Brendan Dolan

Dr Brendan Dolan is a transdisciplinary researcher in the Institute for Lifecourse and Society at University of Galway, specialising in research impact, science advocacy, engaged research, scientific leadership and principal investigator research.

Brendan is Principal Investigator on the 'Engaged Research for Policy Impact' ERPI Study, funded by Research Ireland. This project is exploring researcher-policymaker interactions through the micro-level lens of the individual researcher, with a particular focus on the role of engaged research practices in the research-policy landscape.  

Previous to this, Brendan worked as postdoctoral researcher for the PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway, supporting various impact and evaluation efforts with the Galway and National offices. Brendan also worked with the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, working on the research and evaluation study of Rethink Ireland’s Education Fund (2017-2020), Youth Education Fund (2018-2021) and Children and Youth Funds (2019-2022). This project involved a social return on investment (SROI) evaluation methodology.

Brendan lead on development of the Science Advocacy Training programme at CÚRAM SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices. The aim of this programme is to support and encourage individual researchers to communicate their research to policy audiences and to engage with the policymaking process in Ireland and internationally. Brendan was also the lead postdoctoral researcher on the Principal Investigator Impact: Research in Medical Devices project. This interdisciplinary project focused on supporting researchers in the MedTech field to take on the principal investigator role in publicly funded research projects and plan for impact.

Brendan's research interests include research impact, science advocacy, research-policy engagement, engaged research methodologies, evaluation methodologies (e.g. SROI), principal investigator research, applied ecological theory, and research process dynamics.

Undergraduate and postgraduate teaching: research methods, ecological theory, qualitative research methods, engaged research methods, research impact, research advocacy, research impact planning and evaluation, vertically integrated projects, routes to wellbeing