Life started in Canada. I was born and raised in Scarborough, and the Greater Toronto Area was home until 2008. Since then I have lived and worked in the Netherlands, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco and Spain.
I enjoyed a challenging career as an educator in both the classroom and various administrative roles at the secondary and post-secondary level but always welcomed the opportunity to position myself as a student among students. While teaching internationally, I implemented initiatives to foster primary and secondary research skills across the curriculum, the IBDP Extended Essay, and Capstone Projects (American Diploma). This was a task begun in Canada while teaching at-risk students and early school leavers, as a means to find the magic that would keep them engaged and on-track for graduation and a future of their choosing. Like many of them, I was the first in my family to attend a post-secondary institution. Between 2021 and 2023, I took a sabbatical as an independent scholar to begin two book projects. In 2023 I joined the supervisory panel in a PDG and MA programme at a university in Ireland and take on guest lecturer duties.
My post-graduate studies and research are interdisciplinary, and fall under the larger umbrella of Social Sciences. My Master of Arts in Integrated Studies from Athabasca University (Alberta) combined a specialisation in Educational Studies and Global Change. My final project addressed the impact of colonialism on education in Ireland prior to independence. My doctoral studies were completed at University College Cork, across the disciplines of Sociology, Social Policy, and Governance.
An Irish citizen and a Canadian citizen, I divide my time between Canada and the EU.
I enjoyed a challenging career as an educator in both the classroom and various administrative roles at the secondary and post-secondary level but always welcomed the opportunity to position myself as a student among students. While teaching internationally, I implemented initiatives to foster primary and secondary research skills across the curriculum, the IBDP Extended Essay, and Capstone Projects (American Diploma). This was a task begun in Canada while teaching at-risk students and early school leavers, as a means to find the magic that would keep them engaged and on-track for graduation and a future of their choosing. Like many of them, I was the first in my family to attend a post-secondary institution. Between 2021 and 2023, I took a sabbatical as an independent scholar to begin two book projects. In 2023 I joined the supervisory panel in a PDG and MA programme at a university in Ireland and take on guest lecturer duties.
My post-graduate studies and research are interdisciplinary, and fall under the larger umbrella of Social Sciences. My Master of Arts in Integrated Studies from Athabasca University (Alberta) combined a specialisation in Educational Studies and Global Change. My final project addressed the impact of colonialism on education in Ireland prior to independence. My doctoral studies were completed at University College Cork, across the disciplines of Sociology, Social Policy, and Governance.
An Irish citizen and a Canadian citizen, I divide my time between Canada and the EU.
