About me

Having taken a risk to leave the comfort of a secure and lucrative job in industry at the age of 26yrs to pursue a doctorate, I found a new home in third-level education; from incubators to diversity and inclusivity where my incisive mind, prodigious productivity, and insatiable curiosity have been rewarded. Now an award-winning Professor and the  Director of Entrepreneurship at DCU, my academic outputs include 4 books, 60+ journal articles; 13 Best Paper Awards, 8 book chapters, 100+ conference papers and managing million Euro research projects from the European Commission. 

 I have authored the books "Female Entrepreneurship", and "Women’s Entrepreneurship" and co-authored the books “Entrepreneurial Behaviour” and “‘Women and Global Entrepreneurship: Contextualising Everyday Experiences”. 

• 50+ journal articles; 8 book chapters; 4 books, 60+ conference papers 
• 4893 citations; h-index=29; i10-index=44
• Several non-academic media outlets (e.g. The Conversation, Forbes, L’Express, Silicon Republic, The Irish Times, Irish Tech News).

 I regularly combine my expertise with an ability to translate deep experiences into meaningful insights for a wider audience (i.e. the business community). I am a regular commentator on entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship, accelerators and family business, on radio, and in print and am a recognized keynote speaker both for practitioner audiences (e.g. Google, PwC, and Bank of Ireland).

• 2022: Royal Irish Academy- Social Sciences Committee
• 2022: WMB Finalist- Empowering Women Category
• 2019: Irish Women’s Award for Services to Education 
• 2018: DCU President’s Teaching Award
• 2011: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts 

My career path, success as a leader in industry and now a multijurisdictional thought leader and expert in the area of entrepreneurship has received special recognition from President Higgins, an Irish Women’s Award, invitations to input to the Irish National Policy on Entrepreneurship, Citizen’s Assembly on Gender Equality, EU Commission’s entrepreneurship initiatives and a US Global Think Tank on women and leadership.