Niall Smith received his PhD in astrophysics from University College Dublin in 1990. He lectured in physics at Munster Technological University before becoming Head of Research in 2005, now providing strategic oversight of a budget of €18m per annum across disciplines from science and engineering to arts and music. He has co-authored 42 papers and conference proceedings, 1 book chapter and has supervised 11 postgraduate students to graduation. Niall writes a monthly column in the Irish Examiner national newspaper called “skymatters” and is a regular contributor to newspaper articles and radio programming. He is the Founder-Director of the internationally award-winning Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO) which is celebrating its 15th anniversary and over 1.2 million visitors. In 2017, he was the host Director for the International Space University Space Studies Programme which is the largest conference programme ever to come to Cork, lasting a total of 9 weeks and involving over 320 global space experts. Niall’s research focuses on space topics including ultra-high precision photometry and the uses of small satellites in low earth orbit for a wide range of functions from high resolution imaging to space cybersecurity to rural broadband. In 2020 he was awarded the Science Foundation Ireland Research Image of the Year Award for work on masks that was catalysed by research into stellar variability at BCO. Niall was the Higher Education representative on the National Steering Group for the Irish Government’s Space Strategy for Enterprise (2019-2023) and considers Space 4.0 to be a significant opportunity for business and educational communities across the globe.