charities across Ireland so that they can make it available to those who need it.

FoodCloud was nurtured through Trinity’s student business incubator programme, LaunchBox in 2014. LaunchBox teams benefit from office space, funding, mentorship, access to alumni, partner and investor networks, and the ideal collaborative environment to launch their new ventures. Since 2013, the students involved have created 40 startups and raised €6.1m in investment and funding.

LaunchBox Programme Manager, Alison Treacy, said: “I am thrilled to see one of our LaunchBox founders receiving such well-deserved acclaim and recognition. Iseult was part of our 2014 programme, and since then has been a valuable supporter of and ambassador for LaunchBox and its student entrepreneurs."

"We are so pleased and proud to have been able to support her and FoodCloud in the early days of the company.”

Every year the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) identifies and celebrates the outstanding work of 25 Irish women.  These are women who, by their success, encourage others to follow, be ambitious and to succeed.  

Media Contact:

Thomas Deane, Media Relations Officer | deaneth@tcd.ie | +353 1 896 4685