Irene Hartigan is a Registered General Nurse with expertise in older adult and stroke care. She has practiced in Ireland and Australia and holds a Masters from Trinity College Dublin, where she also qualified as a Registered Nurse Tutor. Irene completed her PhD in 2015. Irene's research focuses on stroke research, dementia, and interprofessional learning. She leads the PAWS @ UCC programme (2023–2026), promoting wellbeing through canine-assisted activities on campus. An internationally recognized researcher, Irene has contributed to 18 funded projects (PI on 5), totaling over €10 million, and has published 70+ outputs, including 40 peer-reviewed papers. Her h-index is 15 with over 1,500 citations.

Irene is Work Package Lead for a Horizon Europe-funded project, driving education and training initiatives across six countries. She has a strong track record in gerontological nursing, stroke care, and dementia palliative care. Her research interests include Problem-Based Learning and Simulation, and her 2007 publication on rehabilitation assessment scales remains one of the International Journal of Older People Nursing’s most cited. Irene collaborates widely with national HEIs and international partners across Europe and Canada as well as leading organizations such as the European Association for Palliative Care, Alzheimer’s Europe, Family Carers Ireland, Care Alliance and AIIHPC. Irene actively promotes Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research and education.

Irene has designed innovative assessments to develop problem-solving abilities and critical thinking competencies to support graduates and pioneer the top ten skills that employers have identified. Building on her MSc in Clinical Health Sc Education (Trinity College Dublin), Irene spearheaded ‘Novel Approaches to Develop Clinical Competencies by merging 2 teaching methodologies’ which she has published as 2 peer reviewed journal articles and secured additional NAIRTL funding. Irene has developed and delivered Interprofessional learning (IPL) at BSc (NU3079) and PG level (CG6002 and IPL workshop-Understanding Dementia Together) informed ‘with and by’ advocacy organisations. Irene's teaching philosophy is to assist students develop strong linkage between teaching and research and to instil critical thinking in students to develop questioning ability.