She was appointed as an SFI Engineering Initiative Lecturer in Digital Media in 2008. Prior to returning to academia, Dr. Harte worked in high-tech start-ups in the field of DSP Systems Development, including her own company founded in 2002. She also previously worked in McMaster University in Canada. Dr. Harteï¿½s specialist area is Human Speech Communication. Her industrial background brings a real-world approach to her research. Her work involves the design and application of mathematical algorithms to enhance or augment speech communication between humans and technology. Current projects focus on speech quality, audio-visual speech recognition, emotion in speech, speaker verification and bird species analysis. She is a Co-PI at the SFI ADAPT Research Centre.