Mary Immaculate College (MIC) proudly marked a historic milestone this week with the conferral of 31 doctoral degrees—the highest number of PhD awards ever presented in a single year by the College. The recipients, including members of MIC’s academic and professional services staff, were proudly celebrated during the College’s 2025 graduation ceremonies held on Thursday, 23 and Friday, 24 October at the MIC Limerick campus.
Professor Michael Healy, Vice-President for Research and Head of the Research & Graduate School at MIC, extended his congratulations to the doctoral awardees while bidding farewell to MIC, retiring after 29 years.
Professor Healy remarked, “This record number of doctoral graduates in 2025 reflects the remarkable growth of research at MIC. Our researchers continue to demonstrate how academic excellence can be aligned with social purpose and community impact. Each of our doctoral graduates has made an important contribution to their discipline and to MIC’s expanding reputation as a centre of research innovation, creativity, and critical inquiry. It has been a privilege to lead the evolution of this vibrant research community over the years.”
Among the MIC staff awardees were Dr Lylian Fotabong, Race Equality and Sanctuary Manager in the Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Interculturalism (EDII) Office; Dr Keith Ó Riain, Lecturer, Roinn na Gaeilge; Dr Deborah Tobin, lecturer in English Language and Literature at MIC Limerick and Academic Language Support Tutor in the Academic Learning Centre at MIC Thurles; Dr Florence Ajala, Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education; Dr Mary Anne Cantwell, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education; and Dr Claire Carroll, Assistant Professor in Mathematics Education. Their innovative and impactful research spanned areas as diverse as computational thinking, immigrant mothers' experience of their children’s engagement with their early childhood care and education settings, and an examination of the life and work of Irish-language poet and tailor, Éadbhard de Nógla.
Also, among this year’s doctoral graduates were ten recipients of the Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DECPsy). This unique programme, which was established in 2016, is a three-year, full-time professional training programme for students interested in pursuing a career as an educational psychologist. As part of their studies, DECPsy students undertook research projects spanning diverse themes, including the integration of autistic children’s interests into learning experiences, an examination of therapeutic supports provided by external professionals in primary schools, and an evaluation of Ireland’s ‘Smart Moves’ School Transition Preparation Pilot Programme – a free programme designed to help sixth-class students build resilience as they transition to secondary school. Collectively, their work contributes valuable new understanding to how educational and child psychology can promote wellbeing, inclusion, and positive learning experiences for all children. A detailed description of each graduate’s research topic is provided below.
Dr Dickson Boateng, Doctor of Philosophy, reflecting on his PhD journey at MIC, said, “I’m very thankful for the help I got in MIC. I’d like to thank the RGSO for the support they gave me throughout the PhD journey. A very big thanks goes to my supervisors, Dr Julian Bloomer and Dr John Morrissey, who were really supportive. They gave me the momentum to continue with the work, so I am very grateful to MIC, RGSO and all my supervisors.”
During his inaugural graduation address as President of MIC, Professor Dermot Nestor also paid tribute to the graduates and acknowledged Professor Healy’s leadership as he steps down from his role:
"Our doctoral graduates have earned their degrees through rigorous inquiry, supported by excellent supervision, dedicated research office staff, and a research culture deeply committed to reflection, discovery, and transformation. I want to thank the supervisors who guided these students, the research office team who supported them, and Professor Michael Healy's leadership in developing our research infrastructure. These PhDs represent collaborative achievement at its best.”
Congratulating the 31 graduates on their awards, Dr Richard Butler, Director of Research at MIC, said:
"The 2025 MIC Conferring’s mark a proud milestone for our burgeoning research community. Today, we celebrate every PhD and Master’s student conferred with a research degree, honouring their commitment, hard work, and impact within their specialist fields. We thank their supervisors who have shared their knowledge and experience. Our graduates today can feel justly proud of their professional training as researchers of the highest quality."
Also, in attendance at the conferring ceremonies were Professor Shane Kilcommins, Acting President of the University of Limerick (UL); Professor Colin Fitzpatrick, Interim Vice President Global & Community Engagement at UL and Bishop Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Limerick.
The ceremonies honoured the dedication, academic excellence, and achievements of more than 1,200 graduates across the College’s 30+ undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Education and the Liberal Arts.
Pictured L-R: Dr Angela Canny, Assistant Dean of Education; Dr Rebecca Breen, Coordinator of Doctoral Programmes, RGSO; Prof. Dermot Nestor, President of MIC; Prof. Michael Healy, Vice-President for Research and Head of the RGSO; Prof. Niamh Hourigan, Vice-President of Academic Affairs; and Dr Ronan Flatley, Dean of Arts (Acting)
Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Arts)
Seyed Amir Emad - Cooperative Principles and IELTS Learners' Listening Comprehension: A Case Study of Iranian Learners.
