22 Key Professional Development Leaders in Dublin
- Jonno White
- 6 days ago
- 13 min read
Last updated: July 2026
Introduction
Professional development is quietly one of the most important jobs in any Dublin institution. Behind every well-taught university module, every competent newly qualified doctor and every upskilled workforce sits someone whose actual job is to help other professionals get better at what they do. These people rarely appear on a "leaders to watch" list, yet they shape the standard of teaching, training and continuing education across the city.
This list gathers 22 of them: the people who lead professional development inside Dublin's universities, health colleges, professional bodies and the national workforce-development agency. Some carry the title of Head or Director. Others are academic developers, learning technologists and education specialists who design the programmes their colleagues learn from. Together they cover higher education, medicine, law and enterprise, which is most of the professional life of the city.
A note on this list: I compiled it, and I am not on it. I work in leadership and Working Genius facilitation rather than academic or workforce development, and I put this together because the people who develop other professionals are the ones who set the ceiling for everyone else. When professional development is done well, whole organisations lift. When it is neglected, good people quietly plateau.
The people below are listed for their own work, not their connection to me.
You will find leaders here from Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, TU Dublin, RCSI, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the National College of Ireland, the Law Society of Ireland and Skillnet Ireland. Every one of them was verified from their organisation's own current pages. If you care about how Dublin trains its professionals, these are names worth knowing.
Why Professional Development Matters
Professional development is what keeps a qualification meaningful long after graduation. A degree or a professional exam marks a starting point, and everything that follows depends on continuing education, mentoring and structured practice. The leaders on this list build the systems that make that continued learning happen, whether for lecturers, solicitors, doctors or the wider workforce.
The scale is larger than most people assume. In 2024 alone, Skillnet Ireland networks trained more than 90,000 people across Irish businesses, and every one of Ireland's universities runs accredited programmes to develop the people who teach in them. Recognition follows quality here. Trinity's Centre for Academic Practice received a 2025 National SATLE Impact Award from the Higher Education Authority and the National Forum for its work embedding sustainability across the curriculum.
As its head Dr Pauline Rooney put it, "We are delighted to receive this national award".
That work matters because teaching and training are learnable skills, not innate gifts. As Trinity's Professor Vincent Wade noted, "Trinity is committed to empower our staff to better support student learning". The same logic runs through every organisation on this list. You can read our companion round-up of thought leaders in organisational development for the broader field, and our list of outstanding school principals for the schools side of the same question.
How This List Was Compiled
I built this list from the ground up, organisation by organisation. I started by enumerating the Dublin bodies whose core work includes professional development, then went to each one's own leadership, staff or team pages and recorded the people named there with their exact current roles. I verified that each person still holds the role, and I checked the current organisation name against each body's own site.
I kept the list honest about scope. It is Dublin-specific, so I set aside strong candidates whose first-party pages I could not confirm on the day, and I did not stretch the geography to pad the number. That is why this is a list of 22 rather than a round 50. For a job title with no central register, a verified 22 across eight institutions is a truer picture than a longer list I could not stand over.
No one here was chosen for a social-media following. They were chosen for the role they hold and the work it carries.
Trinity College Dublin: The Centre for Academic Practice
Trinity's Centre for Academic Practice is the unit that helps academics across the university teach and support students well, and its recent national award put its work in the spotlight.
1. Dr Pauline Rooney
Trinity College Dublin
Dr Pauline Rooney is Head of the Centre for Academic Practice at Trinity College Dublin.
Rooney leads the team that runs Trinity's accredited teaching programmes and supports academics across the university in their teaching. The centre's initiative to embed education for sustainable development across disciplines received a 2025 National SATLE Impact Award from the Higher Education Authority and the National Forum. The role sits at the centre of how one of Dublin's universities develops its teaching staff.
Known for: leading academic professional development at Trinity College Dublin.
2. Dr Claire McAvinia
Trinity College Dublin
Dr Claire McAvinia is Senior Academic Developer and Strategic Initiatives Lead in Trinity's Centre for Academic Practice.
The role pairs day-to-day academic development with the longer-term strategic projects that shape how Trinity supports its teaching staff. McAvinia works with colleagues across the university on the design and evaluation of teaching and on centre-wide initiatives that reach beyond any single school or discipline.
Known for: connecting academic development to university-wide strategy.
3. Dr Cicely Roche
Trinity College Dublin
Dr Cicely Roche is a Trinity Education Fellow and Academic Developer in the Centre for Academic Practice.
