Niall Roche

Niall Roche is a Senior Teaching Fellow and CTO-in-Residence at the UCL School of Management. He is a founding partner ofThe Building Blocks, a venture builder focused on the development ofWeb3 technologies. He also works as an AI and blockchain researcher and engineer at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies.

Niall was previously Lead Technologist for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCL Engineering. At Mishcon de Reya, he developed legal technology tools and led projects such as ablockchain-based propertytransaction with the UK Land Registry and an NFT-based electronic bill of lading proof of concept.

He has been a faculty member at the Legal Technology & Innovation Institute and part of the Technical Steering Committee at the Accord Project, where he worked on smart legal contracts for real estate, trade finance, and event-based legal automation. He was also involved with the Hedera Hashgraph Tech Committee.

Niall began his career as a software engineer in the telecom sector and has over 20 years of experience in web, mobile, and IoT applications. He has worked as CTO at SmartBuilder Software and as a lecturer atTechnological University Dublin, where he supervised MSc dissertations and supported SME technology development through government-funded projects.

He has co-foundedFractaland served as a mentor and advisor to various startups, incubators, and programmes including ConceptionX and StartupBootcamp IoT. He contributed to the TRIANGLE Horizon 2020 project, which built a5Gtestbed for mobile applications.

Niall holds both Bachelor's and Master’s degrees from Technological University Dublin and has published research in blockchain and data science. He also volunteers with Citrus Saturday, helping young students learn entrepreneurship.