Aodhan Murray is a Queen’s graduate of many talents. If he’s not excelling academically, he is running the spin-out company, Phasora Ltd, that he co-founded with support from QUBIS, the university’s commercial arm, and Innovate UK. 

Murray joined Queen’s in 2018 and was enjoying his studies, but it was during his second year that he began to realise he could apply what he was learning at university to support the wider industry. 

Sophisticated GPS time synchronisation technology

Along with two post-doctoral researchers, he co-founded Phasora, a QUBIS spinout company which produces a high-tech device which allows electrical utility companies to study their grids in fine detail, making use of sophisticated GPS time synchronisation technology.  

Murray was the driving force behind the development of the hardware design of Phasora's product, and he took a leave of absence from his studies to pursue its development and to write the software for its systems. 

On his return to his degree, he continued to demonstrate engineering excellence in his studies. In his final-year project, he turned his attention to a critical problem that electricity grids face: their GPS signals are vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Murray developed a novel method to synchronise electronic devices in a manner that allows existing electrical utility equipment to be retrofitted to enhance their security, while reducing environmental impact and electronic waste.  

As he looks to the future, he is looking forward to getting back to work on some projects with Phasora and to having a clear focus: “Phasora is progressing greatly on its product development as we look to launch a highly flexible device to provide visibility of the grid to help enable more renewables to join the grid. I'm looking forward to graduating so I can focus on Phasora once again with the hopes this product will be brought to market shortly and we can help make a difference.”