DCU Women Experts during COVID-19
As part of the national response to COVID19 in 2020, there were many women at DCU who both formally and informally stepped into leadership roles and demonstrated vast degrees of expertise in their fields for the benefit of both the DCU community as well the country as a whole. Right across the University, many women gained national profiles and were sought out as subject experts. DCU was proud and privileged to see such a vast number of women colleagues represented across the national and international media, within government led projects, on public health planning teams as well as by undertaking vital research and evidence gathering.
We are delighted to take this opportunity to highlight just some of the contributions from highly talented colleagues at DCU and to provide some further insight into the depth of expertise that exists within our DCU Community.
Professor Anne Looney, Executive Dean at DCU Institute of Education
Speaking about her experiences delivering leadership and expertise in response to the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, Professor Anne Looney stated:
Covid 19 resulted in disruption for millions of learners across the globe, in what has come to be called the greatest education experiment in history. In Ireland, our initial enthusiasm for 'home-schooling' soon wore off and the anxieties of parents and students began to escalate. As an expert in education, my role was to speak from my specialist knowledge, but to do so in a way that offered some comfort and some insight to struggling parents, students and teachers. As the education system struggled to respond to rapidly changing conditions, it became important to acknowledge the scale of the challenge, while at the same time pointing to the governance and funding gaps in Irish education that made it less agile and resilient than some of our global counterparts. And then there was the drama of the Leaving Certificate examination - a play in several acts - that generated hours of media commentary and still does! Has all that Leaving Certificate drama changed its iconic status in Irish education and Irish life? Watch that space
Professor Christine Loscher, Associate Dean for Research, DCU School of Biotechnology
As an Immunologist with a deep understanding of infection, vaccines and how the immune system works, Professor Christine Loschar has taken media opportunities to support public understanding of the key issues around Covid-19. Professor Loscher has used the media as a platform to explain misinformation regarding the effects of Covid-19 on fertility, to explain the safety of the covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy and, more recently, to explain the potential need for Covid-19 vaccines in teenagers. Professor Christine Loschar has appeared on all the major news stations in Ireland as well as regional news channels throughout the entire country.
Dr. Tetyana (Tanya) Lokot, Associate Professor, School of Communications
Dr Tanya Lokot is an Associate Professor in Digital Media and Society in the School of Communications at Dublin City University and an alumna of the Aurora Leadership Development Programme. She researches digital activism, internet freedom, censorship, and internet governance in Eastern Europe, and over the past year and a half has focussed on how authoritarian states used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to impose new restrictions on free expression and digital rights. She co-authored an op-ed for The Washington Post on the role of digital platforms in the Belarus protests and provided expert commentary about Russia’s crackdown on social media to Euronews and La Croix.
Her new book, Beyond the Protest Square: Digital Media and Augmented Dissent (Rowman and Littlefield 2021), examines the role of digital technologies in protest movements in post-Soviet states.
Together with Dr Marielle Wijermars (Maastricht University), Tanya won funding from the Young European Research Universities Network for collaborative work on internet freedom rankings. She also received €2.87 million in EU research funding to lead a four-year Horizon 2020 project examining the impact of factors such as the pandemic on the media framing and public perceptions of the European Union.
Dr Eileen Culloty, Assistant Professor, DCU School of Communications
During 2020, Dr Eileen Culloty engaged extensively with the non-academic sector throughout the Covid-19 crisis. Since March 2020, she has contributed expertise on Covid-19 disinformation to more than 40 media items including RTÉ Claire Byrne Live; The Irish Times, TheJournal, the Los Angeles Times, and ABC news.
Working with Age Action and Media Literacy Ireland, Dr Culloty developed a guide on How to avoid false information about Covid-19, which was distributed to older people by Age Action in Spring 2020. Dr Culloty also organised or co-organised four public seminars on the topic of Covid-19 disinformation including a panel at the CEST-Elsevier Age of misinformation conference and the Media Literacy Ireland Horizon Webinar on Covid-19 disinformation and science communication.
Dr Culloty delivered eight invited talks and presentations on Covid-19 disinformation. These included the Health Research Board National Conference, the eTwinnings National Conference for school teachers, Dun Laoghaire Library's series of talks on disinformation; and the US Embassy in Ireland's Young Leaders Council.
Professor Caroline McMullan, Professor of Business and Society, DCU Business School
Professor McMullan contributed to the national response to COVID-19 through her work with the government, her research, and the advice she provided to key organisations/sectors. She was the architect of the methodology underpinning the National Risk Assessment (2020), which emphasised the risk posed by pandemic and the emerging risks that may arise in its aftermath.
Caroline was PI of project LISTEN, funded under the DCU COVID-19 Research and Innovation Hub. This project captured the experience of prehospital first responders who completed testing, medical assessment, triage, and initial treatment of suspected COVID-19 cases. The challenges and good practice observed by those closest to the patients are documented, collated, and analysed to inform the response to COVID-19, guide risk management in the medium term, and help build longer-term national resilience.
Finally, Professor McMullan provided advice on Business Continuity Management (BCM), how to keep essential services going during the pandemic, to the County and City Management Association on Business Continuity, was a Special Advisor to a member of the COVID-19 Joint Task Force, and wrote a guide to BCM during the pandemic for SMEs in Ireland.
Dr Susan Kelleher, Assistant Professor, School of Chemical Sciences
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of engagement with the public on developments across the fields of science and medicine has become increasingly important. Dr Susan Kelleher, an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical Sciences in DCU, has made regular contributions to Irish national radio programmes on the most up to date scientific research news, including on the advances made in international vaccine research. Dr Kelleher is also working alongside Professor Stephen Daniels on the development of new sensors for the early detection of COVID-19 in the environment
Dr Mary Rose Sweeney, Head of School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health
When the pandemic struck Dr Mary Rose Sweeney had recently taken over as Head of the newly launched School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, one of the largest schools in DCU with ~70 staff and ~1350 students.
Over the past year Dr Sweeney has led a number of COVID-19 related research projects, including an exploration of how the pandemic was experienced by staff, residents and family members in residential care settings for older people. This work has now been submitted for publication. Alongside colleagues, Dr Sweeney has also conducted a large study in adolescents to explore the impact of the Level 5 restrictions on their physical activity levels and their mental health. This work will be reported on shortly.
Recently, Dr Sweeney contributed to a highly read RTE brainstorm article highlighting the challenges ahead for the nursing and midwifery professions. She has also established a new national webinar series with the IUA group aimed at highlighting the challenges and successes in clinical and academic settings for the profession and to share learnings across HEIs.
Dr Mary Rose Sweeney is a winner of DCU President’s Awards for Research Impact in recognition of her work on the Autism Friendly University Project which has now transitioned to settings outside of academia.
Dr Mary Rose Sweeney states that -
“It has been an extremely challenging and at times relentless year in terms of work but the teamwork, support, spirit of collegiality and contribution of colleagues and students in the school, across DCU and nationally has been truly inspirational.”