ESRI - Key Persons


Abian Garcia Rodriguez

Job Titles:
  • a Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Research Area ( S )
Abian Garcia Rodriguez joined the ESRI as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in September 2015. Abian holds a PhD from the European University Institute and an MSc (Economics) from the Universitat de Barcelona. His doctoral dissertation examined the impact of fiscal and monetary unions on competitiveness, debt accumulation and fiscal policy effectiveness. Abian's primary research interest is economic modelling, alongside fiscal decentralization, labour economics (in particular, public sector employment), public economics and corruption-tax evasion. Before joining the ESRI, Abian worked as an external consultant for the International Labour Organization, as an Economist for the Employer's Association of the Canary Islands and as an intern in the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Government of the Canary Islands.

Achim Ahrens

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
  • Research Fellow
Achim Ahrens was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ESRI from September 2017 to August 2019. He holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from Heriot-Watt University. Prior to taking up his role at the ESRI, he worked as a Research Associate in Heriot-Watt University. At the ESRI, Achim worked on regional topics, commuting behaviour and the evaluation of Rent Pressure Zones in Ireland. Achim's research interests include applied econometrics, Machine Learning and spatial econometrics. In September 2019 he joined the Public Policy Group (https://pp.ethz.ch/) at the ETH Zurich.

Agathe Simon

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Agathe joined the Economic and Social Research Institute as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Social Research Division, in June 2023. She completed a PhD in Economics at the University of Strasbourg (France). Her PhD thesis focused on unemployment benefits systems and poverty in Europe. Agathe's main research interests include labour economics, poverty and inequality. Previously, Agathe worked as a Research and Teaching Assistant at the University of Strasbourg. Additionally, she has worked as an external consultant at the OECD at the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.

Agnes Aylward

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant
Agnes Aylward (nee Agnes Breathnach) was a Research Assistant in the ESRI from 1974 until 1976. She later worked at the National Office for Science and Technology. Following that she worked in the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism and then as Director of Strategic Development, Teagasc. From 2001-2009 she was Director of the Ireland Newfoundland Programme in the Department of the Taoiseach and chaired committees in EU, UN, OECD and the European Space Agency.

Aidan Sloyan

Job Titles:
  • Intern
Aidan joined the ESRI as an intern in June 2021. He holds a BSc in Economics from University College Dublin. His undergraduate thesis analysed the relationship between healthcare entitlements and healthcare utilisation for elderly people in Ireland.

Aislinn Hoy

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant
  • Research Area ( S )
Aislinn joined the ESRI as a Research Assistant in November 2022. She holds a BA in Economics from University College Dublin, and an MSc in Development Economics from Trinity College Dublin. Aislinn's MSc Thesis focused on the relationship between violence in the community and violence in the household. Aislinn is working on environmental related research in the ESRI.

Alan Barrett

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Chief Executive Officer of the Economic
  • Research Area ( S )
Professor Alan Barrett is the Chief Executive Officer of the Economic and Social Research Institute. As CEO, his primary responsibility is to ensure that the mission of the Institute is fulfilled, that is, "to produce economic and social research on key issues facing Ireland and to communicate research results to inform public policymaking and civil society". More generally, he is responsible for strategic leadership and management, including funding, governance and human resources. Professor Barrett received his Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University in 1994 and joined the ESRI that year. He was seconded to the Department of Finance from 2001 to 2003 and to Trinity College Dublin from 2011 to 2013. Most of his research has been in the areas of labour economics, population economics and macroeconomics. His academic work has been published in journals such as Labour Economics, the Journal of Population Economics, the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, the Industrial and Labor Relations Review, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, the International Migration Review, Population Research and Policy Review, the Economic and Social Review, the National Institute Economic Review and Economics Letters. Early in his career at the ESRI, he undertook work on environmental economics. In 1997, he co-authored a book on environmental policy (The Fiscal System and the Polluter Pays Principle: A Case-study of Ireland, Ashgate: UK). Between 2005 and 2010, he was a lead author of the ESRI's Quarterly Economic Commentary. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Research Fellow with the Institute for Labour Economics (IZA) in Bonn, Germany, an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin. He was a member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council from 2011 to 2015 and a member (ex officio) of the Climate Change Advisory Council from 2015 to 2021. He has chaired each National Economic Dialogue from 2015 to 2021. Since March 2021, he has been a member of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council. He is a frequent contributor to radio and television discussions on economic matters and has been quoted in newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist.

