Academic biography

I am renowned internationally for my pioneering work in women’s entrepreneurship and family business. The interpretive foundation for my research is in critical entrepreneurship theory. I have made serious and lasting theoretical and methodological contributions because of my exploration of the influence of gender and diversity upon entrepreneurial behaviour spanning more than 20 years. From 2019-2022, I was lead PI in the GENRE project, a €1M EU project which examined gender equality in entrepreneurial ecosystems in four countries, Ireland, Israel, Norway, and Sweden. More recently, I have blazed a trail in women’s digital entrepreneurship and have gained particular recognition for my work in the Middle East (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Israel).

I have maintained a formidable publications profile which has amassed academic outputs of more than 60+ journal articles (including in FT Top 50 journals); 8 book chapters; 4 books; 100+ conference papers which have had significant impact in terms of academic metrics (6700 citations; h-index=35; i10-index=57). For the last three consecutive years I have been ranked amongst the top 2% of scientists in the world for research impact, (by Stanford University and published in Elsevier BV, which ranks scientists across the world, based on a composite citation index from the Scopus database). In 2023 I was awarded the Dublin City University President's Award for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.