Biography
In 2018 I completed my B.A (Hons) in Sociology at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) following a move from Ireland to the UK. I graduated with 1st class honours and was given the Most Enterprising Achievement award at graduation in recognition of a research project I undertook on the topic of Public Sociology as a community of practice at NTU. The findings of this project were presented at the 2018 British Sociological Associations annual conference. I completed my MPhil at Cambridge in the Sociology of Reproduction the following year under the supervision of Dr. Lucy van de Wiel graduating with distinction.
With a background in social care working with Magdalene Laundry survivors in Dublin, Ireland, I became interested in the social structures that create the conditions in which such oppressive institutions can exist and thrive. I was active in the successful movement to repeal the 8th amendment of the Irish constitution which banned abortion care. My PhD is funded by The European Social Research Council’s Doctoral Training Partnership and supervised by Dr. Lucy van de Wiel and Professor Sarah Franklin. The proposed study will take a postcolonial perspective to examine the affect of shame on people from Ireland who have travelled for abortion care. It will analyse the historical and political impact of shame, shame’s utility to the state, and how shame featured in the contemporary abortion rights movement in Ireland. I am a student at Murray Edwards college.
