UCC School of Law welcomes new academic colleagues

4 Sep 2026

We are delighted to welcome new colleagues starting at the School of Law this semester.

These new colleagues bring a wealth of legal expertise and global experience to the School and are fantastic additions to our world-renowned faculty.

Welcoming our new colleagues, Professor Conor O’Mahony, Dean of the UCC School of Law said: 

“These appointments represent a huge investment in the future of teaching and scholarship of Law at UCC, and we are thrilled with the fantastic calibre of people that will be joining us. There is a great mix of new faces and UCC graduates returning home, and everyone will bring a different set of experiences from a range of top international universities. I am really excited to see what we will all do together over the coming years.”

Introducing our new faculty members

Dr Kate Falconer takes up a senior lecturer position in the area of Equity, Trusts and Property Law. Kate joined UCC in 2024, having previously lectured at the University of Queensland. She holds a BA in Archaeology and an LLB from the University of Queensland; an LLM from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri; and a PhD from the Australian National University, Canberra. Her research interests lie in the law of the dead and bodily disposal, and private law's interactions with death, particularly through a socio-legal lens. She is the PI on the Research Ireland-funded BoDIESS project, which examines changing death and funerary care preferences in Ireland in the context of changing demographics, increasing environmental awareness, and the rising cost of living. Her research has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Equity, the Australian Law Journal and the Monash University Law Review, and has attracted multiple citations by various courts.

Dr Louise Forde joins us as a lecturer in law from Brunel University in London. Louise holds BCL, LLM and PhD degrees from UCC. Her research focuses on youth justice, criminal law and children’s rights. She has co-authored Children in Conflict with the Law: Rights, Research and Progressive Youth Justice (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023), co-edited a collection entitled Responses to Serious Offending by Children: Principles, Practice and Global Perspectives (Routledge, 2022), and published articles in journals such as Youth Justice, Criminology & Criminal Justice, the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice and the International Journal of Children’s Rights. She has appeared as an expert witness before Oireachtas Committees and engaged in consultancy work for the Department of Justice.

Dr David Keane joins us as a lecturer in Law and French. David joins us from the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University (having previously lectured at Middlesex University).  He holds a BCL (Law and French) degree from UCC, and LLM and PhD degrees from the University of Galway. His research specialism is in international human rights law (particularly racial discrimination and UNCERD, and minority and indigenous rights). His books include Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law (Routledge 2007) and Minority Rights in the Pacific Region: A Comparative Legal Analysis (Oxford University Press 2009) [with Joshua Castellino]. His articles have appeared in journals such as the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the Human Rights Law Review and Human Rights Quarterly. He is a Professeur invité at two French universities (Université de Bordeaux and Université Grenoble Alpes), where he teaches regularly.

Dr Maria Kotsoni joins us as a lecturer in law. Maria was previously a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University in the United States. She holds an LLB and an MSc in Environmental Legislation from the Democritus University of Thrace; a Masters in Public Law from the University of Athens; and an LLM and PhD from the European University Institute, Florence. Her research focuses on the key themes of comparative constitutional change; social constitutionalism; and the protection of social rights in the Council of Europe, the EU, and in international frameworks. Her work has a particular interest in constitutional change and the use of Citizens’ Assemblies in Ireland, and has been published in the Modern Law Review, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the Human Rights Law Review and the European Constitutional Law Review.

Dr Luke Noonan takes up a full-time permanent lecturer position this academic year. Luke completed his LLM and PhD in UCC, and has previously lectured in the School on a fixed-term basis for a number of academic years. His research interests include Criminal Law, Mental Health Law, Law of Evidence, Human Rights Law, and Criminology. His doctoral research examined how the fitness to be tried procedure in the criminal justice system and defences of insanity, diminished responsibility and infanticide should be reformed to comply with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). He has published in journals such as the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, the Wrongful Conviction Law Review and the Northen Ireland Legal Quarterly, and his first book entitled Criminal Defences in Irish Law is due to be published in 2027.

Dr Aislinn O’Connell joins us as a senior lecturer in privacy and data protection law from the Department of Law and Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London. She holds BCL (Law and French) and LLM degrees from National University of Ireland Maynooth, and a PhD from University College London. Her research centres on the intersections of privacy, data protection, intellectual property, and emerging technologies. Her specialism is technology-facilitated abuse (particularly Image-Based Sexual Abuse, deepfakes, and digital gender-based violence) and IP issues in immersive technologies, including AI-generated works and digital identity. Her published work includes a co-edited collection entitled Intellectual Property Excesses: Exploring the Boundaries of IP Protection (Hart, 2017) and articles in outlets such as Legal Studies and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. She has acted as a consultant to Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence.

A huge welcome to all our new colleagues - we're delighted to have you join us at the UCC School of Law.