Alexandros Papadopoulos

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant
  • Research Area ( S )
Alexandros joined the ESRI as a Research Assistant in September 2021. Alexandros holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology, as well as a MSc in Applied Psychology and Economic Behaviour, from the University of Bath. His dissertation focused on social factors that affect the learning of radical social norms within a group setting, while his masters thesis examined strategic vs sincere voting behaviour in election scenarios. Alexandros has also been involved in the research apprenticeship scheme of the University of Bath developing models, such as lasso regressions and KNN-algorithms, for predicting success in higher education.

Alyvia McTague

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
Alyvia joined the ESRI in October 2019 as a Research Assistant in the Tax, Welfare, and Pensions team. She holds a BA in Economics and an MSc in Applied Economics, both from UCD. Alyvia has previously worked as a Research Assistant in UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, as well as a Teaching Assistant in the UCD School of Economics. She has also recently worked as a Guest Researcher in the Basque Research Centre for Climate Change in Bilbao, mainly analysing the economic and social costs and benefits of urban green spaces.

Amy Stapleton

Job Titles:
  • EMN Policy Officer
Amy Stapleton works within the Irish National Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN), which is based in the ESRI. The overall objective of the EMN is to improve the availability of, and access to, information concerning migration and asylum at European and Member State level in order to support policy and decision-making in the EU. With a Masters in intercultural mediation and migration studies and a BSc (Hons) in international development and food policy, Amy is currently completing her PhD on migrant youth transitions in the School of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin. Prior to joining the ESRI, Amy worked as a project manager and researcher on several international, national and local commissioned projects, including with the EU Commission and the Council of Europe, actively contributing to evidence based European policy making in the field of youth and migration.

Anne Nolan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
  • Research Professor
Anne Nolan is a Research Professor in the Social Research Division, and joint Research Area Coordinator for Health and Quality of Life Research at the ESRI. She is also a Research Affiliate at the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and on the Study Team Management Group of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study. Her main research interest is health economics, with a particular focus on the social determinants of health, population ageing and healthcare financing and access. She has BA and PhD degrees in Economics from Trinity College Dublin.

Anne O'Leary

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Vice President, Meta

Anne Sheridan

Job Titles:
  • EMN Senior Policy Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
Anne Sheridan works within the Irish National Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN), which is based in the ESRI. The overall objective of the EMN is to improve the availability of, and access to, information concerning migration and asylum at European and Member State level in order to support policy and decision making in the EU. Anne is seconded to the ESRI from the Department of Justice and Equality where she worked in the Immigration and Citizenship Policy Division of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. Anne holds an LL.M in International Human Rights Law from NUI Galway, an LL.B from DIT and an MA (English literature) from NUI Maynooth.

Anousheh Alamir

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Anousheh Alamir is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Social Research division since June 2023. She is currently working in the Social Inclusion and Equality team. Anousheh received her PhD in Economics from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 2023. Her research interests include inequality, labor, and household economics. Anousheh holds an MRes in Quantitative Economics from the Université libre de Bruxelles, an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Birmingham, and a BSc in Applied Mathematics from the Université de Bordeaux. Her previous work experience includes a traineeship at the European Commission and four years as EU policy analyst for UniCredit Group.

Aoife Brick

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
  • Social Research Division As a Research Officer
Aoife Brick joined the ESRI's Social Research Division as a Research Officer in July 2014. Between May 2007 and July 2014 she worked as a Research Analyst in the Health Research and Information Division at the ESRI. Aoife studied economics and mathematics at the National University of Ireland, Galway and then went on to complete a Masters in Applied Economics and a PhD (in 2005). Her research on health economics has covered a wide range of health areas, including healthcare reform, pharmaceutical pricing, caesarean section rates and palliative care.

Aykut Mert Yakut

Job Titles:
  • Research Officer
Aykut Mert Yakut holds a PhD in Economics from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. Before joining the ESRI, he worked in the same department as a research and teaching assistant and a postdoctoral researcher. Dr Yakut`s research interests cover computable general equilibrium modelling, social policies, income distribution, labour market, migration, climate change, quantitative analysis, and microeconometrics. At the ESRI Energy team, he works on developing and maintaining a computable general equilibrium model, namely the I3E model (https://www.esri.ie/current-research/the-i3e-model), focusing on the economic and environmental impacts of climate change on the Irish economy. He joined the ESRI in October 2017 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, and he has been appointed as a Research Officer as of November 2019.

