Dr Erika Fonseca

Erika Fonseca is a Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at Munster Technological University (MTU), with a strong academic and industrial background spanning telecommunications, machine learning, and wireless network systems. She holds a B.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering and an M.Sc. in Network Computing from Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil, and earned her Ph.D. from the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, where she was a researcher at the CONNECT Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

Prior to joining academia full-time, Erika gained extensive industry experience at Qualcomm, where she worked as a Senior Telecommunications and Machine Learning Engineer. In this role, she investigated and characterized 5G network performance across RF and end‑to‑end service layers, contributed to advanced projects in Industrial 5G, Open RAN, private networks, and cloud-based cellular infrastructure, and developed Python- and ML-driven tools for network analysis, growth prediction, and performance evaluation. She also led customer-facing projects, delivered technical tutorials, and collaborated with international teams on cutting-edge wireless technologies.

Her academic research has focused on the performance and adaptation of 5G networks, including cellular-connected UAVs, reinforcement learning for mobility optimization, and software-defined radio applications. She has also contributed to international research collaborations on AI-driven network analysis, cloud infrastructure performance, and real-time object detection using machine learning.

Erika has extensive experience in university teaching, supervising student projects, preparing technical tutorials, and developing Python-based tools for AI and telecom applications. Her current research interests include deep learning, large language models (LLMs), and the integration of AI into next-generation communication systems. She is passionate about interdisciplinary teaching and research and brings a hands-on, industry-informed perspective to her role at MTU.