ASEM LLL Hub Forum 2020 Speakers

*More speakers to be added*

Professor John O’ Halloran

Professor John O’Halloran is Interim President at University College Cork.

Prior to taking up this role in September 2020, he served as Deputy President & Registrar and led UCC’s first Academic Strategy to reimagine the curriculum, transform assessment and nurture graduate attributes to position UCC students for their future world of work. Having formerly served as Vice-President for Teaching & Learning, and as Vice-Head of the College of Science, Engineering & Food Science, he is an academic leader with an ambitious vision for the future of Higher Education.

Professor O’Halloran has delivered transformation through collaboration on a range of Higher Education objectives including the advancement of research; enhancement of learning; digital education; lifelong learning; and professional development. He is committed to developing an inclusive culture at UCC – one where equality is upheld, and diversity is respected. He is also dedicated to putting sustainability at centre stage in UCC, in the community and beyond.

Professor O’Halloran holds the Chair in Zoology at UCC and previously held academic posts at Colby College in the USA and at the University of Wales. He has published 250 research papers and several book chapters aimed at developing a deeper understanding of the ecological impacts of land-use change, climate change and environmental contaminants.

Professor Maria Slowey

Maria Slowey is Professor and Founding Director of the Higher Education Research Centre (HERC) Dublin City University (DCU) Ireland, where she also served as Vice-President (Learning Innovation). She previously worked in senior roles in universities in Scotland, England and Ireland, including: Professor and Director of Adult and Continuing Education and Vice-Dean Research, University of Glasgow, Scotland (1992-2004); Head of the Centre for Continuing Education and Widening Access, Northumbria University, England (1984-1992); and Lecturer in Adult and Community Education, National University of Ireland Maynooth (1983-84).

Maria Slowey’s research and policy activities focus on the sociology of lifelong learning, equity of access to higher education and comparative policy analysis. She has published widely on these matters and been advisor at national and international levels to a range of bodies, including: International Expert on EU/Australia Aid project Supporting the Development of the Indonesian Qualifications Framework (IQF) (2015); OECD (including National Review of the Indonesian education system, 2014); UNESCO; EC; European Universities Association; Council of Europe; European Training Foundation; Scottish Parliament; Irish Universities Association; Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Funding Councils of England and Scotland. She is active in relevant learned societies and has been elected Executive member of the Society for Research in Higher Education Universities Association for Lifelong Learning and the Higher Education Reform (HER) Network. She is an Academician of the British Academy of Social Sciences (2009) Vice-Chair of the Royal Irish Academy Committee for Social Sciences (2014-17) and, in 2015, was inaugurated into the International Adult Education Hall of Fame.

Leonie Nagarajan

eonie NAGARAJAN has been leading the Education Department of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) since 2014. She is responsible for the conceptualization and execution of a programme portfolio covering 51 countries across Asia and Europe. Her work addresses education policies and higher education cooperation, activities in the field of lifelong learning as well as experiential learning and skills development for young people. Prior to that, Leonie was Chief of Staff and advised and supported ASEF Executive Directors, seconded by the French and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the planning and implementation of ASEF’s long-range strategy, programmes and operations.

Leonie’s started her professional career in the fields of international relations, communication and public affairs. She worked for the House of World Cultures in Berlin, the newspaper Berliner Zeitung and gained working experiences at the Pretoria News and the Icelandic national broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV). Having studied in Berlin, Germany, with a stint at Háskóli Íslands in Reykjavik, Iceland, she received her Master’s degree in Communication Sciences with minors in Cultural and Political Sciences from the Free University and the Humboldt University of Berlin. Next to her international-oriented work at ASEF, she volunteers in the local education sector in Singapore and co-chairs the Executive Committee of a Parents Group in a public Primary School.

Niamh O’ Reilly

Niamh O’Reilly is CEO of AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation in Ireland. Niamh is an educationalist with expertise in educational equality, learner voice, community education, policy analysis, organisational development and governance. Niamh is Chair of the Irish COVID 19 tertiary education task group on Mitigating Educational Disadvantage. She was appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills to two Irish State Boards: Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) and SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority. Her work at a European level includes acting as the designated national coordinator of the European Agenda for Adult Learning in Ireland and she served as an elected Board Member of the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) for 3 terms (2011-2017). She has lectured on adult learning in a number of Higher Education Institutions and has recently passed her PhD viva, on the role of community education in contributing to higher education access policy, at Maynooth University.

Gavin Clinch

After graduating from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, Gavin practiced as an architect in the UK and Germany for 15 years. Since joining IT Sligo in 2001 he has lectured in architecture and was centrally involved in the development and professional accreditation of a number of Degree and Masters Architecture programmes. Gavin has many years of online teaching experience.

In his current role as Head of Online Learning (Student Experience), Gavin has responsibility for the continuous improvement of online education and student experience. His current work has a focus on, MOOCs, micro-credentials, assessment of learning, recognition of prior learning (RPL), and making higher education more flexible and accessible. He is Chair of the Institute’s Learning, Teaching, and Assessment Committee and a National Forum Associate.

Gavin is President of the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) and Chair of the Higher Education Lifelong Learning Ireland Network (HELLIN) for 2020. Gavin has presented papers and keynote addresses at numerous education conferences. He can be contacted at clinch.gavin@itsligo.ie or on Twitter @gavinclinch.

Alma Gonzalez

Dr. Alma Gonzalez is a practitioner and researcher in the field of Education Management and Development. She holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Studies from the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and has over 10 years of experience as a strategic learning and development consultant. As the Managing Partner at STRATHA Learning Corporation, a global talent development firm, Alma works with organisations of all sizes in a variety of sectors, bridging the gap between academia and industry to provide effective education solutions that improve workforce performance and business results. Alma’s research interests lie at the intersection of higher education, corporate training, and industrial transformation. Her most recent research explores university-industry collaboration on workforce development in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She is currently a visiting researcher at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Raúl Valdés Cotera

Raúl Valdés Cotera is a Team Leader at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and manager of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. For more than fifteen years, he has been working in international organisations in the field of public policies, lifelong learning and adult education. He has led various research and advocacy projects such as the Regional Report of Adult Education in Latin America (2007), the Conceptual Evolution and Policy Developments in Lifelong Learning (2011), the Glossary for Adult Education in Latin America (2013), Unlocking the Potential of Urban Communities (2015 & 2017). Raúl holds a master degree in Statistics, another in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Education.

Denis Barrett

Denis Barrett is Cork Learning City Co-ordinator with Cork City Council, a partnership including Cork Education and Training Board, Cork Institute of Technology, UCC and other statutory and non-statutory partners promoting learning of all kinds, for people of all ages interests and abilities. A founder member of Cork Lifelong Learning Festival in 2003, of EcCoWeLL Cork in 2012 and of Growing Lifelong Learning in Cork (GlliC) in 2014, A key member of the team that partnered with UNESCO in hosting the 3rd International Conference on Learning Cities in 2017, Denis has presented on Cork Learning City at global conferences . He has previously held many roles across Formal, Non-formal and Informal Education including in Third Level, Further Education, Second Level, Primary Level and Youthwork Services.

info@corklearningcity.ie