Anne Looney is the Executive Dean of the Institute of Education. A graduate of the Mater Dei Institute in Dublin, and the Institute of Education in London where she completed her doctoral studies, she taught in a post-primary school for 14 years before joining the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. In 2001 she was appointed Chief Executive. She led the NCCA until 2016 when she moved to the Higher Education Authority as interim Chief Executive. She joined DCU as executive dean in March 2017.  She spent 12 months as a professorial research fellow at the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education at ACU in Brisbane in 2014/15.

She has published on curriculum and assessment, school culture and ethos, the reform of education systems and religious and moral education. She is the incoming President of the International Professional Development Association. 
She tweets at @annelooney