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Sinead Mcnally

Contact Details

SPC M 219
T:Ext. 9150

E:Sinead.McNally@dcu.ie

Member

Mov219

T:Ext. 9150

E:Sinead.McNally@dcu.ie

Member

Sinéad McNally is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Early Childhood Education at the DCU Institute of Education.

Sinéad is Principal Investigator of the Autism-Friendly Schools Project, a national study of the school experiences of autistic children and young people funded by a COALESCE award from Research Ireland (formerly the Irish Research Council).

As Editor-in-Chief of the international journal, Active Learning in Higher Education, Sinéad advocates for inclusive research and teaching in university and colleges, and she sits of the editorial board of the International Journal of Early Years Education and the International Journal of Early Childhood.

Sinéad is faculty Co-Chair of the Athena Swan committee on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the DCU Institute of Education, and sits on the university's Steering Committee on Open Research.

Sinéad leads the research group, the Early Language and Learning Lab, which investigates children's development in early education contexts. Her research on inclusive early education, including children's play and early reading, has been funded through the Irish Research Council, the Science Foundation Ireland, the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South, and the Childhood Development Initiative.

In 2022, Sinéad received the President's Award for Research Impact for her research in Early Childhood Education.

She is an external examiner for the Technological University of Dublin, and welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in children's play, shared reading / early literacy, and inclusive education and autism.

Peer Reviewed Journal

	Year	Publication
	2024	O’Keeffe, C.; McNally, S. (2024) '‘It’s one of your main things in life like’: how children’s conceptualisations of play can inform educational practice'. Education 3-13, . [Link] [DOI]
	2024	McNally, S.; Leech, K.A.; Corriveau, K.H.; Daly, M. (2024) 'Indirect Effects of Early Shared Reading and Access to Books on Reading Vocabulary in Middle Childhood'. Scientific Studies of Reading, 28 . [Link] [DOI]
	2024	Gormley, L.; Feeney, A.; McNally, S. (2024) 'A scoping review of research trends and future directions for research on the experiences of autistic students and staff in post-secondary education'. European Journal Of Higher Education, 14 . [Link] [DOI]
	2023	Gilligan, Therese; McNally, Sinead; Lovett, Judy; Farell, Therese; Kumar, Sona; McLoughlin, Eilish; Corriveau, Kathleen (2023) 'Persistence in Science Play and Gender: Findings from Early Childhood Classrooms in Ireland'. Early Education and Development, 34 (4). [DOI]
	2022	Leech, K.A.; McNally, S.; Daly, M.; Corriveau, K.H. (2022) 'Unique effects of book-reading at 9-months on vocabulary development at 36-months: Insights from a nationally representative sample of Irish families'. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 58 . [Link] [DOI]
	2022	McNally, Sinead; Downes, Paul; O'Halloran, Laura; Kent, Grainne; O'Neill, Sandra (2022) ''The whole world was lifted off me': the importance of relational supports and peer mentoring for under-represented students accessing university in Ireland'. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46 (10). [DOI]
	2022	O’Keeffe, C.; McNally, S. (2022) 'Teacher experiences of facilitating play in early childhood classrooms during COVID-19'. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 20 . [Link] [DOI]
	2021	O’Keeffe, C.; McNally, S. (2021) '‘Uncharted territory’: teachers’ perspectives on play in early childhood classrooms in Ireland during the pandemic'. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29 . [Link] [DOI]
	2020	Gilligan, T.; Lovett, J.; McLoughlin, E.; Murphy, C.; Finlayson, O.; Corriveau, K.; McNally, S. (2020) '‘We practise every day’: parents’ attitudes towards early science learning and education among a sample of urban families in Ireland'. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28 . [Link] [DOI]
	2020	O'Keeffe, C & McNally, S (2020) 'Review Paper on the Potential of Play to Support the Development of Relationships among Young Children on the Autism Spectrum'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, 13 .
	2019	McNally, S.; McCrory, C.; Quigley, J.; Murray, A. (2019) 'Decomposing the social gradient in children's vocabulary skills at 3 years of age: A mediation analysis using data from a large representative cohort study'. Infant Behavior and Development, 57 . [Link] [DOI]
	2019	McNally, S.; Darmody, M.; Quigley, J. (2019) 'The socio-emotional development of language-minority children entering primary school in Ireland'. Irish Educational Studies, 38 . [Link] [DOI]
	2016	McNally, S., Kent, G., Fagan, B., & Bleach, J. (2016) 'Knowledge Exchange in Early Childhood Research and Practice: Findings from the Early Learning Initiative and the National College of Ireland'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, .
	2016	Hyland, Philip; Shevlin, Mark; McNally, Sinead; Murphy, Jamie; Hansen, Maj; Elklit, Ask (2016) 'Exploring differences between the ICD-11 and DSM-5 models of PTSD: Does it matter which model is used?'. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 37 :48-53. [DOI]
	2016	Quigley, Jean; McNally, Sinead; Lawson, Sarah (2016) 'Prosodic Patterns in Interaction of Low-Risk and at-Risk-of-Autism Spectrum Disorders Infants and Their Mothers at 12 and 18 Months'. Language Learning and Development, 12 (3):295-310. [DOI]
	2014	McNally, Sinead; Quigley, Jean (2014) 'An Irish Cohort Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Infant Language Development at 9 Months'. Infant and Child Development, 23 (6):634-649. [DOI]
	2014	McNally, S., Share, M., & Murray, A. (2014) 'Prevalence and predictors of grandparent childcare in Ireland: Findings from a nationally representative sample of infants and their families'. Child Care in Practice, 20 (2):182-193.
	2013	McCrory, Cathal; McNally, Sinead (2013) 'The Effect of Pregnancy Intention on Maternal Prenatal Behaviours and Parent and Child Health: Results of an Irish Cohort Study'. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 27 (2):208-215. [DOI]
	2013	Quigley, Jean and McNally, Sin\'ead (2013) 'Maternal communicative style in interaction with infant siblings of children with Autism'. 4 (1):51-69.
	2013	McNally, S. (2013) 'Growing Up in Ireland, the National Longitudinal Study of Children: An Evidence Base for Policy in Early Childhood Education and Care'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, .
	2013	Smith, G. & McNally, S. (2013) 'A Three-Pronged Approach to Early Intervention Speech and 119 Language Therapy Delivery in the Community'. An Leanbh Óg: OMEP Ireland journal of early childhood studies, .
	2012	McNally, Thomas and McNally, Sin\'ead (2012) 'Chomsky and Wittgenstein on Linguistic Competence'. .
	2012	Quigley, J and McNally, S (2012) 'Maternal response patterns to infant vocalisations: A comparison of at-genetic-risk-for-autism (HR) infants and a group of low-risk (LR) controls'. 60 (5).
	2012	McNally, S. & Bourke, A. (2012) 'Factors affecting periconceptional folic acid supplementation in a nationally representative sample of mothers in Ireland'. Irish Medical Journal, 105 (7).

