Malachy Mc Elholm serves as a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at Ulster University's Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, based at Magee Campus in Londonderry. His research integrates hardware engineering with neuromorphic computing to address critical system reliability challenges. His research specializes in fault detection mechanisms for RISC-V architectures and self-repairing hardware systems using spiking neural networks . Key contributions include novel watchdog mechanisms for real-time fault tolerance in processors and neuromorphic solutions for structural health monitoring. Work spans hardware security , transient fault mitigation , and biologically inspired computing , with applications from processor integrity to civil infrastructure resilience. Recent publications (2020-2025) reveal a concentrated focus on applying spiking neural networks to RISC-V fault detection, yielding three 2025 papers on "Smart Watchdog" systems. Parallel work extends these principles to structural health monitoring, demonstrating cross-domain applicability from computer architecture to agricultural engineering through dairy farm energy studies. Scientific Awards No awards documented in available information Advising and Grants Advises PhD researcher David Simpson on RISC-V fault detection systems. Leads public engagement initiatives including a 2025 NI survey on dairy farm renewable energy generation and a 2021 pilot study comparing energy consumption in robotic versus conventional dairying , reflecting applied research in sustainable technology transfer. Labs and Teams Core member of Ulster University's neuromorphic computing research collective collaborating with Professors Harkin and McDaid. The team develops spiking neural network hardware for real-time critical applications, maintaining active projects in processor security and infrastructure monitoring with significant industry partnerships.