Bertrand Maître

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Officer
Bertrand Maître has been at the Economic and Social Research Institute since 1997. He is a Graduate of Economics in the University of La Sorbonne Paris I in 1990. He carries out analysis of the Living in Ireland Panel Survey and the European Community Household Panel data across a range of Irish and European projects. His current research focuses on poverty and inequality, social exclusion and income distribution.

Brian O'Connell

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
Brian O'Connell worked in the Economic Analysis Divison of the ESRI from September 2012 to April 2014 as a Research Assistant having completed his MSc in Political Economy in the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from Trinity. He also worked for a year in the Central Bank of Ireland.During his time with the ESRI, Brian worked as part of the Macro Finance team in the Economic Analysis Division. The primary research focus of the team has been on SME access to finance in Ireland and Europe and its impact on firm performance.

Brigid Laffan

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Emeritus Professor, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute

Cameron Belton

Cameron joined the ESRI in October 2017 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the behavioural economics team. With a background in economics, his research interests lie in utilising experimental methodology to better understand findings of behavioural science that impact on consumer decision making and welfare, and to use these findings to inform policy development. He holds a PhD in Economics at University of East Anglia, and the title of his thesis was ‘Essays on Attention in Individual Decision Making'. He also holds a BSc in Economics and MSc in Experimental Economics, both also from University of East Anglia. During his PhD, he worked as an Associate Tutor within the School of Economics, and supervised postgraduate dissertations in the fields of banking and finance. He has recently co-authored a paper on the role of attention and novelty in economics experiments in Journal of Economic Psychology.

Caoimhe Dempsey

Job Titles:
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Research Area ( S )
Caoimhe joined the ESRI in January 2024 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Social Research Division, working with the Education team. Prior to joining the ESRI, Caoimhe completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests include child, family and school factors that influence the success of children's school transitions and longitudinal educational outcomes. Caoimhe holds a MPhil in Psychology from the University of Cambridge and a Ba in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin. She previously worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Charles Normand

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Ciarán Lavin

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
Ciarán Lavin joined the ESRI in September 2018 as a Research Assistant in the Behavioural Research Unit. He recently completed an MSc in Cognitive Science in UCD and also holds a BSc in Psychology from DCU. He has previously worked as an Associate Marketing Science Analyst with Analytic Partners and as an Intern Research Assistant in Cognitive Pyschology in DCU.

Ciarán Mac Domhnaill

Ciarán Mac Domhnaill worked as a Research Assistant in the ESRI between 2018 and 2020. His work in the ESRI was focused primarily on digital communications, on disability supports and on the effects of the environment on health.

Claire Buckley - CHRO

Job Titles:
  • Head of Human Resources
Claire Buckley has overall responsibility for all aspects of the ESRI's HR function. Prior to joining the Institute in January 2008, Claire held a range of HR management roles in the IT industry. She holds a BA (Hons) in Economics and French, a Diploma in Business Studies, a Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection, a Certificate in Mediation and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Claire Keane

Job Titles:
  • Associate Research Professor
  • Research Area ( S )
  • Senior Research Officer Research in Taxation
Claire Keane is a Senior Research Officer Research in Taxation, Welfare & Pensions at the ESRI. Her research interests include labour economics, taxation, welfare and pension policy as well as poverty and income distribution analysis. She coordinates work on the ESRI tax-benefit microsimulation model and leads the ESRI's work as the Irish country team for the European-wide tax-benefit model, EUROMOD. Between 2015 and 2017 she worked as an economist in the Social Policy Division of the OECD in Paris working mainly on the issue of unemployed and inactive youth with a focus on policies to reengage them in employment and education. She is part of the Technical Advisory Group at DEASP. Claire has published a variety of policy related work, both at the ESRI and OECD as well as peer-reviewed journal articles including articles in the European Economic Review, Fiscal Studies, LABOUR and the IZA Journal of European Labor Studies. Claire joined the Social Policy division in September 2007. She holds a Bachelor of Business Studies degree (specialising in economics and finance), a Master's degree in Economics and a PhD in Economics from University College Dublin. She worked in the financial services and regulatory sector before working at the ESRI.

