Prof. Audrey Bryan

Audrey Bryan is Professor of Sociology in the School of Human Development, DCU, and is the General Editor of Irish Educational Studies, the flagship journal of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI). She also serves on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Sociology of Education (BJSE) and is a member of the Council of Reviewers of Comparative Education Review.

She holds a PhD in Comparative Education and Sociology from Columbia University, New York, a Masters in Applied Social Research from TCD (with distinction) and a BA in (Hons) Psychology from UCD. Her research interests and expertise span the fields of social, global and ecological justice.

Having worked in Higher Education both nationally and internationally for over 25 years – in both administrative and academic capacities – Audrey has a deep understanding of what it takes to make universities and their communities thrive. She served as an elected member on the DCU Governing Authority from 2021-2025 -- the body charged with the strategic direction of the University and was also a member of its sub-committee on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). As the DCU lead on the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning funded Disciplines Inquiring into Societal Challenges (DISCS) project, she has been heavily involved in developing policy and strategic guidance for Higher Education sector on the teaching of social justice.

Audrey has held numerous leadership roles and has served on numerous faculty and university level committees at DCU including the DCU Research Ethics Committee (since 2016), the Faculty Research Committee (2016-2021) and, prior to incorporation, the St. Patrick’s College Teaching and Learning Committee and College Research Committee.

Her most recent research is concerned with the neuro-affective turn in education and with associated questions about the datafication of children's lives and parenting in the 21st century.

Research Interests

Social Stratification; Families and Schooling; Bullying and Anti-Bullying; Emotions and Education; Critical Global Citizenship Education; Climate Change Education; Race, Ethnicity and Education; Childhoods in Global Contexts; Gender, Sexuality and Schooling; Global Educational Governance; Comparative-International Education.

Teaching Interests

My scholarship is concerned with the question of how best to equip teachers and their students with the critical skills and knowledges necessary for them to unpack the complexity of different educational problems and issues (e.g.,bullying; inequality; racism in education) as well as enabling them to respond effectively to the major issues confronting society such as climate change, conflict, and poverty.I am particularly drawn to those teaching methods that enable students, teachers and teacher educators to develop the capacity for critique and to apply these understandings in productive ways in their own classrooms and in their communities. I have a particular interest in making theory accessible to students through innovative teaching approaches which make effective use of popular culture and film to apply theoretical constructs to everyday or real world examples. Innovative teaching - particularly as it relates to social justice pedagogies - is also one of my main research interests. I am currently completing a manuscript on 'Affective Pedagogies' and critical media literacy approaches to global citizenship education.

The text draws on theoretical, empirical and practical insights to illuminate the creative and critical potential of

affectively-informed critical media literacies to make available new ways of seeing, and participating in, the world. It focuses on the emotional, experiential, subjective, as well as the ethical and political aspects of critical media literacy-based approaches that call on learners to consider their own situatedness in systems of social inequality and global injustice. It explores the possibilities as well as the limitations of media literacy-based pedagogical approaches in empowering students to challenge hegemonic perspectives and to participate in society as justice-oriented global citizens (Funk, Kelner & Share, 2016).