Lizbeth Goodman

Lizbeth Goodman (BA, MA, MLitt, PhD, DrS, FRSA) is Chair of Creative Technology Innovation and Full Professor of Inclusive Design for Engineering and Education at University College Dublin (Ireland), where she directs the Inclusive Design Research Centre of Ireland in collaboration with SMARTlab (which she directs and founded 33 years ago).

She is Programme Director for the interdisciplinary Thematic PhD spanning all of University College Dublin’s colleges and disciplines.

She has held a Personal Chair in Creative Technology Innovation, with a focus on interdisciplinary practice-based research into the future of Inclusive Interdisciplinary Research and Cross-sectoral Impact, since 2005.

Lizbeth previously served as Research Director for Futurelab under Lord David Puttnam, and served in that capacity on the Prime Minister’s SHINE panel. She founded the MAGIC (Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre) in the East London Docklands in 2005. She founded SMARTlab at the OU-BBC in its first iteration in 1993.

In 2003 in Times Square, New York she won a Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service to Women and Children, for her work on Safetynet technology. In 2008, Blackberry Rim and their industry awards panel named her Best Woman in the Public Sector and Top Woman in Innovation. She was elected to chair the Social Sciences Panel of the Royal Irish Academy in 2012. She served as Academic Chair of the Marie Curie ASSISTID Programme in 2012-15. In 2018, she was named Director of the Academy4theFuture in collaboration with the UN IGO for Sustainability. In 2019 she was named Woman of the Decade in Innovation for Education by WEF, and led awards ceremonies at DAVOS and at the UN in New York. In April 2020, she was elected to Chair the Women in Science and Technology Leadership Taskforce for the Intelligence in Science Forum EU-Africa. In 2021 she was elected to become the global lead for STEM and STEAM Education as part of the WEF G100 Council. She founded the G100 wing for the CARE Economy, Disability Inclusiveness and Social Innovation. In 2005, her team won the European Commission’s Innovation Radar recognition for their privacy by design AI innovation for healthcare. In 2026, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from TJU, USA.

She has supervised 70 PhDs to successful completion, and currently directs studies for 30 PhDs and Postdoc researchers. She has held many senior leadership positions in universities and third sector agencies. She has published 14 books and many dozens of peer-reviewed academic papers.

She has served as PI and co-PI on numerous major awards and grants from the EU, research councils, industry and philanthropic sources. Her life’s work is focused on the interdisciplinary open source collaboration models that empower and support learners and creatives of all ages and abilities at every level, leading on the education systems and workforce opportunities of the future.

She proudly serves on the RAVE Ltd. sme as creative innovation and research advisor.