Dickson Boateng - A Novel Political Ecology Approach to Low-Carbon Energy Transition in Rural Ghana
Niamh Donnellan - Thinking Like an Ecosystem: Ecological Philosophy in Theory and Practice
Lylian Fotabong - Decoding African Narratives: A Longitudinal Corpus-Driven Critical Discourse Analysis of Diachronic Shifts in Irish Media Discourse (September to December 1998, 2008, and 2018)
Amélie Gaillat - Policing, Politics and State Intelligence: Maintaining Order in Times of Political Agitation in England, France, and Ireland (1880-1910)
Jeryn Mayer - A Painted City: Belfast's Tradition of Public Art
Aoife McInerney - Hannah Arendt's Forgotten Spatial Ontology
Ciara Moloney - English, Irish, both, neither: Diaspora and New Interculturalism in Martin McDonagh’s Plays and Films
Keith Ó Riain - Éadbhard de Nógla: saol agus saothar
Hanna Rompf - Autorschaft und Inszenierung bei Wladimir Kaminer, Dmitrij Kapitelman und Kat Kaufmann
Deborah Tobin - "There Is No Up!" A Corpus-Assisted, Critical Thematic Analysis of Perceptions of Teachers in the Privately-Run English-Language Teaching Sector in the Republic of Ireland
Aleksandra (Sasha) Turtova - Linguistic Characteristics of First-Year University Writing: A Corpus Investigation
Zhe Wang - Studies on the Relationship between Irish Drama in the Irish Literary Revival and the National Dramatic Movement of China, mediated through translations in Japan, and through the Chinese intellectual Guo Moruo
Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Education)
Florence Ajala - An Investigation of the Lived Experiences of Nigerian Immigrant Mothers’ Engagement with their Children’s Early Childhood Care and Education
Mary Anne Cantwell - The Impact of School-Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy on Autistic Adolescents’ Social and Emotional Competency: A Case Study of an Irish Post-Primary School
Claire Carroll - The Development of Computational Thinking: A Constructionist School Computer Programming Initiative in a Girls’ Primary School
Agnese Maria Garufi - Instrumental Learning, Identity, and Student-Teacher Interaction in a Secondary Music School: A Case Study from Italy
Jayne Guiney - The Spiritual Identity of Primary School Educators in Ireland and their Perceptions of Spirituality in Schools: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Lorraine Lawrance - Is a picture worth a thousand words? A case study-led investigation into the use of picture books to support the teaching of disciplinary literacy in the primary setting
Helen Lowe - Pure Notions! An Ethnographic Research of Social Class Mobility from Limerick City’s Regeneration Communities
Aoife Munroe - ‘People need to know that we're not just the stereotypes': A mixed method, multi-informant study to better understand the educational experiences of autistic female students attending mainstream provision at post-primary level in the Republic of Ireland
Professional Doctorate in Education and Child Psychology (Faculty of Education)
Madeline Dolan - Unmasking potential: Exploring Teachers' Experiences of Recognising and Supporting Autistic Girls in Mainstream Primary Schools Using the Continuum of Support
Ciara Donohue - "I can do this… if you do this…": Parent Coaching with Fathers of Autistic Children
Elle Drohan - Taking an Interest: The Impact of Including Autistic Children's Absorbing Interests in Learning Experiences - A Neuro-affirmative Approach
Emma Hearne - Exploring Parent Perspectives of Individualised Therapeutic Supports Delivered by External Professionals in Irish Primary Schools
Katy Kelly - Cultivating Connection: A Study of Nurture Group Impact, Practices, and Pathways to Success
Georgina Lannin - An Investigation of the ‘Smart Moves’ School Transition Preparation Pilot Programme in Ireland
Leanne Maher - An Exploration of Trauma-Informed Practice in Irish Primary Schools: Experiences from Teachers, Principals, and National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) Psychologists
Oliver O’Driscoll - An Appreciative Inquiry into NEPS Psychologists’ and Primary Teachers’ Perspectives of Cluster Groups in Supporting the Implementation of the FRIENDS Programmes
Úna Shore - Teacher and Pupil Perspectives of Mathematical Self-Perceptions and Enjoyment in Two Irish Primary DEIS Schools
Emma Teahan - Inclusive Education at a Crossroads: What do Trainee Educational Psychologists Think? An Exploration of TEPs' Understanding of and Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education, and How This Influences Their Professional Role
