Aoife Neary (BSc, MA, PhD) is Lecturer in the School of Education, University College Cork (UCC). She joined the School of Education, UCC in 2024, following ten years in the School of Education, University of Limerick, including as Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Education and Assistant Dean Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Prior to this, she was a post-primary school teacher of Physical Education and English for eight years. Her research explores the politics of gender and sexuality in schools and society and, more broadly, social justice in teacher education and schooling. She has held several Irish Research Council (IRC) awards (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2022) and she reached interview stage of a European Research Council Starting Grant in 2021. Her most recent research, ‘Belong To Primary: New Foundations for LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in Primary Schools’, was conducted in partnership with Belong To LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland, funded by the IRC. She has been involved in national curriculum development through her membership of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) SPHE/RSE Development groups at junior cycle and senior cycle level. Since her first academic appointment in 2014, she has been leading and teaching teacher education modules that explore equality and diversity from a sociological perspective.

LGBTQ+ inclusivity in Education; gender; sexuality; queer theory; cis-heteronormativity; affect theory; politics of emotion; social justice; teacher education.

Sociology of Education Socio-cultural perspectives on equity, diversity and inclusivity in Education and Teacher Education.