Deirdre joined the HEA in 2021 to take up responsibilities around research, policy and strategic planning. She has led on the rollout of the North South Research Programme and the update of the HEA’s Principles of Good Practice in Research within Irish Higher Education Institutions. Deirdre works with stakeholders, the National Open Research Forum and the Digital Repository of Ireland, the National Framework for Doctoral Education Advisory Forum and the National Forum for Research Integrity in the areas of open science, Doctoral Education and research integrity. She was the ‘Plan Lead’ on the HEA’s most recent Corporate Strategic Plan. Her area of work is now focused in the area of Research Policy.
Prior to this, she was Assistant Director at the Irish Research Council (Acting) where she worked in the area of programmes and budgets. She has also held the post of National Contact Point for the European Research Council in Ireland supporting researchers in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and for Societal Challenge 2 under H2020. She was Programme Manager on the first iteration of COALESCE, and on the IRC’s Enterprise and Employment Schemes and previously worked in the Graduate Studies Office and in the Humanities Institute at Maynooth University. She has a PhD in Media Studies from Maynooth University and worked in the area of online hate speech and specialised in representation of the HIV body in the Irish media while lecturing at Maynooth University and University College Dublin.