Research Team

Brian O’Neill, MA, PhD

Brian O'Neill is Head of Research in the College of Arts & Tourism at Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland and is actively involved in media literacy research, policymaking and public interest issues in media and communications. He has written widely on media technologies and media literacy for academic journals as well as for organizations such as UNICEF and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. He is a founder member of the International Media Literacy Research Forum, convened by Ofcom. He serves on the Management Committee of COST Action ISO906 - Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies and as Vice Chair of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Audience Section. Brian O’Neill is a member of the Management Group of EU Kids Online II (EU Safer Internet Programme) and leads the work package on Policy and Recommendations.

 

Michael Foley, MPhil

Michael Foley’s research interests include journalism in transitional democracies, press regulation, and press history. His MPhil research was on journalism education in transitional democracies, using Bulgaria as a case study.

His consultancy activities have involved working with the BBC World Service Trust, the Washington based organisation, IREX and the International Federation of Journalists. Journalism education and training have been a particular focus of this work in countries such as Russia, Croatia, Macedonia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Palestine and Morocco.  One of three authors on a curriculum for Children's Rights and Journalism Practice commissioned by UNICEF, he has since worked as a consultant at seven Turkish universities as well as universities in Romania, Macedonia, Georgia, Kosovo and Azerbaijan.

Prior to joining DIT, he worked as a journalist with the Irish Times for many years. He contributes on a regular basis to print and broadcast journalism especially on issues to do with the media. He was presented with Justice Media Awards by the Law Society of Ireland in 1997/8 and 2000.

 

Professor Noirin Hayes

Nóirín Hayes is a leader in ECEC research and continues to conduct and disseminate research pertaining to all aspects of ECEC policy, practice and research. She is a cofounder of the Centre for Social and Educational Research [CSER] and has directed a large number of research projects including the IEA Preprimary Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of 400 Irish children. She was Principal Investigator on the IRCHSS research project ‘Early Childhood Care and Education in Ireland: Towards A Rights-based Policy Approach’ [2007-2010], which included working with a team of three post-graduate students and is Principal Investigator of the Evaluation of Early Childhood Education project within the Tallaght West Child development Initiative. Through her work the CSER has become an internationally recognised centre of excellence in research in early education with links to many universities and research centres. These links have been strengthened recently through the innovative EU Masters in Early Childhood Education and the associated International Masters, both collaborative programmes involving six universities of which DIT is one.

 

 

Postgraduate Research Students:

Jackie Bourke

Vicky McEvoy

Estelle Clements

Helen Howley