Stephen Curran BA., MA., APGC. is a 2011 degree graduate of Early Childhood Studies and completed his Masters in Applied Psychology (Guidance and Counselling) in UCC in 2018. Stephen has worked as Professional Practice Placement Supervisor for the last 4 years. He has tutored a wide range of first year undergraduate students from various caring disciplines including EYCS, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Social Science, and Psychology.

His research interests lie in resilience in professional caring placement environments and he is currently working with Anna O'Reilly-Trace in the School of Psychology on an integrative review on resilience for undergraduate education students on placement.

Stephen was one of the first undergraduates from UCC to present nationally at the Irish and American Paediatric Society.

Dr Alison Moore was appointed to the role of Early Years Childhood Studies (EYCS) Professional Practice Placement Manager in August 2019. Prior to taking up the role she was leading a group of Sure Start Children’s Centres in Birmingham, UK, managing multidisciplinary teams and delivering support to children under 5 and their families, including early years care and education, family support and health services. In 2006, Alison was one of the first cohorts of students in the UK to undertake the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) a bespoke qualification for leaders of Children’s Centres. Her research considered the Leadership Journey and Leading a Community of Practice through an Extended Schools Cluster Model. Alison’s subsequent M.A. in Early Childhood (2009) enabled her to conduct research on the quality of the support services for children and families accessing the services. In 2011 and 2014 the Children’s Centre were acknowledged for their quality support services and awarded Outstanding by Ofsted.

Alison’s roots lie within early years and she has over 40 years’ experience in the sector and is an advocate for Children’s Rights. Alison has recently been awarded her Doctorate by Birmingham City University as part of a combined programme at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC). Her thesis explored Parents’ and Practitioners’ Perspectives on How an Open-Listening Climate in Early Years Settings can Facilitate Child Voice.

Alison is currently leading on a small-scale project with the EYCS team, funded by The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning. The project is exploring the fusion of theory and practice and the team are conducting a series of four Community of Practice (CoP) sessions (2021 – 2022) with a focus on Student Wellbeing and Student Success, reflecting on the importance of developing relationships between the college, the students and their professional practice placement mentors. It is an ambition that the CoP will be sustained to offer support and a space for sharing good practice, both within Ireland and further afield that leads onto further research in this area of interest.

Alison is one of the Lead Investigators on ‘Nurture through nature: fostering early childhood students’ understanding of outdoor learning spaces’ which is funded by the Froebel Trust, UK. Phase one, commencing in February 2022, will be conducted with 1st Year EYCS Students and will take place in the outdoor space speicifically designed for the EYCS degree programme. Phase two of the research project, due to commence in January 2023 will explore the students’ reflections on the use of outdoor learning spaces while on their first professional practice placement. This phase will enable the students to fuse theory and practice using a Froebelian lens to further develop their understanding of outdoor learning spaces.

Mary graduated from UCC with a BA in Italian and Economics; she has worked in UCC for over 20 years and recently joined the School of Education as administrator for the PME programme.

Marie holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) with Marketing, specialising in small to medium enterprise, business, management, and related support services. She has worked in University College Cork since 2005, and has 17 years experience working in administration in various Schools and Departments across the University. She has been a Senior Executive Assistant and Programme Administrator for the B.Ed. (Hons) Sports Studies and Physical Education programme for the last 13 years.

Sinéad O’Donovan is a graduate of UCC with a BA Hons in Italian and German. Sinéad holds a CIPD accredited BA in Human Resource Management, a Diploma in Personnel Practice and an Accounting Technicians Ireland accredited Higher Diploma.

Sinéad joined UCC in 2017 and focusses on the management of the School’s finances and payroll and contracts for the School’s hourly occasional staff.

Prior to joining UCC, Sinéad worked as Programme Manager for a HEA-funded programme of work in University College Dublin. Sinead has 10 years’ experience of working in various roles in HR – as Compensation and Benefits Officer in UCD as well as a number of Recruitment and Executive Search roles in Oracle Corporation.

Marie is a Senior Executive Assistant for the BEdSc and BSc Science Education programme and for the Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership and the Postgraduate Diploma in Special Educational Needs having joined the School of Education in July 2014 as an Executive Assistant.

Marie holds a Diploma in Business Studies awarded by the Institute of Commercial Management (UK).

Tara is the School Manager in the School of Education and works with the Head of School and Senior Management Team to drive the strategic development of the School.

Tara has over seventeen years experience at management level in various sectors, including local authorities, social enterprise and higher education. Tara has worked in UCC since 2016, initally taking up the role of School Manager in Applied Psychology before moving to the School of Education in 2021.

Tara holds a B.Sc. in Earth Sciences (Geology), a Ph.D in Geology and an MBA.