Dr Olivia McDermott is an Associate Professor in Regulatory Affairs and  Operational Excellence at the University of Galway. She is the course director of the Medical Technology Regulatory Affairs (M.Sc. and Higher DiplomaCert) programs. She holds a DProf in Work Based Learning in the area of Lean Six Sigma in Supply Chain Management from the University of Middlesex. She has an MBA from UL and a Higher Cert in Teaching and  Learning, a M.Sc. in Quality Engineering, and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Galway. She completed her post-doctoral research at UL in the area of Lean in Healthcare and has lectured at UL in Lean and Supply Chain Management. She is also a FETAC Certified Trainer, an American Society of Quality (ASQ) Certified Black Belt and Master Black Belt, and is a Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE) as well as being trained in online course design and moderating. She has over 15 years of experience as a Lecturer, particularly within the Adult learning space. Olivia spent 15 years within industry, having held various senior roles in multinational organisations, including the medical device and electronics industries, with experience in all levels of industry operations, especially Operations Quality, Regulatory Quality, New Product Introduction, Customer Complaints, Supplier Quality, Lean Six Sigma and Training.  She has also worked as a self-employed consultant in Operational Excellence having left industry in 2012. Her research interests are in the areas of Quality 4.0, Industry 4.0, Lean, Six Sigma, Operational Excellence and Medtech Regulatory. She has published and co-authored over 130 peer reviewed journal and conference papers as well as 3 edited books since 2021 and is currently involved in several global research projects in relation to Industry 4.0 and Lean and Six Sigma. She is a member of the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Technological Sustainability and the International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, is a member the editorial review board of SAGEs Sustainable Futures, Emeralds TQM journal, BMC Health Service Research and Expert Review of Medical Devices; is an Associate Editor of TQM and BE. She has also received several awards for her published work from Processes (Best Paper 2022), Lean Business Ireland (Contribution to Knowledge -Best Paper 2022 and 2023, and 2024, Contribution to Knowlege -Best Book 2024), Machines (shortlisted for Best Paper 2023) and Emerald Publishing (Best Outstanding Paper 2021). She has received awards for her international leadership in Lean from the International Lean Six Sigma Institute, as well as being nominated for the Lean Business Ireland Lean Champion of the Year in 2024. In 2025 she was shortlisted for the "Women in Operations" category at the Operational Excellence Awards. She has been nominated for the University of Galway Teaching Excellence awards on two occasions. She founded the University of Galway Operational Excellence research group in 2022 where she has supervised 1  PhD student to completion and runs a research team of 5 industry-based PhDs researching Operational Excellence and Regulatory Affairs. She has successfully applied for and gained EU Horizon funding of 489,000 euros as part of the 7.7M EU4MEDTECH project.

Quality 4.0, Industry 4.0, Lean, Six Sigma; Quality Management; Medtech 4.0 Supply Chain Management; Risk Management

Lean; Six Sigma; MedTech Reg; Operational Excellence, Quality Management, Quality 4.0, Industry 4.0