Edited Book

	Year	Publication
	2018	Guerin, S., Hayes, N. & McNally, S (Ed.). (2018) Research and Evaluation in Community, Health and Social Care Settings: Experiences from Practice. London: Routledge,

Book Chapter

	Year	Publication
	2018	McNally, S., Murphy, T., Morgan, M., & Keegan, S. (2018) 'Governance and Ethics in Community Research and Evaluation' In: Research and Evaluation in Community, Health and Social Care Settings. London : Routledge.

Published Report

	Year	Publication
	2016	McNally, S. & Downes, P. (2016) Evaluation of University College Dublin’s ‘Future You’ Peer Support Access Initiative: A Relational, Community Development Systemic Outreach Approach. University College Dublin, .
	2014	Greene, S., Morgan, M., McCrory, C. & McNally, S. (2014) Growing up in Ireland: review of the literature pertaining to the second wave of data collection with the infant cohort at three years. Dublin, .
	2013	McGinnity, Frances and Murray, Aisling and McNally, Sinead (2013) Growing Up in Ireland: Mothers' Return to Work and Childcare Choices for Infants in Ireland. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, .
	2013	Williams, J., Murray, A., McCrory, C., & McNally, S. (2013) Growing Up in Ireland national longitudinal study of children: development from birth to three years infant cohort. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, .
	2010	Williams, J., Greene, S., McNally, S., Murray, A., & Quail, A. (2010) Growing up in Ireland national longitudinal study of children: the infants and their families. Department of Children and Youth Affairs, .
	2008	Williams, J and Greene, S and Doyle, E and Harris, E and McDaid, R and McNally, S and Merriman, B and Nixon, E and Swords, L. (2008) Growing Up in Ireland -- National Longitudinal Study of Children [collection], Maynooth, Co. Kildare: Irish Qualitative Data Archive. Irish Qualitative Data Archive, .