The fellowship combines hands-on academic development with a focus on education for sustainable development, the theme the centre was recognised for nationally. Roche supports academics to build sustainability and reflective practice into how they design and teach their modules.
Known for: embedding sustainability and reflective practice in university teaching.
Teaching Enhancement at Dublin City University
DCU's Teaching Enhancement Unit is the university's professional development engine for academic staff, running workshops, accredited programmes and consultancies across its campuses.
4. Dr Martina Crehan
Dublin City University
Dr Martina Crehan is Head of the Teaching Enhancement Unit at Dublin City University.
Crehan leads the unit responsible for developing how DCU academics teach, with a background spanning psychology, education, student engagement and curriculum design. The team runs the university's continuing professional development programme for teaching staff and supports course and programme teams across DCU.
Known for: heading university-wide teaching development at DCU.
5. Dr Clare Gormley
Dublin City University
Dr Clare Gormley is a Senior Academic Developer in the DCU Teaching Enhancement Unit.
The role focuses on helping academic staff design programmes and modules that hold up to modern expectations of teaching and assessment. Gormley works across the professional development offerings that the unit provides to schools and disciplines throughout the university.
Known for: senior academic development in higher education.
Profile: https://www.dcu.ie/teu/people
6. Dr Rob Lowney
Dublin City University
Dr Rob Lowney is a Senior Learning Technologist in the DCU Teaching Enhancement Unit.
The role sits where teaching meets technology, helping academics use digital tools so that student learning is genuinely enhanced rather than simply digitised. Lowney supports staff development in technology-enhanced learning across the university's programmes.
Known for: leading learning-technology development at DCU.
Profile: https://www.dcu.ie/teu/people
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Across TU Dublin and NCI
Beyond the older universities, TU Dublin and the National College of Ireland both run dedicated teams that develop how their academics teach and how their programmes are designed.
7. Ciaran O'Leary
TU Dublin
Ciaran O'Leary is Assistant Head of Academic Affairs for Learning, Teaching and Assessment at TU Dublin.
The role leads TU Dublin's academic-developer team, which supports staff, schools and programmes in developing and enhancing teaching and assessment across the university. It is the professional development hub for one of Ireland's technological universities.
Known for: leading learning, teaching and assessment across TU Dublin.
8. Edel Gallagher
TU Dublin
Edel Gallagher is an Academic Developer in TU Dublin's Learning, Teaching and Assessment team.
The role supports academic staff to design, deliver and refine their teaching, working alongside schools and programme teams across the university. Gallagher is part of the small team that carries TU Dublin's day-to-day professional development for teaching.
Known for: academic development in a technological university.
9. Dolores McManus
TU Dublin
Dolores McManus is an Academic Developer in TU Dublin's Learning, Teaching and Assessment team.
The role helps lecturers and programme teams strengthen how they teach and assess, from individual modules to whole programmes. McManus contributes to the workshops and consultancies that make up TU Dublin's professional development offering for staff.
Known for: supporting teaching quality across TU Dublin programmes.
10. Stephanie Roe
National College of Ireland
Stephanie Roe is a Senior Education Specialist at the National College of Ireland.
The role sits within NCI's Centre for Education and Lifelong Learning, which runs programmes for learning professionals alongside early childhood and further education. Roe works on the development of educators and learning practitioners who then carry those skills into their own settings.
Known for: developing learning professionals at NCI.
11. Dr Michael Goldrick
National College of Ireland
Dr Michael Goldrick is an Assistant Professor in Learning and Teaching at the National College of Ireland.
The role focuses on teaching and learning within NCI's Centre for Education and Lifelong Learning, where the college trains educators and develops practitioners. Goldrick contributes to programmes that build the teaching and learning capability of others.
Known for: teaching and learning academic practice at NCI.
12. Dr Meera Oke
National College of Ireland
Dr Meera Oke is an Associate Professor for Early Childhood Education and Care Programmes at the National College of Ireland.
The role leads programmes that prepare and develop the professionals who work with young children, a field where continuing development directly shapes quality of care. Oke sits within the same Centre for Education and Lifelong Learning that anchors NCI's professional development work.
Known for: developing early childhood education professionals.
Health Professions Education Leaders
Medicine has some of the most structured professional development in the country, and Dublin's health colleges lead much of it. On appointment to head RCSI's centre, Professor Fiona Kent was "honoured to take on the role of Director".
