IrishRSA Committee 2022/2023
| FUNCTION | NAME | HEI |
| Chair | Dr Richard Vance-Lombard | MU |
| Vice-Chair | Dr Andrew P Allen | TCD |
| Secretary | Dr Michael Creane | NUIG |
| Treasurer | Dr Gordon Dalton | UCC |
| International officer | Dr Rosarii Griffin | UCC |
| EDI officer | Dr Féaron Cassidy | MU |
| Ordinary member | Dr Darren Fayne | TCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Aimee Smith | UCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Melissa Sharp | RCSI |
| Ordinary member | Dr Austyn Matheson | RCSI |
| Ordinary member | Dr Valesca Lima | DCU |
| Ordinary member | Dr Alicja Bobek | DCU |
| Ordinary member | Dr Clara Sanz | NUIG |
IrishRSA Committee 2021/2022
| FUNCTION | NAME | HEI |
| Chair | Dr Andrew P Allen | TCD |
| Vice-Chair | Dr Richard Vance-Lombard | MU |
| Secretary | Dr Michael Creane | NUIG |
| Treasurer | Dr Gordon Dalton | UCC |
| International officer | Dr Rosarii Griffin | UCC |
| Ordinary member | Dr Darren Fayne | TCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Tara Dirilgen | UCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Stephanie Annett | RCSI |
| Ordinary member | Dr Richard Carroll | RCSI |
IrishRSA Committee 2020/2021
| FUNCTION | NAME | HEI |
| Chair | Dr Andrew P Allen | TCD |
| Vice-Chair | Dr Valesca Lima | MU |
| Secretary | Dr Michael Creane | NUIG |
| Treasurer | Dr Rosarii Griffin | UCC |
| International officer | Dr Gordon Dalton | UCC |
| Ordinary member | Dr Darren Fayne | TCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Yulia Subbotina | UCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Tara Dirilgen | UCD |
| Ordinary member | Dr Stephanie Annett | RCSI |
| Ordinary member | Dr Richard Carroll | RCSI |
Dr Richard Vance-Lombard is currently a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Psychology and Assisting Living and Learning Institute, Maynooth University. He is Chair of the Irish Research Staff Association for 2022-2023, and was Vice-Chair for 2021-2022. He has been Vice-Chair of Maynooth University Researchers’ Association since 2021. His current research interests include: psychosocial and participatory processes and outcomes in health and disability; quality of life; how behaviour and environment interface with participatory care, and; evidence synthesis. He completed a PhD in psychology at Dublin City University.
Dr Andrew P. Allen is the Vice Chair of the Irish Research Staff Association, and Communications Officer of the Trinity Research Staff Association. He was previously a founding member of Maynooth University Researchers Association, and prior to that Media & Communications Chair at UCC Research Staff Association. He is the Irish Open Science Ambassador for Eurodoc. Dr Allen completed a PhD in psychology at Cardiff University and a Master’s in psychology by research at Trinity College Dublin. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability.
Dr Michael (Mikey) Creane (BSc, MSc, PhD) is a Research Fellow in the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS) in NUI Galway. His research focuses on the clinical and preclinical translation of cell-based therapies for vascular diseases. Mikey is a Research Staff representative on Academic Council, CMNHS Research Committee, CMNHS Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Well Being committee and the School of Medicine Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team in NUI Galway. Mikey, as an early career researcher, represents Irish RSA on the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) Higher Education Futures working group and the RIA Young Academy working group.
Dr Gordon Dalton, PhD iis a Renewable Energy Economics Engineer, senior research fellow at PLOCAN Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands. Gordon’s work covers the broad economic and socio-economic analysis of the emerging ocean energy industry in Europe, as well as creating business models for emerging technologies. He is the Treasurer of IrishRSA and Chair of the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICoRSA).