Conference Contribution

	Year	Publication
	2022	O' Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinead; O'Toole, Andrea; Liu, Weiyi; Lake, Gillian (2022) 22nd European Conference on Literacy and the 46th Annual Conference of the Literacy Association of A Scoping Review of Early Childhood Education Literacy Instruction for Young Autistic Learners Dublin, .
	2021	Lieu, Weiyi; McNally, Sinead; Lake, Gillian (2021) Early Childhood Ireland Research Symposium Shared Book Reading in bilingual Irish-Chinese families and monolingual Irish families in Early Childhood online, .
	2020	Sinead McNally (2020) EECERA Convocation: International Narratives about COVID – 19 and Early Childhood International Conference hosted by the European Early Childhood Education Research Association Virtual, 27/10/2020-28/10/2020.
	2020	Quigley, J., & McNally, S. (2020) International Congress of Infant Studies 2020 Maternal Infant-Directed Speech and ASibs’ Language and Joint Attention Virtual, 06/07/2020-09/07/2020.
	2019	McNally, S., McCrory, C., Quigley, J., & Murray, A. (2019) Lancaster Conference on Infant and Early Child Development A mediation analysis of the relationship between maternal education and children's vocabulary at 36 months Lancaster University, UK, 21/08/2019-23/08/2019.
	2019	McNally, S., Leech, K., & Corriveau, K. (2019) Cognitive Development Society Biennial Meeting Literacy practices with infants at 9 months and vocabulary skills at 36 months Louisville, Kentucky USA, .
	2019	McNally, S., Gilligan, T., McLoughlin, E., Lovett, J., Farrell, T., & Corriveau, K. (2019) Cognitive Development Society Biennial Meeting Persistence in science in the face of failure: investigating language effects on young children's engagement and motivation in the classroom Louisville, Kentucky USA, .
	2016	McNally, S. & Downes, P. (2016) 25th European Access Network (EAN) Conference, Retrospective for Perspective Access and Widening Participation 1991-2041 Impact of a mentoring programme to support access to higher education. Evaluation of University College Dublin’s Future You Peer Support Access Initiative: A Relational, Community Development Systemic Outreach Approach University College Dublin, 30/05/2016-31/05/2016.
	2015	Plug, M., McNally, S. & Quigley, J. (2015) Autism and the Foundations of Language and Communication Interdisciplinary Conference on Autism and Language Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, 27/03/2015-29/03/2015.
	2015	Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2015) Child Language Symposium Maternal education and child language University of Warwick, .
	2015	McNally, S., Kent, G., Fagan, B., & Bleach, J. (2015) OMEP Ireland AGM and Annual Research Conference Knowledge exchange in early childhood research and practice Cork, .
	2015	McNally, S., Quigley, J., McCrory, C., & Murray, A. (2015) International Convention for Psychological Science Identifying resilience in early child language development Amsterdam, .
	2014	McNally, S., Share, M., Kerrins, L., & Carey, S. (2014) Annual Children's Research Network in Ireland and Northern Ireland Conference Examining the role of grandparents in early childhood education Dublin, .
	2013	McNally, S. (2013) Childhood Development Initiative Primary Care Seminar Using key findings from CDI's independent evaluations to inform primary care policy and practice Dublin, .
	2012	McGinnity, F., Murray, A., & McNally, S. (2012) Growing Up in Ireland Annual Conference Childcare use and choice in a nationally representative sample of children in Ireland Dublin, .
	2012	McNally, S. (2012) Respond Annual Conference Voice of community Dublin, .
	2012	Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2012) Early Language Acquisition Conference Maternal response patterns to infant vocalisations Lyon, France, .
	2012	Smith, G. & McNally, S. (2012) Institute of Public Health Conference Creating a health promoting school environment Belfast, .
	2012	McNally, S. (2012) Annual Children's Research Network in Ireland and Northern Ireland Conference Research child outcomes: implementing rigorous evaluations in the community Dublin, .
	2011	McNally, S., Bourke, A. & McCrory, C. (2011) Growing Up in Ireland Annual Conference, Dublin Determinants of periconceptional folic acid supplementation in Ireland: findings from the Infant Cohort of Growing Up in Ireland Dublin, Ireland, .
	2011	Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2011) International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) conference A longitudinal analysis of maternal infant directed speech to preverbal infants San Diego, California, .
	2010	McNally, S. (2010) Growing Up in Ireland Annual Conference Childcare in Ireland Dublin, .
	2008	McNally, S. & Quigley, J. (2008) British Psychological Society Conference Theory in practice: behaviour theory and autism intervention Dublin, .
	2021	O'Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinéad (2021) Play 2021 Prioritising play in the return to a ‘new normal’: teachers’ approaches to play in the early childhood classroom during the pandemic Birmingham University, .
	2021	O'Keeffe, Christina; Coulter, Maura; McNally, Sinéad (2021) AIESEP Early Years Special Interest Group Physical activity and play in the early years curriculum and education settings – Ireland Banff, Canada, .
	2019	O'Keeffe, Christina; McNally, Sinéad; Balfe, Tish (2019) OMEP Ireland Annual Conference The empowering role of play in supporting the socioemotional development and learning of pupils on the Autism Spectrum Munster Technological University, .

