People

Steering Committee

Professor Catherine Furlong (Co-Director)

Catherine Furlong is Associate Professor within the School of Policy and Practice at the Institute of Education, St Patrick's Campus, DCU.  Within the Institute she is Chair of both  the Bachelor of Education  and Master of Education programmes.  Catherine has worked as primary teacher in a variety of settings before moving to work as a researcher on an international research project on School Culture and Ethos and then  to teacher education  initially  working in the area of School Placement. She teaches at undergraduate level on the BEd programme. At postgraduate level she contributes to the PMEP, MEd and EdD programmes focusing primarily on Educational Leadership and Management, School Effectiveness and Improvement and Educational Review and Evaluation. She has published on issues of educational leadership, school culture and ethos, peer appraisal.  Her most recent works focus on professional identity formation of student teachers and teacher educators. 

Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons (Co-Director)

Sabrina Fitzsimons is an Assistant Professor in the School of Policy and Practice at the Institute of Eduction, DCU. She leads a number of Education Theory modules on the Bachelor of Religious Education and English / History / Music programme (BRelEd) and the Bachelor of Education in Gaeilge and French/German/Spanish (BEdLan). Sabrina has worked in ITE for 17 years, and has held various roles including Director of School Placement (BRelEd), Research Convenor, Research Ethics Advisor, External Examiner for School Placement and Associate Editor for Religion, Education and the Arts (REA) journal. Sabrina has a worked with colleagues across the IOE on various research projects related to teacher education. She has a particular interest in research on Wellbeing and Burnout in Teacher Educators. 

Dr Enda Donlon

Dr. Enda Donlon is an Associate Professor in the school of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. He mainly teaches and researches on the use of ICT in teaching and learning, with a specific focus on the use of digital technologies in and for teacher education. Enda is the APF (Area of Professional Focus) leader for Digital Learning on the Doctor of Education Programme at DCU.

Enda is a former president (2018-2020)  and vice-president (2016-2018) of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI), and has served on the national executive of the Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) from 2008-2019. He was the Irish representative on the Governing Council of the European Educational Research Association (EERA) from 2018-2022. Enda currently serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, of Irish Educational Studies, and of Impacting Education.

Dr Alan Gorman

Dr Alan Gorman, BEd, MEd, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Policy and Practice, DCU Institute of Education and is a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC). He teaches across various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and is the Area of Professional Focus Leader for Professional Learning and Teacher Education on the Doctor of Education Programme at DCU. He received the DCU President’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2022. 

 Anna has had several leadership roles in the faculty and the university. Between 2021 and 2023 she led the successful accreditation  by the Teaching Council of Ireland of all 12 of DCU’s initial teacher education programmes and was lead for teaching and learning in the recent ( 2023) faculty quality review. During the Covid-19 pandemic Anna led the pivot to online teaching and learning. Anna was Programme Chair of the Masters in Special Educational Needs from 2014 to 2020 during which time she led the transition of the programme from a face to face to a blended model of delivery.

Dr Michael Flannery

Dr. Michael Flannery works as Assistant Professor with the School of Arts Education and Movement at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University with expertise in, and responsibilities for Visual Arts Education. He has been working in third level education since 2000 at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Michael has been actively involved in the continuing professional development of practising primary school teachers in relation to teaching visual arts education and developing teachers' self-efficacy with regard to their creative capacities to make visual art and facilitate visual arts inquiry.

Over his career, Michael has worked has Head of Department for Arts, PE, RE and Early Childhood and Programme Coordinator for the BSc ECE and MESVA programmes at MIE.  He has undertaken the role of external examiner for eight years to date and was a primary school teacher for twelve years. He has coordinated a number of artist-in-residence and school community arts initiatives.    

Dr Anna Logan

Dr Anna Logan is an Associate  Professor at the School of Inclusive and Special Education, and former Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning at the Institute of Education (IoE), Dublin City University. (DCU). Prior to working in higher education, Anna spent almost twenty years working as a teacher in mainstream and special schools. Anna has had several leadership roles in the faculty and the university. Between 2021 and 2023 she led the successful accreditation  by the Teaching Council of Ireland of all 12 of DCU’s initial teacher education programmes and was lead for teaching and learning in the recent ( 2023) faculty quality review. During the Covid-19 pandemic Anna led the pivot to online teaching and learning. Anna was Programme Chair of the Masters in Special Educational Needs from 2014 to 2020 during which time she led the transition of the programme from a face to face to a blended model of delivery.

Dr Sarah O’Grady

Dr Sarah O’Grady is Assistant Professor in Education in the School of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education. Sarah teaches on the BEd in Gaeilge, and French or German or Spanish (BEdLan) programme. She is also Academic Coordinator of Professional Placement for the BEdLan programme, and is a member of the BEdLan Steering Committee. She inputs on the Teacher Education Policy Analysis module (ED9012) of the Teacher Education Area of Professional Focus on the Doctor of Education Programme at DCU. Sarah is also coordinator of the post-primary courses offered as part of the Partnership for Learning programme and is a member of the Professional Development and Partnerships Committee at DCU.

Academic Staff

Pia O'Farrell (School of Policy and Practice)

Marie Conroy Johnson (School of Policy and Practice)
Lucy Hill (School of Arts Education and Movement)
Tara Concannon-Gibney (School of Language, Literacy & Early Childhood Education)

Eemer Eivers (School of Policy and Practice)

Marie louise Bowe (School of Arts Education and Movement)
Francis Ward (School of Arts Education and Movement)
Amalee Meehan (School of Human Development)
Patti Roche (School of Language, Literacy & Early Childhood Education)

John White (School of Policy and Practice)
Jacqui Wilkinson (School of Policy and Practice)
Andrea Cleary (School of Arts Education and Movement)
Majella McSharry (School of Human Development)

Irene White (School of Human Development)
Regina Murphy (School of Arts Education and Movement)
Elaine McDonald (School of Policy and Practice)
David Kennedy (School of Human Development)

Maeve OBrien (School of Human Development)
Damien Burke (School of Policy and Practice) 
Ronan Gubbins (Teacher Fellow, IOE)

David Gibson (School of Human Development)
Gareth Burns (School of Policy and Practice)
Paula Murphy (School of Arts Education and Movement)
Paul King (School of Human Development) 

Lisa Clarke (School of STEM Education, Innovation & Global Studies)