Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (; born 25 October 1983) is an Irish academic, broadcaster and musician. She also won the Rose of Tralee contest in 2005.

Life

Early life

Ní Shúilleabháin is a native of Carnacon near

Ballyglass Ballyglass () is a small village in central County Mayo in Ireland. It is situated about 10 miles from Castlebar, and closer to Claremorris and Ballinrobe. Infrastructure Ballyglass consists of one shop, two pubs, a primary school, a playschool, ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Coun ...

Academic career

She graduated with a first-class honours degree in Theoretical Physics from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

in 2005 and her PhD, completed with the School of Education of

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 2014, was funded by an Ussher Fellowship. She later worked as a post-primary school teacher of mathematics, physics, applied mathematics and science, and then became a member of the School of Mathematics & Statistics at

, researching and lecturing in mathematics and maths education.

Rose of Tralee contest

Ní Shúilleabháin was crowned the 47th Rose of Tralee on 23 August 2005 in a ceremony broadcast by

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the Republic of Ireland's State media, state controlled national broadcaster. Its first channel was Teilifís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since th ...

. Ní Shúilleabháin was considered by bookmakers to be an early favourite to win the Rose of Tralee contest and, as a result of a rules change, was the first Mayo Rose as final contestant in the history of the competition.

Media career

Ní Shúilleabháin has worked as a broadcaster and host since 2006. In 2007 she was a member of ''The Panel'' on

RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

and participated in the 2008 season of ''

Celebrity Bainisteoir ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ. It involved a number of celebrities competing against each other as a Gaelic football team coach. The title derived from ...

'' on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

, managing a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

team from Kiltimagh. In 2009 she hosted the weekly Irish music show ''The Reel Deal'' on RTÉ. In 2012, she visited Uganda to report on

Trócaire Trócaire (, meaning "compassion") is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. History The roots of the charity lie in Pope Paul VI's 1967 encyclical '' Populorum Progressio'',

's work there. Since 2012 she has presented RTÉ's flagship science programmes ''The Science Squad'' and ''10 Things to Know About...'' with Jonathan McCrea and Kathriona Devereux. In 2013, she hosted her own RTÉ Radio 1 lifestyle series ''Aoibhinn and Company'' as a summer replacement for Miriam O'Callaghan's Sunday show ''Miriam Meets''. She presented the

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

travel show ''Getaways'' with

Joe Lindsay Joseph Lindsay (13 November 1858 – 12 October 1933) was a Scottish footballer. Career Lindsay played for Dumbarton, Rangers, Renton and the Scotland national team. Honours ;Dumbarton * Scottish Cup: Winners 1882–83 – Runners Up 1880– ...

for two series and presented the ''Fleadh Cheoil'' programme with John Creedon. from 2014 to 2018.

Science communicator

Known in Ireland as a science communicator, Ní Shúilleabháin wrote a monthly column for the Science section of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' in 2016. In 2017, she won an award for her Outstanding Communication of STEM from the national scientific research agency

SFI SFI may refer to: Organisations * Santa Fe Institute, a theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, US * Saturday Football International, Taiwanese football club * Science Foundation Ireland, the statutory body in the Republic of Ireland f ...

. In 2017, Ní Shúilleabháin was also named as one of the ''40 under 40'' European Young Leaders and became a member of the executive committee of WITS (Women in Technology & Science) Ireland. In 2020 she received the

Maths Week Ireland Maths Week Ireland (MWI) is an all-island (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) mathematics outreach initiative founded in 2006 by Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan, based on an idea by Eoin Gill. It is a project of the Centre for the Advancement o ...

award for outstanding work in raising public awareness of mathematics.Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin receives 2020 Maths Week Ireland award
The Irish Times, 14 October 2020

Music

In 2007 and 2008, Ní Shúilleabháin toured the United States, Japan, and Europe as the lead singer of Ragús, a traditional Irish music band.

Personal life

Ní Shúilleabháin was in a relationship with broadcaster

Ryan Tubridy Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973), nicknamed 'Tubs ' is an Irish broadcaster. He presents ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' and ''The Late Late Show''. Tubridy previously presented RTÉ 2fm breakfast radio show '' The Full Irish'', which at its end was ...

from 2009 to 2014. She married Carlos Diaz in a private ceremony in 2017. They have one son, born January 2019. In September 2020, Ní Shúilleabháin spoke about her experience of being harassed over a two-year period from 2015 to 2017 by a professor at UCD.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Shuilleabhain, Aoibhinn 1983 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish folk singers Irish-language singers Irish schoolteachers Irish mathematicians Irish women mathematicians People from County Mayo Winners of the Rose of Tralee 21st-century Irish women singers