I was born in England in 1971, and graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1995 (B.Sc. (Hons) in Psychology) and Trinity College Dublin (twice; with an M.Sc. in Counselling Psychology in 1997, and a Ph.D. (undertaken in the School of Education) in 2007). I am a Chartered Psychologist with and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a General Member of its Divisions of Educational & Child Psychology, and Teachers & Researchers in Psychology. I joined the staff of the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin in 2005 as a full-time lecturer in the psychology of education, after having held a postgraduate teaching studentship within the same school for three years previously.

Currently, I am interested in the following research areas: (i) the social psychology of aggression, including school bullying behaviour and violence, and cyber-bullying; (ii) the social psychology of processes of inclusion and exclusion in education and society, especially regarding so-called 'minorities' (e.g. indigenous peoples, LGBT people, and members of youth sub-cultures), and addressing prejudice in and through educational practice; and, (iii) most generally of all, psychological approaches in education, particularly school teaching and educational guidance counselling. I currently serve as the School of Education's Director of Research, and chair the School's Ethics Committee.