13. Professor Fiona Kent
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Professor Fiona Kent is Director of the Health Professions Education Centre at RCSI.
Appointed to the role in April 2026, Kent leads the centre that develops how RCSI educates health professionals, from teaching skills to interprofessional learning. The centre's remit spans the staff development, research and programmes that underpin health education at one of Dublin's specialist universities.
Known for: leading health professions education at RCSI.
14. Dara Cassidy
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Dara Cassidy is Head of Digital Education in the RCSI Health Professions Education Centre.
The role leads how digital and online learning are designed and delivered across RCSI's health education programmes. Cassidy works on the technology and design that make medical and health education work at scale and at distance.
Known for: leading digital education in a health university.
15. Dr Richard Arnett
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Dr Richard Arnett is Director of Psychometrics in the RCSI Health Professions Education Centre.
The role brings rigour to how health professionals are assessed, making sure exams and evaluations are fair and reliable. Arnett sits at the technical heart of the centre's work, where good assessment protects both standards and students.
Known for: assessment and psychometrics in health education.
16. Dr Maeve Doyle
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
Dr Maeve Doyle is Dean of Education and Academic Programmes at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
The role oversees the education and academic programmes through which the college develops doctors across their careers. Doyle leads on how the RCPI designs and delivers the continuing education that keeps physician training current.
Known for: leading physician education programmes at the RCPI.
17. Professor Hilary Hoey
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
Professor Hilary Hoey is Director of Professional Competence at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
The role governs the professional competence schemes that require doctors to keep their skills current throughout practice. Hoey leads the structures that turn continuing professional development from an aspiration into a documented requirement for physicians.
Known for: overseeing professional competence for doctors.
18. Professor Edward McKone
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
Professor Edward McKone is Dean of the Institute of Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
The role leads the institute that trains and develops physicians across many medical specialties. McKone sits among the deans and directors who set the direction of medical education and continuing development at the RCPI.
Known for: leading medical training at the Institute of Medicine.
Professional-Body and National Workforce Development
Professional development reaches well beyond the universities, into the bodies that qualify solicitors and the agency that upskills the national workforce.
19. TP Kennedy
Law Society of Ireland
TP Kennedy is Director of Education at the Law Society of Ireland.
The role leads the Law Society's Law School, which educates trainee solicitors and delivers continuing professional development to qualified solicitors across the country. Kennedy oversees the professional education that every Irish solicitor passes through and returns to.
Known for: directing legal professional education in Ireland.
20. Mark Jordan
Skillnet Ireland
Mark Jordan is Chief Executive of Skillnet Ireland.
Jordan leads the national workforce-development agency whose networks trained 90,136 people across Irish businesses in 2024. The role puts professional development at national scale, connecting enterprises with the skills they need to stay competitive.
Known for: leading Ireland's national workforce-development agency.
21. Eoin McDonnell
Skillnet Ireland
Eoin McDonnell is Head of Strategic Programmes at Skillnet Ireland.
The role shapes the major programmes through which the agency delivers upskilling to businesses and their workforces. McDonnell works on the strategic initiatives that decide where national development effort is concentrated.
Known for: shaping national upskilling programmes.
22. Aoife O'Sullivan
Skillnet Ireland
Aoife O'Sullivan is Head of Network Development and Innovation at Skillnet Ireland.
The role builds and develops the business networks through which Skillnet reaches employers across sectors and regions. O'Sullivan works on how the agency innovates and extends its reach into new areas of the economy.
Known for: developing and innovating national learning networks.
Notable Voices We Almost Included
A few strong candidates just missed the final list, and honesty requires naming why. Áine Galvin, Director of UCD Teaching and Learning, and Lisa O'Regan, Head of Maynooth University's Centre for Teaching and Learning, both lead exactly this kind of work, but their institutions' pages could not be confirmed first-hand on the day, so I held them back rather than list them on weaker evidence. Dr Mark Glynn at the Irish Management Institute was set aside for the same reason. Several more academic developers and education fellows at Trinity, DCU, TU Dublin and RCSI would have earned a place too, but I capped each organisation at three so no single institution could dominate.
Globally famous names in this space, from Brene Brown to Adam Grant, sit outside a list that is deliberately about Dublin.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The most common mistake is treating professional development as an event rather than a system. A single workshop feels productive, but the leaders on this list build ongoing structures, accredited programmes, competence schemes and network development, because that is what actually changes practice. If your development plan is a calendar of one-off sessions, it will disappoint.
