Academic biography

Dr Alan Gorman is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Doctor of Education (EdD) programme at Dublin City University (DCU), where he also serves as the Area of Professional Focus Leader for Professional Learning and Teacher Education on the EdD. He is a recipient of the prestigious DCU President’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2022). He is the external examiner for the MSc in Educational Leadership at the University of Stirling, Scotland.

He has published widely in leading Q1 international journals. His research interests span policy analysis, educational leadership, professional learning policy, and teacher education, including the integration of artificial intelligence in teacher education. He has successfully supervised numerous doctoral candidates to completion (EdD and PhD) in these fields.

He is currently co-leading a tri-nation, funded research project on system leadership in collaboration with Professor Alma Harris, Professor Michelle Jones (Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales), and Dr Romina Madrid (University of Stirling, Scotland). 

He has been invited as a keynote speaker and panellist at international conferences on professional learning and teacher education, including engagements with the Ministry of Education and Teacher Training Agency in Zagreb, Croatia (2024) and the AI in Education Fair at the University of Florida (2025).

He has led and contributed to several national and cross-border studies, including research on early career principalship across Ireland and a teacher education initiative using AI-enabled virtual reality, which was featured on RTÉ news. His work has also appeared in RTÉ Brainstorm and TheJournal.ie.

Dr Gorman is a Research Fellow at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC) and has contributed directly to national education policy. He undertook a policy audit (funded by the Department of Education), which was presented to the Oireachtas Committee as part of the Review of the 2013 Action Plan on Bullying. This research has informed the development of the national Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying.