DrCatherine Mulligan

Catherine Mulligan is an Advanced Research Fellow at the Institute for Security Science and Technology at Imperial College London. Her work explores the transformative role of digital technologies in enhancing societal resilience and sustainability. With an interdisciplinary focus, her research spans Computer Science, Economics, and Digital Transformation, examining how emerging technologies can drive positive systemic change.

Catherine has extensive experience advising governments, corporations, and NGOs on digital transformation strategies. She co-founded the Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, the first academic center globally dedicated to blockchain and cryptocurrency studies. She has secured a research grant portfolio of over £6.1 million throughout her career.

An active thought leader, Catherine was a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and contributed to the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation in 2019, focusing on global digital governance and cooperation (UN Digital Cooperation Panel).
In addition to her academic achievements, Catherine has a robust industry background. She has held multiple corporate, advisory, and non-executive positions, including serving as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for a consultancy and managing a technical team of 14,000 across North and West Europe. Previously, she taught the MBA elective “Digital Transformation: Leading Real-World Change” at Imperial College Business School.

Catherine holds a PhD and MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge.

She is a prolific author, having published eight books on mobile technology and innovation, documenting the evolution of the communications industry from 1960 to 2010. Until 2017, Catherine served as the standardization lead for the Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) Task Force and as Vice Chairman of the ETSI ISG on Context Information Management. She was also a Visiting Fellow at the Glasgow School of Art’s Institute for Design Innovation (INDI).