A second mistake is separating professional development from strategy. The strongest functions here, from Trinity's strategic initiatives work to Skillnet's programme design, treat development as a lever for organisational goals, not a compliance box. Development that is disconnected from where the organisation is going tends to be the first thing cut when budgets tighten.
A third mistake is ignoring how people learn. Good academic developers and learning technologists design for engagement, reflection and application, not just content delivery. Handing someone a slide deck is not development. The final mistake is underestimating assessment.
As the psychometrics work at RCSI shows, how you measure competence is as important as how you teach it, because unreliable assessment undermines everything upstream of it.
Implementation Guide
If you want to build a professional development function that resembles the best on this list, start with clarity about who you are developing and to what standard. The health colleges begin from defined competencies, and that discipline is worth borrowing whatever your sector. Write down what good looks like before you design a single session.
Next, put someone genuinely in charge. Every strong function here has a named leader, a Head, a Director or a Dean, whose actual job is professional development rather than a task squeezed around other duties. Ownership is what turns good intentions into programmes that run year after year.
Then build for continuity rather than events. Design accredited or structured pathways, mentoring and communities of practice so that learning compounds over time. Add learning technology deliberately, using it to extend reach and reflection rather than to digitise a lecture. Bring in credible assessment so people, and the organisation, can see genuine progress.
Finally, connect the whole thing to strategy and measure it honestly. Decide what outcomes matter, track them, and be willing to retire what does not work. The leaders on this list are trusted because their work produces visible results, from national awards to tens of thousands of people trained, and that credibility is earned through evidence rather than activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who leads professional development in Dublin's universities?
Dedicated teaching-and-learning centres lead it in each university. At Trinity it is the Centre for Academic Practice under Dr Pauline Rooney, at DCU the Teaching Enhancement Unit under Dr Martina Crehan, and at TU Dublin the Learning, Teaching and Assessment team under Ciaran O'Leary. These units run accredited programmes, workshops and consultancies that develop how academics teach.
What is the difference between an academic developer and a learning technologist?
Both develop teaching, from different angles. An academic developer works on how staff design, deliver and assess their teaching, while a learning technologist focuses on using digital tools so that technology genuinely improves learning. In practice they work closely together, as the DCU Teaching Enhancement Unit shows, and many professionals move between the two.
How is professional development regulated for doctors and solicitors?
Through the professional bodies. The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland runs professional competence schemes, led by its Director of Professional Competence, that require doctors to maintain and document their skills. The Law Society of Ireland educates and continuously develops solicitors through its Law School under its Director of Education. Both make continuing development a formal, ongoing requirement.
What does Skillnet Ireland do?
Skillnet Ireland is the national workforce-development agency. It works with businesses through industry-led networks to deliver upskilling, and in 2024 its networks trained more than 90,000 people across the country. It represents professional development at national scale, connecting enterprises with the specific skills they need.
Final Thoughts
The people on this list will not trend on social media, and that is rather the point. They are the professionals whose whole job is making other professionals better, across Dublin's universities, health colleges, professional bodies and workforce. When they do their work well, the effect ripples outward into better teaching, safer medicine, sharper legal practice and a more capable workforce.
I compiled this list because I think that work deserves more recognition than it gets. If it helps you find the right person to learn from, or simply reminds you that professional development is a craft with real leaders behind it, then it has done its job. The names here are a starting point, not a ranking, and every one of them is worth following for their own contribution.
About the Author
I am Jonno White, a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, certified through Patrick Lencioni's Table Group, and the author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold). I work with leaders and teams around the world on leadership, team health and Working Genius. If developing your people is on your mind and you would like a hand with the leadership side of it, you can reach me at jonno@consultclarity.org.
Sources
Every person on this list was verified from their organisation's own current staff, leadership or
appointment pages: Trinity College Dublin (Centre for Academic Practice), Dublin City University
(Teaching Enhancement Unit), TU Dublin (Learning, Teaching and Assessment), RCSI (Health Professions
Education Centre), the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (Deans and Directors), the Law Society
of Ireland (management team), the National College of Ireland (Centre for Education and Lifelong
Learning) and Skillnet Ireland (people and 2024 Annual Report). The Trinity SATLE award is documented
by Trinity College Dublin and the Higher Education Authority.
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