Invited Seminars

	Year	Publication
	2022	Sinead McNally (2022) Early shared reading and play for young children’s wellbeing and development during the pandemic: Findings from Ireland. University of Stavanger, Norway: INVS
	2019	Sinead McNally (2019) Using Language to Support Science Learning and Engagement in Early Childhood. Early Childhood Research Centre, Dublin City University: INVS

Research Paper

	Year	Publication
	2020	O'Keeffe, Christina & McNally, Sinéad (2020) Perspectives of early childhood teachers in Ireland on the role of play during the pandemic. RP https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/q74e9

Online Database

	Year	Publication
	2014	Quigley, J. & McNally, S. (2014) Mother-infant interaction corpus: Infant siblings at risk of autism spectrum disorders and typically developing infants. Archived Dataset in CHILDES. ONDB

Other Journal

	Year	Publication
	2023	Kristy Howells, Alethea Jerebine, Wouter Cools, Eva D’Hondt, Kristine De Martelaer, Eline Coppens, Helena Sienaert, Nathan Hall, Jinxia Dong, Anne Soini, Christina O’Keeffe, Maura Coulter, Sinéad McNally, Patricia McCaffrey , Patrizia Tortella, Aldo M. Costa, Andrea Hernández-Martinez, Ann-Christin Sollerhed, Mark Urtel, Debra Vinci, Christopher Wirth, Carla Vidoni, Arja Sääkslahti (2023) 'Physical play - How do we inspire and motivate young children to be physically active through play? An International Analysis of Twelve Countries’ National Early Years Curriculum Policies and Practices for Physical Activity and Physical Play' Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, .
	2015	McNally, S. & Maguire, R. (2015) 'Keep calm and carry on: self-regulation in early childhood education settings' :47-53.
	2013	Casey, C., McNally, S., O'Keefe, A., & Quinn, M. (2013) 'Restorative practices in action: Tallaght West - a case study' 2 (1) :63-70.

Other Publication

	Year	Publication
	2023	O’Keeffe, C.; McNally, S. (2023) A Systematic Review of Play-Based Interventions Targeting the Social Communication Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Educational Contexts. [Link] [DOI]
	2024	McNally, S. (2024) Editorial. [Link] [DOI]
	2024	Lynam, A; Sweeney, MR; Keenan, L; McNally, S (2024) Autistic pupils' experiences in primary and post-primary schools: A scoping review and consultation with autistic pupils in Ireland. [Link] [DOI]
	2024	McNally, Sinead; Keenan, Lisa; Lynam, Aoife; Ramsbottom, Ciaran; Sweeney, Mary Rose (2024) The lived experiences of autistic pupils in primary and secondary schools in Ireland.

Professional Associations

Association	Function	From / To
Psychological Society of Ireland	Graduate Member	-
Children's Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland	Member	-
Cognitive Development Society	Member	-
International Congress of Infant Studies	Member	-

Honors and Awards

Date	Title	Awarding Body
01/05/2022	President's Award for Research Impact	Dublin City University
06/12/2021	Irish Research Council Research Ally	Irish Research Council
01/01/2019	DCU Institute of Education Fellowship	Dublin City University
01/01/2018	Boston University Faculty Fellowship	Boston University

Education

	Start date	Institution	Qualification	Subject
		Trinity College Dublin	PhD
		Trinity College Dublin	B.A. (Mod.)

Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	International Journal of Early Years Education		01/09/2017 - 31/12/2024
	Faculty Research Committee		01/10/2019 - 01/10/2022
	Programme Board Masters of Education		01/01/2018 - 01/09/2020
	Programme Board Bachelor of Early Childhood Education		01/10/2016 - 01/06/2022
	Active Learning in Higher Education		03/06/2024 -

Languages

	Language	Reading	Writing	Speaking
	French	Functional	Functional	Functional

Outreach Activities

Year	Engagement Type	Organisation	Description
2022	Advisory Work	St Michael's House	External academic member of the Research Ethics Committee at SMH
2021	Advisory Work	St Michael's House	External Academic on the Research Ethics Committee at St Michael's House
2021	Advisory Work	Dublin Northwest Area Partnership	Board Director
2020	Advisory Work	Dublin Northwest Area Partnership	Chair of Governance Committee at the DNWAP
2019	Advisory Work	Dublin Northwest Area Partnership	Board Director at DNWAP and advisor on educational initiatives at the DNWAP.
2019	Educational Outreach/Public Engagement	Dublin City University	Taste of DCU - Young children's early learning and engagement
2018	Educational Outreach/Public Engagement	Dublin City University	Taste of DCU - grandparents as childcare providers in Ireland

