Dr. Aoife McNicholl
Dr. Aoife McNicholl is an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology, DCU. She completed a BSc. in Psychology and a PhD in Disability and Rehabilitation Psychology, both in DCU. Her PhD focused on the impact of assistive technology for students with disabilities in higher education and was funded through the IRC Postgraduate Scholarship. She works predominantly on the BA in Psychology programme, a fully online flexible degree programme, where she co-ordinates a number of modules such as Exploring Psychological Research, Competencies and Skills in Psychology and Developmental and Educational Psychology.
Aoife also formerly worked as the Universal Design Project Coordinator in DCU and facilitated staff in DCU undertaking the Universal Design for Learning Digital Badge. She is a proud disability advocate and is a member of a number of advisory boards/disability groups such as Independent Living Movement Ireland, Muscular Dystrophy Ireland's Research Committee, the Irish Patient Advisory Group, the Association of Irish Powerchair Football and the Community Hub for Assistive Technology.
Research Interests
Aoife's research focuses on the impact of assistive technology use, psychosocial experiences of those living with an impairment / chronic illness and inclusive teaching approaches such as universal design for learning. She is particularly interested in the intersections between technology and identity for disabled people. Her research adopts a human rights based approach where she endeavours to involve participants throughout the research process.