Our People

School Offices

For J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics queries click here.
For School of Law queries click here.
For Shannon College of Hotel Management queries click here.

College Office

Address: College of Business, Public Policy and Law, Cairnes Building, University of Galway, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.

Wondering where to find us? Consult the University of Galway Interactive Campus Map

T: +353 (0)91 492988.

Executive Assistants (Job Share)
This role provides essential support in managing administrative tasks for CBPPL's PGR programs, assisting with admissions, registration, curriculum updates, data management and reporting, scholarships, committee secretarial duties, recruitment coordination, funding calls, procurement, and conferring support.

Olivia Noone & Sinead Hernon
cbppl@universityofgalway.ie

Administrative Assistant
For queries related to the Executive Dean's diary

Mary O'Malley

mary.m.omalley@universityofgalway.ie

Director of Strategic Development
Padraic De Búrca
padraic.deburca@universityofgalway.ie
T: +353 (0)91 494051.

Finance and Business Manager
Michelle Bermingham
michelle.bermingham@universityofgalway.ie

Head of Strategic Research Awards Life Cycle

Leading the CBPPL Research Support Team with oversight of research funding strategies and proposal supports across the College at all career stages. Assistance with research funding at the planning, budgeting, application, implementation and impact phases.

Jared Gerlach
jared.gerlach@universityofgalway.ie

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Development Officer

Angela Sice
angela.sice@universityofgalway.ie

Learning Technologist

Dr Sergei Medvedev

sergei.medvedev@universityofgalway.ie

Meadhbh McNutt

Communications Officer
Meadhbh McNutt
meadhbh.mcnutt@universityofgalway.ie

HR Business Partner
Anne Kyne
ann.kyne@universityofgalway.ie

Executive Dean

Alma McCarthy

Professor Alma McCarthy

alma.mccarthy@universityofgalway.ie

Professor Alma McCarthy (Cert. Executive Coaching, Dip. Training & Education, BBS & French, MCIPD, PhD) is Executive Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law, and Professor of Public Sector Management at University of Galway, Ireland. Her research interests include public sector leadership and human resource development, training, work-life balance, and remote working. Alma¿s work appears in leading international peer-reviewed journals such as Public Management Review, Public Administration Review, Human Resource Management Journal, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Review, Advances in Developing Human Resources, and the Journal of Managerial Psychology. She has authored commissioned reports, papers at national and international conferences, books and several chapters in edited books. Her research has influenced national civil service talent development policy and the Government's national remote working strategy. She has extensive experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating leadership and management development training programmes aimed at improving managerial competence with particular expertise in public and civil service management development. She is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, the American Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology, and served as elected Vice-Chair and Chair of the Irish Academy of Management (IAM). She was recently conferred a Fellow of the IAM for her service to the academy. She is an accredited member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and certified to administer a broad range of cognitive ability, personality and occupational interest psychometric assessments.

Vice Deans

Dr Edel Doherty portrait with white background

Vice Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Dr Edel Doherty
edel.doherty@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Edel Doherty has taken up the role as Interim Vice Dean until July 2025 while Dr Deirdre Curran is on sabbatical level.

Edel is an Associate Professor in Economics at J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics. Since January 2023, Edel is the Associate Head of EDI for the School of Business and Economics. In that role, Edel led the successful Silver Athena Swan Award for the School (awarded in November 2024) developing a five-year action plan to further enhance gender equality and wider EDI within the School.

Edel is also a member of the Executive of the Irish Society for Women in Economics (ISWE), which seeks to inspire, empower and increase women’s visibility in economics in Ireland to ensure that the role of economists in public debates, policy decisions and education is more representative of Irish society. As part of this, Edel worked with colleagues within ISWE to develop the first all-Ireland mentorship programme for early career economists in Ireland. Edel also has on-going research in the area of gender equality, for example, she is a member of the €1.3 million EU-funded WinBIG project that aims to understand the gender status and women’s role across the Blue Economy.

John Cullinan

Vice Dean for Graduate Studies
Dr John Cullinan
john.cullinan@universityofgalway.ie

Dr John Cullinan is a Professor of Economics at J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics and Director of the Centre for Economic Research on Inclusivity and Sustainability (CERIS). John has a long-standing interest in and commitment to graduate studies. He previously served as Director of the PhD Programme in Economics and was a member of the Economics PhD Committee for several years. He also has extensive experience of PhD student supervision and mentorship and in 2022 was awarded the University of Galway President’s Award for Excellence in Research Supervision. He has organised and participated in numerous workshops, conferences, training events and mentoring schemes supporting graduate students.

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Vice Dean for Internationalisation
Dr Murray Scott
murray.scott@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Murray Scott is currently Vice Dean of Internationalisation for the College of Business, Public Policy and Law. He has also served as Head of Discipline for Business Information Systems and also as programme director for the MSc in Business Information Systems/Cloud Computing Research and B.Sc Business Information Systems. He holds a Bachelor and Masters degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Dundee and completed the Higher Diploma in Systems Analysis and Masters in Commerce from University of Galway. He was awarded a Ph.D. in the area of eGovernment and Public Value from University of Galway. Murray has over 18 years of experience in the academic environment, and has previously served as visiting Professor at the Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington DC and as external examiner for Dublin City University.

Murray's research has been published in leading international journals and conferences, including the AIS Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals. His current research addresses environmental and sustainability challenges by developing innovative technology-driven models for participative, user-centred, public services aiming at creating greener communities e.g.: https://emergreen.interreg-npa.eu/about-the-project/

Michael Lang

Vice Dean for Teaching and Learning
Dr Michael Lang
michael.lang@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Michael Lang is an Associate Professor in Business Information Systems within J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, where he has worked since 1996. Over the years, he has made a very substantial input to the growth of the Business Information Systems discipline along with making several valuable and enduring contributions to organisational systems, policies and strategic initiatives at School and University level. Michael is also the recipient of numerous teaching awards at University and College level. In the past he served as Associate Head of Teaching and Learning within his School as well as holding the programme directorships of a number of programmes.

Prof Esther Tippmann

Vice Dean for Research
Prof Esther Tippmann
esther.tippmann@universityofgalway.ie

Esther Tippmann is Established Professor of Strategy and serves as Vice-Dean Research and Co-Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Growth and Scaling (CEGS).

Esther's research concerns the international strategies of organizations, esp. globally scaling and digital businesses. Her work also concerns the enhancement of the strategic contribution of subsidiaries to multinationals. She has worked closely with several scaling firms and multinational corporations in Ireland, France, U.K. and the U.S. on case studies and research projects. She has been published in the Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Organisation Studies, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management Studies, Global Strategy Journal, Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review, among others. Her research received several honours, including awards and nominations from the Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, and Strategic Management Society. Esther currently serves as Area Editor for the Journal of International Business Studies and on the editorial board of Long Range Planning.

Esther is also passionate about teaching and strives to enable students and executives to critically evaluate how decisions influence long-term organisational success in a global context and impact society. She has taught in the areas of Strategic Management, Global Strategy, International Business, and Qualitative Research across all levels, including executives, in Austria, Ireland, Germany, and France. Before joining the University of Galway, Esther was a faculty member at University College Dublin and Research Fellow at Grenoble Ecole de Management, France. She held a Marie-Curie Fellowship, funded by the European Commission and Irish Research Council, and was a Visiting Professor at WU Vienna.