Áine is a CORU registered Social Worker with extensive experience in medical and maternity social work including supporting service users and their families, assessing risk to children and vulnerable adults, policy development and relationship building with key stakeholders.

Qualifying in 2003, Áine completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Fieldwork Practice and Supervision (Social Work) which she implemented in her role as Senior Social Worker in supporting both Social Workers and students. Áine contributed to both the Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work programmes in UCC and has significant experience as a Social Work Practice Teacher.

Áine developed a keen interest in child protection proceedings within a maternity social work context and undertook research in this area for completion of a Postgraduate Diploma in Child Protection and Welfare. She completed an LLM in Children’s Rights and Family Law in 2023 with her dissertation focusing on Mandatory Reporting, and how victims of abuse might be better protected in this process.

Keen to develop her skills in academia, Áine joined the School of Applied Social Studies in September 2024 as the Work Based Learning Co-Ordinator for the Master of Social Work Apprenticeship programme. Áine is passionate about lifelong learning and helping and developing the learning of others, through collaboration and muti-agency support.  

Joan Cronin

RGN, RM, CQSW, (CORU) Dip. in Systemic Psychotherapy (Distinction), LL.M Children’s Rights and Family Law (First Class Honours).  

Joan holds a First Class Honours Masters Degree in Children’s Rights and Family Law from UCC. She is a CORU registered Social Worker, having qualified in 1986. Prior to undertaking social work training, Joan qualified as a registered general nurse and midwife. She qualified in Systemic Psychotherapy in the Clanwilliam Institute and, following accreditation, utilised her Family Therapy training in clinical social work practice.

Joan is co-ordinator of year one of the BSW degree programme and she teaches on three modules, namely:

Introduction to Social Work Theories, Methods and Skills, (SS1202);

Social Justice, Human Rights and Advocacy Approaches to Social Work (SS2228);

Contemporary Issues in Social Work (SS4212).

Joan draws on practice experience in many areas of social work both in Ireland and the UK. She has worked as a Principal Social Worker both in Learning Disability Services and in CAMHS.  

In the late 1980s, Joan was one of the first social workers to work in HIV services in Ireland. In this role, she formed strong alliances between the voluntary and statutory services working in HIV. For many years she worked as a Senior Social Worker in St. James’s Hospital in Dublin. There she carried out research on how to improve the identification of and follow up support for women presenting to Accident and Emergency (A&E) following partner violence. This work led to the national roll out in Irish hospitals on training on partner violence for health care professionals working in A&E departments. 

Collaborative and inter-disciplinary work are central tenets of Joan’s work. She has led research and implementation of projects on women’s health, with Turkish-speaking women in the east end of London. As Social Work Manager, she was instrumental in developing community-led interdisciplinary mental health intervention services for children in Cork and Kerry.

As well as carrying out research in the areas of partner violence, mental health needs of children in state care and interdisciplinary practice, Joan as a law student, was an active member of the Child Law Clinic in UCC where she examined children’s rights to housing under the European Social Charter. 

Joan has been an active board member of Positively Irish Action on Aids (PIAA), Housing and Integrated Living (HAIL) and Cork Aids Alliance. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Kerry based Social Action Group, of which she was a co-founder as a teenager

Claire joined the School of Applied Social Studies as a Digital Education Officer in August 2024.  Her role primarily supports the delivery of the School’s blended programmes in particular the new MSW Apprenticeship programme.

Before joining Applied Social Studies, Claire worked as a Strategic and Accreditation Data Analyst in UCC' Cork University Business School. She was also a Senior Instructional Designer in the Office of the VP for Learning and Teaching where she worked collaboratively with staff to plan, develop, manage and deliver online/blended programmes. While there, Claire developed several support resources for staff in the area of Technology Enhanced Learning and was also the lead organiser and trainer for several training initiatives including the University-wide Canvas Training Programme which trained over 1,000 UCC staff when Canvas was introduced in UCC to replace the previous VLE. 

Prior to the above, Claire held an IT project management role at State Street, a multinational fund administrator and she also worked in several short-term posts in Higher Education at UCC and the UK.

Sinead Hanley

Sinéad is a part-time Executive Assistant in the School of Applied Social Studies who works part-time -  9am to 10pm from Mon-Thurs incl.  Sinéad provides administrative support for the co-ordination and administration of Social Work placements in the school.

Asong has a Bachelor Degree in History with a minor in Sociology, Postgraduate Diploma in Education, Higher Diploma in Social Policy, Masters Degree in Social Work, and a PhD in Social Work. As a PhD student, Asong’s focus was on the experiences of African immigrant parents of children with disabilities availing of Irish Early Intervention services, with cultural competence as a core concept.

Asong has some work experience in marketing research and residential childcare. She has also worked in diverse social work settings as a Professionally Qualified Social Worker, Social Work Team Leader, and Senior Social Worker. These settings include child protection and welfare, intellectual disability (children and adults), HSE Safeguarding and Protection Team, hospital settings, and a Children’s Disability Network Team.

I am currently a Lecturer in Social Policy in the School of Applied Social Studies, UCC. My areas of interest include conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches to social policy, equality, and diversity. My research has focused on comparative social policy, gender, equality, sexual and reproductive health rights, maternity policy and services, criminal justice, migration, gender-based violence and the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, Travellers and Roma.

My latest research involves leading a team of Roma peer researchers to develop the Health Strategy for Roma in Cork and Kerry on behalf of TIRC (Tralee International Resource Centre). I am the Principal Researcher on a HEA funded study Access to Post-Primary Teaching (APT): Supporting the Access and Retention of Lower Socio-economic Groups in/to Initial Teacher Education. I am Principal Investigator on Where Have all the Good Nuns Gone? an oral history research project.

I was the Senior Researcher on the Independent Familicide and Domestic Homicide Review (August 2020-April 2021). I was the Co-PI on a Feasibility Study into a Dedicated Support Programme for Traveller Women in the Criminal Justice System (2018-2020). I was the Principal Investigator on Roma in Ireland: A National Needs Assessment (2018) which was a participatory research project with 18 peer researchers from the Roma community and its recommendations have been incorporated into the National Traveller and Roma Integration Strategy (NTRIS). I was Principal Investigator on The Gong Shuttle, a multi-disciplinary research project on the role of free public transport in the prevention of loneliness and isolation in ageing populations, NSW, Australia (2017-2018).

I was a member of the Management Committee of EU COST Action ‘Who Cares in Europe?’ from 2019-2023 and a member of the Action’s Working Group: ‘Marginalised People and the Mixed Economy of Welfare: Entangling European Experiences, 1918-1939’. I am currently a member of EU COST Action 21143 ‘Transnational Family Dynamics (TraFaDy)’.

I was the Principal Investigator on an IRC funded research project The Arts and New Digital Technologies for Peace Building and Reconciliation linked to Equality, Rights and Diversity in partnership with Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality (2022).

I was the first Chair of Tusla (Child and Family Agency) Independent Research Ethics Committee from 2020 to 2023.

I am a Panellist for the Equality Charter (Gender and Race) at the UK based Advance HE www.advance-he.ac.uk.

I was a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at the School of Applied Social Science in UCD from 1995 to 2014. After almost 20 years there, I left as I felt that I needed to move on to grow and develop personally and professionally. I qualified as a Fitness Instructor and a Personal Trainer (ITEC) and spent time working in that capacity on a voluntary basis with the Primary Health Care Workers in Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre in Dublin before taking up employment in research and lecturing in a wide range of settings and across disciplines in Ireland and Australia. From 2017 to 2018 I was Associate Professor in Social Policy at the School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, NSW; from 2016 to 2017 I was Lecturer in Research Methods on the SPHERE structured PhD Programme at RCSI and Lecturer in Research Methods on the Masters in Social Rights and Social Policy at NUI Maynooth (part-time). I was Associate Lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration from 2018-2019. I was Associate Professor at the Institute of Leadership, RCSI from 2019-2020. From 2019 to 2024, I was a lecturer in St Angela’s College Sligo in the School of Home Economics and in the School of Nursing, Health Sciences and Disability Studies.

I have published ten books which include Maternity Policy in an International Context, risk, rights and welfare regimes (Routledge, 2015); Welcoming the Stranger, Irish Emigrant Welfare in Britain since 1957 (Irish Academic Press, 2015); Key Themes in Social Policy (Routledge, 2013); Motherhood in Ireland; Creation and Context (Mercier, 2004) and Maternity in Ireland: a Woman-centred Perspective (Liffey Press, 2002). I co-edited several books in the UCD Press Social Policy Series, including: Contemporary Irish Social Policy (2005 and 1999); Irish Social Policy in Context (1999); Theorizing Irish Social Policy (2004) and Ageing and Social Policy (2008).

I have supervised PhD and Masters students in many disciplines and on a wide range of topics including: · Migrant Women and Crisis Pregnancy; · Sex Trafficking in Ireland, the UK and Italy; · Concealed; Pregnancies; · Sustainable Development; · Transition to Motherhood and Arts Based Practice; · Trauma and Intimate Violence; · Chronic Fatigue: an Autoethnography; Mental Health Policy in Ireland: An autoethnographic approach.

I have been committed to civic engagement throughout my career. I served as a board member of Wove Women Overcoming Violent Experiences and Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality. I was the first lay member of the Board of the Irish Episcopal Commission on Emigration (IECE). I was a founder member of En-Hera European Network for the Promotion of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers. I represented the Women’s Education Research Resource Centre (WERRC) on the Health Panel of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI). I represented the NWCI on the Kinder Review of Maternity Services and the NEHSE Maternity Services Task Force. I co-founded the Irish Social Policy Association (ISPA).

Orla McDonald

Orla is a Senior Executive Assistant in the School of Applied Social Studies having joined the school in 2006.   She graduated from UCC with a BA(English & Spanish) in 1997, an MA in Hispanic Studies in 2000 and a BCL in 2015.

Fionnuala O'Leary

Fionnuala is Manager of the School of Applied Social Studies.  Her role involves working closely with the Head of School and senior management to drive the strategic development of the School.  She is responsible for the school's administrative functions and day-to-day operations as well as managing the school's financial and budgetary functions.  Fionnuala has over 20 years experience as a School Manager and she holds a Diploma in Management from the UK's Institute of Leadership & Management.  

Her role includes:

• Executive responsibilty for the administrative systems that support the School's teaching, learning and research activities.
• Managing the school's financial and budgetary functions.
• Working with the Head of School on management and operational matters.  
• Responsibility for leading and managing the school's administrative staff.
• Working with the Head of School and Vice-Heads to drive the strategic development of the school.
• Managing local HR functions such as part-time staff contracts and pay, studentships and scholarships.
• Liaising with the school's external stakeholders.
• Membership of the School's Executive Management Committee.
• Chairing the School's Risk Register Committee.
• Membership of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences' Executive Management Committee (2022-2025). 

Margaret O'Leary

Margaret is an Executive Assistant in the School of Applied Social Studies having joined the school's administrative staff in early 2022.  She provides administrative support to the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and the Masters of Social Work (MSW)/Postgrad. Dip. in Social Work Studies programmes.  

Margaret graduated from UCC with a BA in History and Spanish in 1989 and a Diploma in Computer Science in 1990.

Phil O'Sullivan

Phil joined the School's administrative staff in 2001 having previously worked in UCC's Careers Service and in the private sector.  She was promoted to Administrative Assistant (Grade V) in 2023.  Phil holds a Diploma in Social Studies from UCC.  

Phil is a very experienced administrator who provides admin. support to the School's social science and social policy programmes.  She is a member of the BSocSc course team. 

Phil's main duties include the following:

Programme Administrator for one undergraduate and two postgraduate programmes in Social Policy.  This involves supporting approximately 380 students per year and the related academic staff teams.

Social Work Placements administration working directly with the Placements Co-Ordinator as well as external Practice Teachers and placement supervisors in social work agencies. Approximately 160 placements are organised and administered each year.

Exams Co-Ordinator for the School with responsibility for organising and administering collection, distribution, tracking and return of a high volume of exam scripts and the subsequent uploading of marks in co-operation with academic colleagues.

Administrative Support and Liaison for Fitness to Practice including membership of the University Fitness to Practice Committee.

In November 2024, Calvin Swords was appointed as a College Lecturer in Social Work in the School of Applied Social Studies, UCC. As part of his core duties (teaching, research, course admin.), Calvin is one of the Year Two Coordinators for the Master of Social Work Programme. He also teaches across programmes in the School of Applied Social Studies. Prior to joining UCC, Calvin was a Lecturer of Social Work in the Dept. of Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University (2021-2024). He was a Year Coordinator across both years of the programme. Up until 2021, Calvin worked as a CORU registered Social Worker. He brings with him experience in a wide range of practice settings within Ireland, the most recent of which was in a hospital setting working with people across all life stages.

Calvin completed his PhD in 2021, which explored how recovery is socially constructed in Irish Mental Health Services. It was a qualitative case study design, which adopted an interpretivist methodology, using semi-structured interviews to gather the experiences of key stakeholders regarding their conceptualisation of recovery. For this study, Calvin was a recipient of the prestigious Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship. This is one of the most competitive funding processes for doctoral research in Ireland.

During his PhD studies from 2018-2021, Calvin contributed to the social work courses in Trinity College, Dublin and Maynooth University as a part-time lecturer. He has lectured across a range of topics relevant to social work education. Some notable areas of teaching and scholarship include health-related social work, sociology of mental health, mental health recovery, critical social theory, and human development across social contexts.  

Calvin has published in a range of Irish and International journals. His research interests are informed by a focus on seeking to make sense, and address, the social injustices faced by people through connecting the micro and macro levels of our social systems in order to drive positive change. This includes looking at social recovery in mental health, the influence of sociology on health-related social work, the role of interdisciplinary work, using philosophy in social work practice, and the role of lived experience and co-production within human organisations.

Research Interests

• Social Recovery in Mental Health Service Delivery
• Peer Support Work in Mental Health
• Developing the Sociological Perspective in Social Work
• The Social Work Role in Health-Related Settings
• Interdisciplinary work
• Role of Lived Experience within Social Work and Social Policy
• Co-Production and Co-Creation in Mental Health Settings
• Qualifying and Transitioning into Social Work Practice 

The appointment of Mary McDermott, CEO of Safe Ireland (Mary McDermott - Safe Ireland) as an Adjunct Professor to the School of Applied Social Studies for three years from 2002 has made a  significant and unique contribution to University College Cork, particularly regarding the production of new knowledge and understandings of Domestic Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) that will help us learn better ways of living together.  

Through her work with Safe Ireland, Mary McDermott contributes vociferously to reframing public discourses of DSGBV and re-naming sex as a necessary core category in 21st century equality struggles, politics and policy making. Identifying language as a key battleground and conduit for social transformation, her work also strives to establish sex, gender and sexuality as key concepts in contemporary debates about social policy and the social professions.  Mary McDermott’s knowledge, experience and scholarly record, which are shared through a series of public seminars, will enrich the University’s discourses, practices and research agendas on issues related to DSGBV into the future.