Cormac has been a lecturer in the School of Political Science and Sociology since October 2002. He is the Programme Director for the BA Youth and Family Studies (GY120). Cormac is also affiliated with the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre at NUI Galway and has acted as the lead researcher on a number of significant national research Projects. Prior to joining NUI Galway, Cormac lectured in the Waterford Institute of Technology on the Applied Social Studies Course (Social Care). He started his professional career as a Youth Worker for Foróige, the National Youth Development Organisation.

I am a Senior Researcher at theUNESCO Child and Family Research Centre here at NUI Galway. Over the last few years my research work has focussed on: Youth work, youth cafes and adolescent development; Utilising the arts to facilitate learning among primary school children; Tracking social support to build an evidence-base in community-based youth and family interventions. Developing real time (momentary assessment) data collection methods with young people, using mobile phone technology.At present I am working in the following funded studies: Anevaluation of theextent to which children have their voices heard and are supported to participate across TUSLA services. For the first time in the history of social services in Ireland, we are systematically investigating the extent to which children are afforded a voice in TUSLA services, enabling them to participate more fully. It has been a three-year study funded by TUSLA and is due to finish in June 2018. The project Team is Dr. Danielle Kennan, Dr. Bernadine Brady, Ms. Edel Tierney, Ms. Rebecca Jackson and myself. Participation for Protection (P4P). I am currently involved in an EU funded project led by Queens University, Belfast which aims to support integrated and multi-disciplinary child-centred approaches to child victims of violence. My colleagues on this project are Dr. Danielle Kennan, Dr. Bernadine Brady. An investigation into the extent to which practices and process utilized by projects can serve as models of excellence in overcoming inequality in education. Along with Prof. Pat Dolan, Dr. Bernadine Brady and Dr. John Canavan, I am leading a study funded by the Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) which is looking at the extent to which 10 projects funded by SIFI can overcome educational inequality with young people and adults.