Research Fellows | People | EQI
People
Senior Research Fellows
Dr Martin Brown
Dr Martin Brown is a specialist in educational evaluation and assessment and has planned and led evaluations in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Europe and the Middle East; working for, among others, the Dept. of Education and Skills, the National Learning Network and the United Arab Emirates government. Martin has a B.Sc and H.Ed from NUI Maynooth and an M.Sc and PhD from Dublin City University. Research interests include: Comparative Education, School Inspection, School Self-Evaluation, Programme Evaluation, Policy Influences in Evaluation, Inclusion in Education, and teaching and learning in digital environments.
Dr Denise Burns
Dr Denise Burns is researching culturally responsive assessment related to the Leaving Certificate in Ireland. For 20 years Denise worked in the secondary system as teacher, principal and administrator in Queensland, Australia, which had school-based assessment in a moderated, accountable structure. In Ireland, Denise has been secondary teacher and principal, as well as a researcher and report writer in the Commission on School Accommodation. Denise has a B.A., a Diploma in Ed, a Masters in Ed Admin and is currently completing a PhD in which she investigated the belief that the Leaving Cert is “all rote learning and memory recall.” Research interests include curriculum design, assessment, particularly assessment of a range of intellectual skills, progression within a discipline, personal epistemology, document analysis as a research methodology, amalgamation of schools, trusteeship and staff dynamics in a change process.
Dr Kathy Harrison
Dr Kathy Harrison is a Director of EQI with responsibility for the management of the Centre for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA). Kathy Harrisons current research is in the field of assessment and evaluation in education and training, with a particular focus on cultural sensitivity, equality and inclusion. She has worked closely with Educate Together to develop a range of research informed responses to a range of educational challenges faced by Irish schools. Kathy has carried out research into formative and summative peer-assessment and self-assessment at all levels from elementary to undergraduate studies, and has published on bullying in minority groups in second-level schools. Formerly, she has lectured in social science and educational modules on the BSc in Education and Training programme and she has considerable experience of working in Further Education with a wide range of students including minority groups (special needs students, early school leavers, members of the Travelling Community, long-term unemployed, women returning to work). Kathy has a PhD, MSc and BSc, and teaching diplomas in ICT and Business Skills.
Dr Patrick Shevlin
Dr Patrick Shevlin has been an Inspector with the Education Training Inspectorate (ET) Northern Ireland for 26 years. As a member of the inspectorate, as well as inspecting across a range of education sectors he has had a variety of positions, including that of Education Area Board Coordinator, which involves managing the work of a group of district inspectors within these education support services for the Inspectorate. Before that he was a teacher for fifteen years and occupied a range of senior positions. Dr. Shevlin is an education consultant with the Council of Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and the honorary president of the Association of Science Education Northern Ireland Region. His research interests include Area Based Inspection, comparative education, Governance, Self-Evaluation, Leadership and Management. He has a B.Sc and Ph.D from Queens University Belfast and a B.Sc and B.Ed from the University of Ulster.
Dr Kevin WIlliams
A former president of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland, Dr Kevin Williams is author of many books including Religion and Citizenship Education in Europe; Education and the Voice of Michael Oakeshott; Faith and the Nation: Religion, Culture and Schooling in Ireland. Most of his research is in the area of philosophy of education and he has contributed chapters to several state of the art collections on the subject. Dr. Williams is also expert on the areas of language and culture in education and he is a regular media contributor on these issues.