Dr Barbara Ann Murphy

Founder of Equilume Ltd, Dr Barbara Anne Murphy is Head of Equine Science and Programme Director of the BAgrSc Animal Science-Equine degree at University College Dublin. Following a BSc in Equine Science from the University of Limerick, she pursued a PhD in Veterinary Science at the prestigious Gluck Equine Research Centre, University of Kentucky. Her PhD Dissertation shone light for the first time on a new area of equine science research – chronobiology. Her current scientific research relates to studying how environmental cues regulate biological rhythms in animals. An important output from her scientific research was that low intensity blue light could profoundly influence physiology and behaviour when administered to just one eye of a horse. This led to the development of the Equilume Light Mask and its subsequent widespread assimilation into global breeding practices. In 2022, at least 10,000 horses of all types and breeds will wear an Equilume Light mask to optimise fertility, performance and well-being. Barbara is CSO at Equilume Ltd, which is head-quartered in Co Kildare, with subsidiaries in the US and Australia. The UCD spin-out was the recipient of an EI Commercialisation Fund grant.

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What people are saying

“Enterprise Ireland believes that Ireland’s economic success will depend on a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem which utilises all the skills, ambition and talent of a diverse population. Increasing the opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women in management is a key focus for Enterprise Ireland, and our six-year Women in Business Strategy aims to grow the number of women becoming entrepreneurs and leaders. We’ve set ambitious targets, including doubling the number of women-led companies in the export market by 2025, and progress is now clear. In 2022, 58 (more than one-third) of the 161 start-ups we invested in were women-led, up from just 8% in 2012. ‘Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs’ is all about reaching out to and supporting women who want to become entrepreneurs and build innovative businesses of scale, focused on export markets. I have no doubt that many of these will be leading Irish companies in the future and we look forward to supporting them on their journey.”

“KPMG has a strong track record of supporting women in business, so we are proud to be involved with Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs. We are excited to see all of the opportunities that this initiative will open for women who have a vision to harness their skills to be entrepreneurs growing scalable businesses. This tailored initiative will encourage more women to establish innovative businesses focused on growth with global ambition. In addition to the panel of Inspiring Female Entrepreneurs who will offer insights into their entrepreneurial journey, KPMG’s experts will facilitate a series of Inspiring workshops and share their expertise with this year’s ambitious entrepreneurs on a wide range of key business matters such as cyber security, corporate and tax governance, raising finance and much more.”