Media

Title	Year	Type	Authors
Reading to babies has large effect on vocabulary by age of three	2022	Newspaper article (Print)	Valerie Flynn, The Sunday Times
Shared book reading with infants in Ireland	2022	Radio Interviews	Clem Ryan on KFM
Limerick Today with Joe Nash	2020	Radio interview/panel discussion	Limerick 95FM
Dr. Sinéad McNally, Survey Highlights Teachers Concerns about Play and Play Based Lessons	2020	Radio Interviews	Near FM Northside Today
Kildare Today with Clem Ryan	2020	Radio Interviews	KFM radio
Teachers concerned over capacity for children's play when schools return-study	2020	Newspaper article (online)	Irish Examiner
The Healing Power of a Mother's Voice	2014	Newspaper article (Print)	The Irish Independent
Quarter of children surveyed obese or overweight	2013	Newspaper article (Print)	The Irish Times

Research Interests

Developmental Psychology; Play in Early Childhood Education; Shared Reading; Language Development and Learning; Socio-emotional Development; Autism

Research Projects

Title	Role	Start date	End date
Autism-Friendly Schools: A Scoping Study for the Inclusion of Autistic Pupils’ Perspectives on Special Educational Needs	DCU PI	01/09/2022	31/08/2024
Play for Inclusive Education across the Island of Ireland	DCU PI	25/10/2021	30/11/2022
Investigating the role of play in early childhood educational contexts	DCU PI	15/05/2020	30/06/2022
UCD Centre for Life Long Learning and Access: Evaluation of Future You Peer Mentoring Programme	Co-PI	01/09/2015	30/06/2016
Autism and the Foundations of Language and Communication	PI	01/10/2014	20/03/2015
Mother's Infant Directed speech in face to face interaction with infant siblings of children with ASD	Post-Doctoral Fellow	01/12/2008	01/12/2010
Book Reading in Early Childhood Education: A Context for Vocabulary Development and Early Literacy	DCU PI	01/05/2020	31/12/2021
Doodle STEAM - Parenting and Educator Supports for STEAM Learning	DCU PI	10/01/2022	27/06/2022
Developing Research Literacy Skills in ECE through T-REX Module Innovation	DCU PI	03/02/2020	30/09/2020

Contract Researchers

	Researcher Name	Project	Funding Body
	Dr Aoife Lynam	Autism-Friendly Schools - COALESCE Study
	Dr Therese Gilligan	Let's Talk about STEM
	Dr Judy Lovett	Let's Talk about STEM
	Dr Laura O'Halloran	Contemporary Barriers in Access to Higher Education
	Ciarán Ramsbottom	Autism Friendly Schools Project
	Dr Lisa Keenan	Autism Friendly Schools Project - COALESCE

Current Postgraduate Students

Student Name	Degree	Supervision
Liu ,Weiyi	PhD	Supervisor
O Keeffe ,Christina	PhD	Supervisor
O'Toole ,Andrea	PhD-track	Supervisor
Canavan ,Siobhan	Doctor of Education	Supervisor

External Collaborators

Type	Name	Company	Role
External	Kathleen Corriveau	Boston University	Academic
External	Kathryn Leech	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Academic
External	Jenny Gibson	Cambridge University	Academic
External	Jean Quigley	Trinity College Dublin	Academic
External	Michael Daly	Maynooth University	Academic
External	Victoria Simms	University of Ulster	Academic
External	Mary Rose Sweeney	Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland	Academic

Teaching Interests

Teaching Interests:
Developmental Psychology; Research Methods; Autism; Inclusive Education

Sinéad coordinates the Psychology and Dissertation modules on the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education:
EC101 Child Development 1
EC201 Child Development 2
EC207 Psychological Perspectives
EC406 Dissertations 1 Research Methods
EC407 Dissertations 2 and Research Tutorials

She also contribute to Professional Practice modules on the BECE programme and has coordinated postgraduate teaching on the Master's of Education on contemporary research in Early Childhood Education.

Modules Coordinated

Term	Title	Subject
2022	Child Development 1	EC101
2020	Child Development 2	EC201
2022	Psychological Perspectives	EC207
2022	Dissertation 1 (Research Methods)	EC406
2022	Dissertation 2 and Research Tutorials	EC407
2022	Professional Practice 2	EC210
2022	Professional Practice 1	EC110