Celebrating Dr Jane Suiter as 2020 IRC Researcher of the Year
We are delighted to congratulate our colleague Dr. Jane Suiter, Associate Professor at DCU’s School of Communications and Director of FuJo Institute, on receiving the 2020 Researcher of the Year award for her research on the public sphere and the information environment in referendums and elections.
About her research
Her research includes analysing populist messaging and the political communication characteristics and systems that support or hinder it, as well as the impacts of citizen participation and deliberation and the role of citizens in renewing democracy.
Recognised leader
Dr Suiter is Director of the Institute for Future Media and Journalism at DCU and is a senior research fellow on the Irish Citizens’ Assembly. She is recognised as a national and international leader in citizen engagement and deliberation.
Irish Research Council
Speaking about Dr Suiter’s award, Prof Jane Ohlmeyer, Chair of the Irish Research Council said:
Jane Suiter is a fabulous example of the sort of talent that we want to nurture across Ireland. She trained as a political scientist and then went off to have a career in journalism. She’s brought that real-world experience back into the classroom.
About the Awards
The annual Researcher of the Year Awards recognise the very best of the Irish Research Council’s awardees and alumni working in academia, industry, civic society and the public sector. In particular, the Researcher of the Year category, recognises a current or former Council awardee, who is working in research in an academic institution and who has made an exceptional contribution to research in their field.
Dr Suiter said:
My research is really focused on the information environment in the public sphere. I’m very interested in the quality of information and how that impacts on policymaking and on our lives. I’ve been very involved in deliberative democracy with Prof David Farrell of UCD. We’ve been researching a number of Citizens’ Assemblies held in Ireland and the Irish Research Council has been absolutely key to that, providing the research funding and framework for it. The other area where I’ve specialised is in disinformation and conspiracy theories in the public sphere, and this is something I work on with Eileen Culloty in DCU. I think there is a lot of opportunity to combine these fields.
Commendations
According to the Irish Research Council, the standard of entries was so high this year, that the judges made two commendations in this category. They were to: Professor John Goold, Trinity College Dublin and Professor Orla Muldoon, University Limerick.