Nicole McDonagh completed her undergraduate degree at the CIT Cork School of Music, specialising in vocal performance, and has a Masters in Public Relations with New Media, also from CIT. ​

Prior to starting with UCC Academy Nicole worked with H+A Marketing + PR as an Account Executive representing leading Irish and international brands, specialising in Consumer PR, event management, brand strategy and development, social media management and marketing. Nicole also previously worked as a customer support and technical agent for Voxpro, powered by Telus International, as a case manager and project contributor for user experience and business process improvement.​

Nicole joined the Conference UCC Office at UCC Academy in March 2019 as a Marketing and Events Executive, providing end-to-end management services in event management, marketing and communications. ​