Academic biography

Miriam Colum, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Inclusive and Special Education. Prior to joining DCU, Miriam was a Senior Lecturer in Education and the Head of the Department of Inclusion, Religious Education and Student Life in Marino Institute of Education (MIE). During her time in MIE, Miriam was the Programme Leader for the Professional Master of Education (PME) (primary). She was also the Religious Education team leader.

In MIE, Miriam was the Programme Coordinator for ‘TOBAR’, a HEA funded initiative with a singular focus on supporting members of the Irish Traveller Community to and through initial teacher education. Over Miriam’s duration as Coordinator, she supported eight members of the Traveller  Community through the PME (primary) course and TOBAR has eight fully qualified primary school teachers from the community. In MIE, Miriam was Chair of the Hardship Fund Committee that oversaw specialised funding for students in need. She also convened the MIE UDL Network in the college.

Miriam is a former primary school teacher with experience in both mainstream and special school settings. From 2016 – 2018, she was a lecturer in St. Angela’s college, Sligo, on the Postgraduate Diploma in Special Educational Needs (PGSEN). Miriam also co-coordinated the nationwide level 7 course for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and was the module leader for the blended course on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Miriam completed her PhD in 2023 at the University of Galway by conducting qualitative research on the importance of a distributed leadership approach to support the inclusion of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in primary schools in Ireland.

Miriam sits on the Consultative forum of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and is the Editor of the REACH Journal of Inclusive Education in Ireland. She is also Chair of the Honorary Inclusion Special Interest Group (SIG) at Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI)