Sharon is Project Manager for Enhancing Digital Capacity in Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities, a 3 year project funded through the Higher Education Authority Innovation and Transformation Programme. She works closely with senior academic leaders across the university sector to develop, pilot, review and roll out an ambitious staff development programme to enhance the digital confidence, skills and competences of those who teach in Irish universities.Sharon is a successful hybrid academic with more than 23 years of experience working in higher education in Ireland. Before joining the IUA she was the Assistant Director at the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at NUI Galway, where she focused on academic staff development and lead a team of learning technologists. She has been an Associate of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and a member of the Professional Development Expert Group. She started her academic career as a lecturer in the Discipline of Information Technology at NUI Galway. She has a PhD in Computing Science from the University of Glasgow.

I am interested in the use of technologies for teaching and learning.I also carry out research in the area of Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism.

I co-ordinate module CEL263: Learning Technologies as part of the PG Dip in Academic Practice, offered to academic staff at NUIG.I also contribute to the PG Cert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education on topics related to technology and to academic integrity.I regularly run workshops on aspects of teaching and learning including: Academic Integrity; Flipped Classroom; Video in Teaching and Learning.I oversee the running of technology workshops around the use of technologies in teaching and learning, in particular related to the use of the Virtual Learning Environment on campus.