Ailish M O'Brien

Research Interests

Former secondary school teacher, with an interest in education, corporate governance, finance and non-for profit organisations. 

Lecturer at SETU Carlow since 2000 in the Business Department (Wexford Campus).

Have supervised students for their dissertation in both Level 8 and Level 9 programmes

Engagement and Collaboration

• Have explored governance in the non-profit setting, in relation to implementation of the Good Governance Code as well as supervising student work in this area.  
• Member of a board of a Community Playgroup, involved in governance.
• Links with a number of non-profit and sporting organisations in relation to student research.
• Collaboration with a number of coaches as part of the Pursuit of Excellent Programme, run by the Irish Institute of Sport.
• O’ Brien, A., Ronan, F. and Costin, J. (2011). Over-training in Irish Sports. Paper presented at the Institute of Sport Pursuit of Excellence Programme.

Current Research Students Level 8 dissertations

• C. Heffernan: Predications of Financial Distress in the Newspaper Sector.
• M. O’ Connor: Predications of Financial Distress in the Hotel Sector
• R. Sheil: Risk Management
• C. Hayes: Service Quality in the Leisure Sector

Past Research Students

• Fiona Jordan (2012) Accountability in Credit Unions. Dissertation presented as part of Master in Business, IT Carlow.

Supervision of students at Level 8 in the following areas-

• Financial Management
• Education
• Quality Management
• Risk Management and Corporate Governance

Areas of Interest for future supervisory role

• Corporate Governance
• Further Education and Training
• Investment Funds
• Financial Management
• Non-profit organisations and education

Publications

Conference Proceedings and Papers

Educator experiences of a reporting system in Ireland. Paper presented at the ATEE Annual Conference, Dubrovnik, October, 2017.

Accountability in the Further Education and Training Sector: A Middle Manager Perspective.
Paper presented at the IAFOR Annual Conference, Brighton, June 2016.

Accountability in the Public Sector: A Middle Manager Perspective Paper presented at the IAM Annual Conference. NUIG, September 2015.

Sense-making of clinical governance: A middle manager perspective. Paper presented to the Irish Accounting & Finance Conference (2013), IT Tallaght, Dublin.

Clinical governance of hospitals: A sense-making perspective. Paper presented to the Irish Accounting & Finance Conference (2012), UCC, Cork.

Hospital governance: Networks & their ability to implement/impede change. Paper presented to the UCD Festival of Innovation (2011), UCD, Dublin.

Hospital governance: Networks & organisational change. Paper presented to the IAFA Annual Conference (2011), Dublin.

Hospital governance: An exploration of the case study. Paper presented to the annual IAFA conference (2010), Belfast.

Kelly, V. and O’ Brien, A. (2008). Incorporating Emotional Intelligence into Teaching Practice (2008). Presentation to the Teaching & Learning Innovations Seminar. IT Carlow. 

An evaluation of teaching and learning using the CEQ. Paper presented to the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (2005). UCC, Cork.