BSocSc (NUI); MSocSc(NUI); PhD (QUB); DipStatistics (Dubl)
Research Manager (Equality Studies Centre, UCD School of Social Justice)

Following a degree in Social Science in UCD, I undertook a master¿s degree by research in Social Science in UCD Thesis:The Divorce Referendum: an Expression of Irish Ideology) for which I was awarded a 1st class honours degree in 1989. In 1990 I took up a position at the Social Research Centre, University of Limerick and later at the Policy Research Centre, National College of Industrial Relations (NCIR). The main research projects I worked on included a two-part quantitative and qualitative study of domestic violence based on women using the Adapt Refuge, Limerick. In 1991, I spent a year working in Lansdowne Market Research on a range of projects including Eurobarometer, before returning to policy-related research in 1992  when I joined the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).  At the ESRI, I  co-authored a study on state-sponsored training policy with Dr Philip O'Connell, and on a study of marital breakdown in Ireland with Dr Tony Fahey. Having been awarded a Combat Poverty Agency PhD fellowship and an ESRI PhD fellowship, in 1994 I commenced my doctoral studies under the supervision of Professor Richard Breen, Queen¿s University, Belfast, on the subject of women returning to the labour market following interruptions for childrearing (awarded in 2000). In 2003, I co-authored a book on this issue with Dr Emer Smyth, Dr Helen Russell and Dr. Philip O¿Connell, all of the ESRI. I took up a Research Officer position in 1999 at the UCD Equality Studies Centre (ESC) to work on a project on the teaching and learning of mathematics in Irish second level schools. This involved a quantitative analysis of Junior Certificate examination statistics as well as a number of in-depth case studies involving videotaping of mathematics and English classes and in-depth interviews with school principals, teachers, students and their parents. On the completion of this project, I took up the position of Head of Research at the Dublin City Council Homeless Agency, where I worked on a number of research projects related to homelessness. In 2003, I returned to the ESC to take up the position of Research Manager and Development Officer.  Since then my principal research work has included a study of affective equality, involving an empirical study of love, care and solidarity. The book resulting from this research, Affective Equality: Who Cares? is being published by Palgrave Macmillan in Spring 2009. . In addition, I have worked as the principal investigator on research on sexual violence for the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland. This research, which has been ongoing on a yearly basis since 2005, has involved the statistical analysis of data collected by  Rape Crisis Centres, as well as working with stakeholders to develop this web-based information recording system. Currently, I am also involved in new EU FP7 five country research project on Religious identity in Education in a Multicultural Context (REMC), principally focusing on the influence of school and home. Since 2006, I have jointly managed the UCD Egalitarian World Initiative (EWI) Egalitarian and Socially Inclusive Europe (ESIE) project, awarded under the EU Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge (ToK) programme with Dr Pauline Faughnan.