Professor Pat O’Connor

Professor Pat O’Connor is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Social Policy, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick and Visiting Professor, Geary Institute, University College Dublin

Her core research interest is gender: currently focusing on the gendering of management and higher education, and more broadly on the gendering of organizations, leadership, excellence and careers.

She has published roughly 100 peer reviewed publications, including five single authored books, and numerous academic refereed journal articles including those in Gender and Education; Higher Education Research and Development (Special Issue on Leadership); Educational Management, Administration and Diversity; European Journal of Higher Education; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal etc.

Her sixth book, Management and Gender in Higher Education, was published in 2014 with Manchester University Press (distribution by Palgrave Macmillan in the US).

She is currently  involved in an EU funded FP7 (2012-17) seven country cross-national research project on Female Empowerment in Science and Technology in Academia (FESTA) including Sweden, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, Denmark and Ireland. She has been an Evaluator for the European Science Foundation; for Nordic Spaces; and for the Australian Science Foundation; and was Chair (2010) of the International Research Panel for the awarding of Linnaeus funding.

She is a referee for a number of international peer reviewed academic journals. She was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in the University of Limerick, being appointed by three Presidents (2000–10 inclusive). She has been a visiting professor at the Institute of Education in London; at the University of Aveiro; at GEXcel Linkoping; at Deakin University and at the University of Melbourne.

Pat’s publications can be viewed here.