Staff profile

I was awarded a Masters in Social Work, majoring in Administration and Community Organisation, from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan before practicing as a social worker in child protection, family, and youth services in the United States. I then moved to Ireland practicing first in adult mental health services and later in social work education and social enterprise.

As a Marie Curie Research Fellow, my research on the Astra Project was with a group of young people on Active Travel issues. The research used social work, youth work and community development theories to address social justice issues connected to pedal bicycle use by young people. It used Participatory Action Research (PAR) to address the well-being of service users by addressing the broader system issues impacting their lives. Together, we created a user-friendly map of the young people's lived experiences using bicycles in northeast England.

Conference Presentations: - 

22/05/2023 - Praha, Czechia
International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) European Conference
Workshop: Lived Experiences: Democratic knowledge generation through social work skills and technology

08/04/2022 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
International European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR).
Symposium: Applying Sustainability Transition Research in Social Work Tackling Major Societal Challenges of Social Inclusion.

• Community Development and Sustainability
• Participatory Research