Dr Shane Conway is Project Manager and Adjunct Professor in the Discipline of Geography's Rural Studies Centre at the University of Galway. Shane's research interests are in agricultural and rural geography and social sciences, with a particular focus on older farmers, intergenerational farm transfer, the human side of agriculture, the Multi-actor Approach and stakeholder engagement.

Dr Conway has published extensively on these topics in peer-reviewed academic journals such as the Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis and the Journal of Agromedicine over the 12 years, and is Co-Director of the International FARMTRANSFERS Project. He has also served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Farm Transition Network (IFTN) in the U.S.A. since June 2021.

Most recently, Dr Conway received funding from the University of Galway's Illuminate Programme to develop a social initiative for the older generation of the farming community called Farmer's Yards, successfully piloted in Ireland in 2023 and now in operation in the state of Pennyslvania, U.S.A. through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture funding. Established to accommodate the interests, requirements and values of older farmers, this initiative is working to promote social inclusion and, in turn, well-being in the farming community by providing farmers with a platform to come together as a local peer group in a Livestock Mart (Auction) environment.

Dr Conway currently manages Work Package (WP)1 (Connections, Interaction and Outreach) of the €4.9million PREMIERE Coordination and Support Action (CSA) Horizon Europe Project that the University of Galway are a partner in. This project is aimed at strengthening the multi-actor approach (MAA) in the agri-food and forestry sectors by supporting the development of coherent and well-prepared multi-actor Horizon Europe project proposals amongst Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) actors across policy, research and practice in a co-creative way.

Shane was previously Lead Researcher on the Irish National Rural Network (NRN) project at the University of Galway, where he was responsible for managing and coordinating the network's work on the LEADER, EIP-AGRI Generational Renewal in Agriculture aspects of Ireland's Rural Development Programme (2014-2022) on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

TI 369:Geographical Perspectives on Rural Change(3rd year BA module); TI 258: Rural Environments; Sustainability and Management (2nd year BA module); TI 254: Space, Place and the Irish Countryside (2nd year BA module); TI 252: Theory and Practice in Geography (2nd year BA module);TI 506: The Multifunctional Countryside.