Academic biography

Dr Alan Gorman, BEd, MEd, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Policy and Practice, DCU Institute of Education and is a Research Fellow at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (ABC). He teaches across various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and is the Area of Professional Focus Leader for Professional Learning and Teacher Education on the Doctor of Education Programme at DCU. He received the DCU President’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2022.

His research, published in high-ranking journals, has focussed on critical policy analysis, professional learning and teacher education. He has supervised doctoral students to completion in education policy, leadership, teacher education and professional learning. As a Principal Investigator, he has recently completed funded research on early career principals’ identity formation across the island of Ireland. He co-led an innovative teacher education project, which prepares student teachers for future education possibilities by facilitating practice-based learning in AI-enabled virtual reality environments (featured on RTÉ). He has also conducted policy audits on various national and European research projects in various areas. 

His work at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre ABC concerns policy analysis, enactment, and the impact of anti-bullying policy in schools. He has made oral submissions to the ‘Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health’ with colleagues in the centre. He has made numerous presentations to the Department of Education around policy development and enactment. Alan has also conducted a policy audit