Professor Louise Crowley

Louise Crowley is a Professor in Family Law at the School of Law, UCC. In 2016 Louise developed the Bystander Intervention initiative at UCC which seeks to enhance awareness of the dangers of the normalisation of sexual misconduct and to empower students to actively challenge this behaviour. The programme is available to all staff and students at UCC and is being rolled out to Third Level institutions across the sector. Louise was a member of the Expert Group that produced the National Framework to End Sexual Violence and Harassment in Irish Higher Education Institutions, published in April 2019. In November 2019 Louise was awarded HEA funding of €350,000 to lead a 2-year UCC cross-campus response to the requirements of the National Framework which will demonstrate a gold standard implementation of the UCC Framework Action Plan. At the behest of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, Louise developed an online Bystander Intervention training session for every HEI to deliver to all first-year students in their 2020/2021 orientation. Finally, Louise is currently working with second level schools across Cork and with the Youth Sector in Ireland to develop age appropriate bystander training programmes for a younger audience.

Céline Griffin is the Bystander Programme Manager, having previously worked as Research Support Officer on the programme.  Her significant projects to date include: updating the Bystander Programme content and adapting it to a version suitable for staff and the workplace setting. She also created a more condensed version (RSVP Programme) aimed specifically at all incoming first years to UCC.  She has also created content for the Irish Reseach Council funded Secondary School Pilot Programme and provided training to those staff members delivering the pilot.

Her duties involve facilitating workshops for staff and students on campus, as well as providing training to other HEI’s on workshop delivery. In response to the high demand for Bystander Training by external organisations, a key aspect of her role will be provision of bespoke workshops across various sectors.

Previous to her employment in UCC, she studied a Diploma in Social and Psychological Health Studies in UCC, a Post Graduate Certificate in Sexuality and Sexual Health Studies in DCU, and a Certificate in Understanding and Responding to Domestic Violence and Coercive Control with TUS.  She is currently studying a Post Graduate Certificate in Professional Practice and Leadership in Higher Education with UCC.  Céline founded her own business ‘Sexuality Insights’ in 2020, to create and deliver workshops on various sexuality related topics for students, staff and parents at second level, as well as staff and students at third level.

Ríanna has been working as an Instructional Designer for the Office of the Vice-President for Learning & Teaching since March 2017 and has been a member of the Bystander Intervention team since 2018. She was a key member in the conversion of the Bystander Intervention programme from a series of face-to-face workshops into an online Digital Badge programme, hosted first on the Blackboard VLE and then on UCC’s current VLE, Canvas. Her primary duties as a team member are in the maintenance of both the programme’s home on Canvas and the official Bystander Intervention website, provision of technical support for Bystander team members and UCC students and staff enrolled in the programme, and provision of support in creating avenues for external HEIs and organisations to access the programme.