Conor Keegan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
Conor was employed in the ESRI as a Senior Research Officer. He holds BA and MSc degrees in Economics, both awarded by TCD. In 2016 Conor completed his PhD in TCD investigating aspects of competition in the Irish private health insurance market. His main research interests include competition and consumer mobility in health insurance markets, healthcare financing and utilisation, and Irish health policy. During his time at the Institute Conor contributed to the development of the ESRI's healthcare projection model, Hippocrates, and undertook research related to healthcare reform in Ireland. In August 2022 Conor joined Vhi healthcare to take up a position as head of health insurance regulation.

David Meier

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant
David joined the ESRI as a Research Assistant in December 2021. He holds a BA in Economics & Philosophy from Osnabrück University, an MSc in International Economics from the University of Göttingen, as well as an MSc in Economic Development & Globalization from the University of Groningen. His master's thesis examined the relationship between the statutory power of labour unions and unemployment rates. He is currently working at the environmental research area of the ESRI.

David Moloney

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Secretary - General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Deirdre Robertson

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
Deirdre Robertson is a Senior Research Officer in the Behavioural Research Unit. She uses insights from psychology and behavioural economics to design experiments that can inform policy in multiple areas including financial decision making, environmental behaviour and health. Much of her research focusses on the application of behavioural science to public health. Her recent work has involved laboratory experiments, online experiments and field trials on food choice, physical activity, antibiotic usage, perceptions of ageing and vaccination intentions. Deirdre holds a BA and a PhD from Trinity College Dublin, a PG Diploma in Statistics also from Trinity College Dublin and an MSc from the University of Sussex. Prior to joining the ESRI, Deirdre was a postdoctoral researcher in Columbia University and an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow in Trinity College Dublin.

Delma Byrne

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S ) Education
Delma Byrne worked as a Post Doctoral Fellow in the Social Research Division from 2007 to 2010 when she took up a position of lecturer in Sociology at NUI Maynooth. Her primary area of interest is in social stratification in education and the labour market. This work spans primary, second-level and higher education sectors as well as post secondary education and training; transitions between education and the labour market and the evaluation of educational interventions. Dr Byrne was awarded a PhD for doctoral research conducted at the Centre for Educational Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, and has an M.Sc in Applied Social Research from Trinity College, Dublin. Her PhD research focused on the determinants and effects of work undertaken by young people before leaving school through part-time job holding and school organised work experience. Much of her research to date has examined education and labour market issues with particular reference to youth. Her research on second-level education has focused on school-to-work transitions, the dynamics of early school leaving, curriculum differentiation, the integration of newcomer (immigrant) students in Irish primary and second-level schools, and the evaluation of educational programmes at second level (Transition Year, Leaving Certificate Applied). Delma has also worked on Higher Education issues related to access, class inequalities and student experience. In relation to wider labour market issues, she has also worked on issues relating to over-education, job search strategies and the impact of employer-led training on wages. She is currently a reviewer for Irish Educational Studies and The Journal of Youth Studies.

Dervla Potter

Job Titles:
  • EMN Information Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
Dervla joined the ESRI in October 2023 as Information Officer within the Irish National Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN), which is based in the ESRI. The overall objective of the EMN is to improve the availability of, and access to, information concerning migration and asylum at European and Member State level in order to support policy and decision-making in the EU. Dervla holds a BA in Human Rights from the Irish Centre of Human Rights in the University of Galway and an MA in Refugee Integration from Dublin City University. She is a PhD Candidate in the School of Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Studies (SALIS) in DCU where she is researching statelessness and forced displacement. Prior to joining the ESRI, Dervla worked with international and national NGO's based in Ireland in the field of humanitarian emergency response and youth justice.

Dora Tuda

Job Titles:
  • Research Officer
Dora joined the ESRI in September 2019. She holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College Dublin. Her main research interests include labour economics, inequality and public economics. Previously, Dora worked as a Research Assistant in the European Central Bank. She also holds an MSc Economics degree from Tilburg University and a BA degree from University of Zagreb.

