Community+Technology=Positive Social Change | Ellen Ward & Máirín Murray | TEDxUniversityofLimerick

Ellen Ward and Máirín Murray are co-founders of Tech for Good. Find out how digital technology can be used by communities to help solve challenges from climate crisis to homelessness in Ireland and globally. Ellen Ward is Head of IT Systems at Concern Worldwide where she works to design and deliver technology solutions for the global organisation. She is the co-founder of Tech for Good Dublin which has been growing rapidly in Dublin since it launched in March 2017. This community of more than 1,500 people is open to everyone and the free events showcase projects and technologies which are solving everyday problems and having positive impact for people, communities and the planet. In 2018 Tech for Good Dublin were finalists in the Innovation for Change category of the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards. Ellen was also a finalist in the Business Role Model of the Year category of the Women in IT Ireland 2018. Ellen studied Philosophy (BA Hons) and Communication and Culture Studies (MA) and is qualified in Project Management (Prince2 and PMI ACP). Máirín Murray is a highly creative digital innovator with a passion for creating technical products that produce a positive social impact. She has particular expertise in developing educational digital campaigns, games, apps, animations, videos and ecourses, and has worked across the health, education and not-for-profit sectors. She is the co-founder of Tech For Good Dublin. Máirín has a particular interest in the ethical dimensions of technical innovations and is a keen supporter of startups focusing on social impact and been mentor, judge and participant at a number of hackathons. She has an MSC in Multimedia Systems from Trinity College Dublin and is a certified in data science, UX design and project management. As a Senior Digital Content Producer at the BBC, she headed up the digital team for a UK wide youth inclusion service, BLAST. She is an enthusiastic and dynamic leader who is highly collaborative and has recently founded her own digital content studio – Digital Doddle. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx