Members

Current Members

• Dr Carol Wrenn

  Dr Carol Wrenn is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager with TUS (Midwest). Her PhD in Anthropology from NUI Maynooth focused on women’s participation in decision making structures in northern Odisha, India and she has over 15 years’ experience working within the international development sector specifically on programming and policy related to women’s rights and gender equality.

• Dr Catherine Corcoran

  Dr Catherine Corcoran’s academic and practitioner career focuses on the management, implementation and design of humanitarian and development programmes in a variety of contexts. She has led and advised development organisations and students on strategic and community-led planning and has been involved in various consortia and partnership fora on rural issues at an International level. Her involvement with Concern goes back over 30 years, she has served the organisation at staff, volunteer and Board membership levels, most recently as Country Director in Ethiopia 2013-2016 and as member of the Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation committee.

• Dr Frank Houghton

  Dr Frank Houghton has a strong interest in equality and social justice, a theme he pursued in his undergraduate degree in Peace & Conflict Studies, and his subsequent MA in Peace Studies (Ulster University). His PhD (Maynooth University) developed this focus on relative deprivation and inequality. He has worked for a number of agencies concerned with peace and social justice, including the Centre for the Study of Conflict at the University of Ulster, and the Dublin based National Council on Ageing & Older People. Frank was also formerly Head of Research, Development & Education at Focus Ireland. Frank has worked in Public Health in both Ireland and New Zealand, and was formerly a tenured Associate Professor & Chair of Public Health at Eastern Washington University . He is currently Director of Social Sciences ConneXions at TUS and Principal Investigator of an Irish Research Council funded project exploring the impact of Covid-19 on the epidemiology of non-adherence to MDT for leprosy treatment in Nepal.

• Dr Josephine Treacy

  Dr Josephine Treacy, is a lecturer with the Department of Applied Science, and a member of Shannon ABC. Previous employment, post doctorate researcher in the area of water and soil remediation using supercritical fluid technology at University College Cork, Quality Control Technician Tipperary Co-Op., Process Chemist with Biocel LTD., Co. Cork, Executive Technician with the Environmental Section of Cork County Council working in environmental management and analytical chemical and microbiological testing of water ecosystems.  Research interests include analytical monitoring and management of environmental ecosystems, education and academic writing.  Recently published in the area of water challenges in developing countries and water stewardship as an aid to water productivity.

• Dr Maura Clancy

  Dr Maura Clancy is Dean, Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology and Director of Progression Pathways with TUS (Midwest). Her PhD in mathematics, from NUI Galway, is in the field of algebraic topology. Maura has a long involvement with advancing the teaching and learning of mathematics, both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the Irish Mathematics Learning Support Network (IMLSN), she also served as a mathematics consultant for a project with Anne Shannon & Associates LLC, Oakland, California, in conjunction with the University of Nottingham and UC Berkeley, which aimed to improve the standard of mathematics and statistics teaching in American Schools.

• Dr Niall Corcoran

  Dr Niall Corcoran is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Technology and Head of the Computing and Informatics Research (CaIR) group. He previously worked in IT and engineering management and consultancy roles in the public and private sectors. Research interests include knowledge management, information systems, IT governance, enterprise social networks, artificial intelligence, and telehealth.

• Jennifer Moran Stritch

  Jennifer Moran Stritch is a lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Sciences with TUS Midwest.  The focus of her teaching is in personal development, therapeutic group work skills, and loss and grief for the caring professional.  In addition to lecturing, Jennifer is the primary principal investigator of the Loss and Grief Research Group, part of Social Sciences ConneXions Research Institute at TUS.  With a background in social work, she is a module coordinator for the RCSI/Irish Hospice MSc in Loss and Bereavement.  Jennifer is a certified thanatologist and the current Irish representative to the Association for the Study of Death and Society.

• Mr Paul Keating

  Mr Paul Keating is a lecturer in the departments of Applied Social Sciences and Digital Arts and Media. Paul has a background in civil engineering and community work. As well as working in Local Authorities here in Ireland, Paul worked in East Africa with Concern and has provided consultancy to the European Commission and the World Bank on the development of rural areas in the Balkan and Baltic states. Paul initiated and managed the National Rural Network as part of CAP reform under contract to the Irish Department of Agriculture. Paul served on the board of Trocaire where he chaired the programme review committee, he has also served on the board of numerous Youth Work and Community Development organisations in Ireland.  While currently completing doctoral research on the use of online computer games to mobilise for social change, Paul has presented extensively on Rural Development, Programme Evaluation and the use of Games in Youth Work and Development Education.       

• Ms Nicola Ryan

  Nicola Ryan MBA has 30 years experience working & teaching across health & wellness sectors in the US, UK and Ireland. She lectures in Wellness, Leisure Lifestyles, Health Promotion, Environmental Management, Business & Hospitality Management in the Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone campus. She also teaches on Research modules and supervises research dissertations.

  Nicola is an External Examiner for several third level institutions and universities in Ireland and England. When requested, she provides expert assessment and testimony in legal cases involving the wellness industry.

  Having been brought up in rural Africa within a family working in global development and education, Nicola has a personal insight of and enthusiasm for 'me to we' supportive communities. Nicola is keen to promote the concepts of global citizenship and student responsibility in the development of a world that fully embraces the UN Sustainable Development Goals.