Dorothy Watson

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
Dorothy Watson was a Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute. She was Co-Principal Investigator of Growing Up in Ireland, together with Emer Smyth. As well as working with the GUI team on all stages of research on children and young adults, she is involved with other ESRI colleagues in research projects in the areas of equality and social inclusion. Dorothy received a Bachelor's degree in Social Science from University College Cork; and her MSc and PhD (both in sociology) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She was a Research Fellow of the ESRI from 1983 to 1986. Her areas of interest are Children and young adults, social inclusion, equality, quality of life, and survey methodology.

Dr Adele Whelan

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
Dr Adele Whelan is a Senior Research Officer in the Economic Analysis Division. Her policy research has bridged quantitative and qualitative research methods across a number of core areas including labour market economics, economics of education, programme evaluation, community development and social inclusion. Adele has published research relating to education and skills mismatches across Europe in academic journals such as the Oxford Economic Papers, World Development, B.E Journal of Theoretical Economics, B.E Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, Studies in Higher Education and the Journal of Education and Work. Adele obtained her PhD in Economics from Maynooth University in 2014 and has previously held roles as a lecturer in economics at Maynooth University and University College Dublin. Recently, she contributed to a major study of the Further Education and Training in Ireland and a European Commission funded project Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (STYLE) examining youth education and skills mismatch. Her current European-funded projects include the CHAISE project tasked by the European Commission to develop a new skills development strategy to address the lack of talent in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) across Europe and Cowork4YOUTH examining youth employment opportunities in EEA peripheral regions. Her current national programmes of research are related to developments in the Irish labour market and the shifting nature of demand for skills, and also the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment, and social disadvantage in Ireland. Furthermore, she regularly contributes to assessments and thematic reports for the European Commission on labour market reform in Ireland.

Dr Anne Devlin

Job Titles:
  • Research Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
Dr Anne Devlin is a Research Officer in the Economic Analysis Division. Her research interests are primarily in the areas of labour economics, economics of disability, economics of education, and social inclusion. Anne has also been involved in research projects examining various aspects of the all-island economy. Anne obtained her PhD in Economics from Queen's University Belfast in 2021. Her PhD research examined the high levels of disability in Northern Ireland and whether there is a relationship with the Northern Irish ‘Troubles'. During her doctoral studies Anne also conducted a research internship at the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service. Anne holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Management from Ulster University. Prior to joining the Institute in December 2020 Anne held a post at Ulster University. Anne is a Visiting Researcher at Queen's Business School, Queen's University Belfast and a Steering Group member of the All-Island Social Security Network.

Dr Brendan Walsh

Job Titles:
  • Senior Research Officer
  • Research Area ( S )
Dr Brendan Walsh is a Senior Research Officer in the Social Research Division, who joined the ESRI in July 2016. He was awarded a PhD in 2014 from NUIG, his thesis was titled "An economic examination of cancer screening". He holds a M.A. in Economics and a B.A in Economics and History from NUIG. Prior to this position, Brendan was a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Health Sciences at City University London from 2014-2016. As part of his PhD, he was also a visiting research scholar in the Department of Health Services at the University of Washington, Seattle from 2011-2013. His main research interest is health economics, with a particular focus on healthcare costs, access, and inequalities, and the economics of cancer.

Dr Conor O'Toole

Job Titles:
  • Associate Research Professor at the Economic
  • Research Area ( S )
Dr Conor O'Toole is an Associate Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute. He previously held the position of Manager - Real-Financial Linkages Team and Senior Economist at the Financial Stability Division of the Central Bank of Ireland. At the Central Bank of Ireland, Conor worked extensively on macroprudential policy issues with specific focus on the mortgage market. He also worked on broader issues regarding the surveillance of household and corporate financing vulnerabilities. Conor was a member of the European Central Bank's Macroprudential Policy Group Taskforce on Operationalising Macroprudential Research. The group aimed to produce a common set of tools that can be harmonised across Eurozone members to understand the impact of macroprudential measures. He was also a member of the Central Bank of Ireland's Taskforce on Crowdfunding and the Taskforce on Mortgage Interest Rate Pricing and Structure as well as representing the Central Bank on the Government SME State Bodies Group. Conor was the founding Editor of the Central Banks' Household Credit Market Report. Before joining the Central Bank, Conor worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the ESRI and as an economist for IBM's Global Centre for Economic Analysis, London Economics and Indecon Economic Consultants. He also worked as a PhD researcher at the United Nations University -World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland. He holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College Dublin. Conor's main research expertise is in household finance, macroprudential policies in the housing market as well as access to finance and the financing of small-and medium-sized enterprises. However, he has a broader expertise in areas relating to the interaction of finance and the real economy, international investment, applied microeconometrics of banking, stresstesting households and corporates and financial crises and macro-financial stability. He also works in the area of international development finance. His research has been published or is forthcoming in the Review of Finance, Journal of Financial Stability, Journal of Banking and Finance, the Journal of Corporate Finance, the Journal of International Development, the Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economics, Food Policy, Journal of Globalisation and Development and the Economic and Social Review. His research on investment financing in East Asia has been published in a recent VOX e-book on Understanding Banks in Emerging Markets (Ed. Beck, De Haas, Ongena). In his current role, Conor will have responsibility for research on housing and household financing, enterprise development and corporate finance and banking. This will include research on access to finance issues and understanding financial vulnerabilities. He will also contribute to the ESRI's macroeconomic forecasting group as a contributing author to the Quarterly Economic Commentary. It his previous role at the institute, Conor worked on a number of research projects in the area of financing SMEs including work for the Irish Ministry of Finance on bank credit access for Irish firms. He was a co-author on the European Competitiveness Report 2014 Chapter on Access to Finance and Firm Growth completed for EC DG Enterprise and Industry.

