[2] Ó Dubhghaill worked, and led others in projects where he was Principal Investigator, for several years, with funding of over 270,000 GBP from 2007-2010, from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of England, to study irogane ("coloured metal") alloys, the niiro patination process and related matters.
[6] As a development from his work on mokume gane, a material notoriously difficult and costly to produce at both small and large scales, Ó Dubhghaill has participated in the development of a new type of hybrid metal alloy, mikana, with properties similar to the output of mokume gane while aiming to be more manageable and affordable.
[5] After graduation in 1996, he worked as a designer in industry, in India, the Philippines and the UK, and set up a workshop in Kilkenny in Ireland.
[2] During his advanced academic career, he continued to fabricate works, and to make them available for private sale and public collection, with examples now held by bodies such as the National Museum of Ireland, Glasgow Cathedral, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and the Incorporation of Goldsmiths, a division of the Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh, the Irish State for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Farmleigh House, the Crafts and Design Council of Ireland, Birmingham Assay Office, city of Toride, Galway City Museum and the Marzee Collection in the Netherlands.
"[17][18][19] Ó Dubhghaill was artist-in-residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris, France, for August 2019, researching French metalwork techniques, contemporary and dinanderie and preparing a 2020 exhibition.