Dr Rosarii Griffin is currently the International Officer of the Irish Research Staff Assocation (IrishRSA). She is also the Chair of University College Cork, Researcher Staff Association (UCCRSA) and the Director of the International Consortium of Researcher Staff Associations (ICoRSA). Her expertise lies in the area of Education (Pedagogy), and has two Masters in Education (M.Ed (UCC) & MSc.(OXON). Dr Rosarii Griffin also has an award-winning Doctorate from Oxford University for her ‘International and Comparative Education’ research (DPhil, OXON). Subsequently, Dr Rosarii Griffin was the Director of a Centre for Global Development, Limerick, Ireland coordinating six international Higher Education (€1.8m euro) Irish Aid/HEA projects promoting teacher capacity (at HE level) in Lesotho and Uganda. She has since participated in Wellcome Trust projects in Malawi and World Bank/UNESCO consultancies on educational research projects. Dr Griffin currently teaches in ‘Education for Global Sustainable Development’ and convenes seminars and lectures series in the area. Rosarii is an Executive Board Director of the Centre for Global Development (CGD) at University College Cork (UCC). Dr Rosarii Griffin has published six books on the topic of global sustainable education and development and is working on a 7th book. Earlier in her career, Dr Griffin qualified as a second level school teacher (teacher of English & French) and taught for some time in single-sex and co-educational secondary schools. Dr Rosarii Griffin currently teaches and researches at UCC, Ireland, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), London, UK. In her spare time Rosarii reads, writes and runs, and is the fun mum of two vivacious children.
Dr Féaron Cassidy is a postdoctoral researcher in the Obesity Immunology Lab at the Kathleen Lonsdale Institute of Human Health Research at Maynooth University (MU). Her work focuses on the interface between metabolic health and immunology, and is funded by the National Children’s Research Centre in Ireland.Understanding this interplay is crucial for the well-being of people with obesity who are at increased risk from a number of diseases, including autoimmune, inflammatory and infectious diseases – and even cancer.Dr Cassidy has a particular interest in equality, diversity and inclusion and has previously held the position of Chair at the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) Women in Science and Engineering Committee, has sat on the Athena SWAN committee at QMUL, currently sits on the University Gender Equality Steering Group at MU, is an Early Career Lead for the Physiological Society and is the Postdoctoral Representative for the Faculty of Science and Engineering at MU. Dr Cassidy plays an active role in STEM outreach and has previously produced a video series for children promoting STEM subjects.
Dr Darren Fayne is the chair of the Trinity Research Staff Association, represents research staff on the College Research Committee and served on the Board of Trinity College Dublin from 2016-2020. He’s a member of IFUT and represents Irish researchers on Eurodoc. He’s currently working with Eurodoc on a project surveying postdoc employment conditions across Europe.Dr Darren Fayne holds a PhD from Dublin City University in computational and organic chemistry, an Advanced Diploma in Project Management and an MEd in Higher Education. He worked for two years at Solvay Pharmaceuticals in Hannover, Germany as a molecular designer. In 2005 Dr Fayne joined the Molecular Design Group in Trinity College Dublin as a Senior Research Fellow. His research focus is the rational computational design of novel small molecule modulators of key disease related proteins. In the late 2000’s, he co-founded and served as a director of a rational drug design campus spin-out company. To date he has successfully filed two patents, published 45 articles in peer-reviewed journals and one book chapter.
Dr Melissa Sharp (BS, MPH, PhD) is Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science. She represents the RCSI Postdoc Society and is one of its founding members. Dr. Sharp is a trained epidemiologist currently working on clinical guideline development, science communication, and evidence synthesis. She holds a joint doctorate in Epidemiology from the University of Paris and University of Split, as a part of the Methods in Research on Research (MiRoR) international consortium dedicated to reducing waste in research. She also earned a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology with a Graduate Certificate in Public Health Informatics from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a Minor in Women and Gender Studies from Michigan State University.
Dr Valesca Lima is a former vice-chair of the Irish Research Staff Association (2020-2021) and one of its co-founders. She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at Dublin City University, specialising in the fields of housing policy, governance and citizen participation. In the period of 2019-2021, she was the chair of the Maynooth University Researchers’ Association (MURA). Valesca has been actively advocating for the interests of academic researchers with the aim of fostering sustainable careers since 2018. Additionally, she currently serves as the co-director of Women in Research Ireland (WIRI), a charity supporting women and minorities in research and academia in Ireland.