Dr. Adele Bergin

Job Titles:
  • Associate Research Professor
  • Research Area ( S )
Dr. Adele Bergin is an Associate Research Professor at the ESRI. Her research interests are in labour economics and macroeconomics. In labour economics, she has a particular interest in labour market transitions, mismatch in the labour market and migration. In macroeconomics, she is currently working on developing a new macro-econometric structural model, COSMO (COre Structural MOdel of the Irish economy), that will be used for forecasting and policy analysis. She also maintains the HERMES structural macroeconomic model of the Irish economy. She is also responsible for a demographic model which has been used in preparing population and labour force projections and has also been used in studies to examine the long-term implications of population ageing on the public finances. She completed a B.A. in Economics in Trinity College Dublin and a M.Sc. in Economics and Econometrics in the University of Bristol. In 2011 she completed a Ph.D at NUI Maynooth on job mobility and measurement error.

Duncan McVicar

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Elisa Staffa

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Emer Smyth

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )
  • Research Area ( S ) Education

Emma Quinn

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Eoin Kenny

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Evie McCullough

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Féidhlim McGowan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Gabriel Makhlouf

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council

H. Xavier Jara

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Helen Russell

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

James Laurence

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

John Evans

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Judith Delaney

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Katy Hayward

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Professor of Political Sociology, QUB

Kelly C De Bruin

Job Titles:
  • Research Officer
  • Research Area ( S )

Laura Gormley

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Lea Hauser

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Leonie Hill

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Luke Duggan - CHRO

Job Titles:
  • Head of Human Resources
  • Research Area ( S )

Maev-Ann Wren

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Mark Regan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Martina Lawless

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Michael O'Callaghan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Orlaigh Quinn

Job Titles:
  • Secretary - General of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation
The Institute enjoys full academic independence and is answerable ultimately to its subscribing members, currently over 300 companies and individuals. The Council is the effective board of directors of the Institute. Council meetings are attended by the Company Secretary and two representatives of the Management Committee in a non-voting capacity. Apart from the Director of the Institute, who is an ex-officio member, ESRI Council members are not remunerated.

Owen Douglas

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Pat O'Connor

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S ) Education Growing Up in Ireland

Paul Egan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Paul Redmond

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Pete Lunn

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Sandra McNally

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Professor of Economics, University of Surrey

Seamus McGuinness

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S ) Education Social Inclusion and Equality

Seamus O'Malley

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Sean O'Driscoll

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the ESRI Council

Selina McCoy

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Seán Lyons

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Shane Timmons

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S ) Education Social Inclusion and Equality Health and Quality of Life Behavioural Science

Shannen Enright

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Shay Cody

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council

Sheelah Connolly

Job Titles:
  • Project Administrator
  • Research Area ( S )

Simona Sándorová

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Sir John Rogerson


Thia Hennessy

Job Titles:
  • Member of the ESRI Council
  • Dean, Cork University Business School, UCC

Vincent O'Sullivan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Weijie Yan

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Wendy Disch

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )

Ylva Andersson

Job Titles:
  • Research Area ( S )