Our People

School Offices

For J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics queries click here.
For School of Law queries click here.
For Shannon College of Hotel Management queries click here.

College Office

Address: College of Business, Public Policy and Law, Cairnes Building, University of Galway, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.

Wondering where to find us? Consult the University of Galway Interactive Campus Map

T: +353 (0)91 492988.

Executive Assistants (Job Share)
This role provides essential support in managing administrative tasks for CBPPL's PGR programs, assisting with admissions, registration, curriculum updates, data management and reporting, scholarships, committee secretarial duties, recruitment coordination, funding calls, procurement, and conferring support.

Olivia Noone & Sinead Hernon
cbppl@universityofgalway.ie

Administrative Assistant
For queries related to the Executive Dean's diary

Mary O'Malley

mary.m.omalley@universityofgalway.ie

Director of Strategic Development
Padraic De Búrca
padraic.deburca@universityofgalway.ie
T: +353 (0)91 494051.

Finance and Business Manager
Michelle Bermingham
michelle.bermingham@universityofgalway.ie

Associate Director of Development
Aisling Lennon
aisling.lennon@universityofgalway.ie

Major donors and philanthropic partnerships
Scholarships and student support initiatives
Strategic projects and capital developments
Corporate engagement

Head of Strategic Research Awards Life Cycle

Leading the CBPPL Research Support Team with oversight of research funding strategies and proposal supports across the College at all career stages. Assistance with research funding at the planning, budgeting, application, implementation and impact phases.

Jared Gerlach
jared.gerlach@universityofgalway.ie

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Development Officer

Angela Sice
angela.sice@universityofgalway.ie

Learning Technologist

Dr Sergei Medvedev

sergei.medvedev@universityofgalway.ie

Meadhbh McNutt

Communications Officer
Meadhbh McNutt
meadhbh.mcnutt@universityofgalway.ie

HR Business Partner
Anne Kyne
ann.kyne@universityofgalway.ie

Executive Dean

Alma McCarthy

Professor Alma McCarthy

alma.mccarthy@universityofgalway.ie

Professor Alma McCarthy (Cert. Executive Coaching, Dip. Training & Education, BBS & French, MCIPD, PhD) is Executive Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law, and Professor of Public Sector Management at University of Galway, Ireland. Her research interests include public sector leadership and human resource development, training, work-life balance, and remote working. Alma¿s work appears in leading international peer-reviewed journals such as Public Management Review, Public Administration Review, Human Resource Management Journal, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Review, Advances in Developing Human Resources, and the Journal of Managerial Psychology. She has authored commissioned reports, papers at national and international conferences, books and several chapters in edited books. Her research has influenced national civil service talent development policy and the Government's national remote working strategy. She has extensive experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating leadership and management development training programmes aimed at improving managerial competence with particular expertise in public and civil service management development. She is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, the American Academy of Management, the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology, and served as elected Vice-Chair and Chair of the Irish Academy of Management (IAM). She was recently conferred a Fellow of the IAM for her service to the academy. She is an accredited member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and certified to administer a broad range of cognitive ability, personality and occupational interest psychometric assessments.

Vice Deans

Dr Illan Wall stands in front of a white wall wearing a black t-shirt in this black and white image.

Vice Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Dr Illan Wall
illan.wall@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Illan Wall is based in the School of Law, where he was Associate Head of School for EDI since September 2024. Illan had joined the School of Law as a Lecturer in January of 2024. Before he took up this post, he was Professor of Law at Warwick Law School and co‐director the Centre for Critical Legal Studies (2019-23).

Illan’s research is in critical legal theory, particularly using legal geography, affect studies and post‐structural theory. He applies these insights to questions of rights, protest, strikes, revolt, policing and security. He is the author of Law and Disorder (Routledge, 2021) and Human Rights and Constituent Power (Routledge, 2012), and editor of Rights Resistance, Critique (Routledge 2026); The Critical Legal Pocketbook (Counterpress, 2021) and New Critical Legal Thinking (Routledge, 2012).

He has published in leading cultural studies, socio‐legal and critical legal journals like Theory, Culture, Society; Social and Legal Studies; and the Modern Law Review. He is a managing editor of the journal Law & Critique, a founding editors of the blog criticallegalthinking.com and a Managing Director of the open‐access publisher Counterpress.

Prof Esther Tippmann

Vice Dean for Research
Prof Esther Tippmann
esther.tippmann@universityofgalway.ie

Esther Tippmann is Established Professor of Strategy and serves as Vice-Dean Research and Co-Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Growth and Scaling (CEGS).

Esther's research concerns the international strategies of organizations, esp. globally scaling and digital businesses. Her work also concerns the enhancement of the strategic contribution of subsidiaries to multinationals. She has worked closely with several scaling firms and multinational corporations in Ireland, France, U.K. and the U.S. on case studies and research projects. She has been published in the Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Organisation Studies, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management Studies, Global Strategy Journal, Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review, among others. Her research received several honours, including awards and nominations from the Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, and Strategic Management Society. Esther currently serves as Area Editor for the Journal of International Business Studies and on the editorial board of Long Range Planning.

Esther is also passionate about teaching and strives to enable students and executives to critically evaluate how decisions influence long-term organisational success in a global context and impact society. She has taught in the areas of Strategic Management, Global Strategy, International Business, and Qualitative Research across all levels, including executives, in Austria, Ireland, Germany, and France. Before joining the University of Galway, Esther was a faculty member at University College Dublin and Research Fellow at Grenoble Ecole de Management, France. She held a Marie-Curie Fellowship, funded by the European Commission and Irish Research Council, and was a Visiting Professor at WU Vienna.

Prof Faizan Ali in white shirt and blue tie with arms crossed against plain white background

Vice Dean for Strategic Projects
Prof Faizan Ali
faizan.ali@universityofgalway.ie

Professor Faizan Ali is Vice Dean (Strategic Projects) and Established Professor of Marketing at the College of Business, Public Policy and Law. In this leadership role, he is responsible for driving the College's strategic agenda across its three schools – J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, the School of Law, and Shannon College of Hotel Management – with a particular focus on global rankings, international accreditation, reputation management and partnership development.

A globally recognised scholar in hospitality, tourism and marketing, Professor Ali is among the world's most cited researchers in his field, having over 20,000 Google Scholar citations and named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals, with his work spanning consumer behavior, technology adoption, artificial intelligence in service contexts and experience design.

Professor Ali serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, holds senior editorial roles on the boards of field's most prestigious international journals, and held leadership positions within the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE). Prior to joining University of Galway, Professor Ali served as a Tenured Associate Professor and the Graduate Program Director at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Muma College of Business, University of South Florida.

At the College of Business, Public Policy and Law, Professor Ali brings a vision grounded in international ambition, research excellence and deep industry engagement, committed to elevating the college's global standing while remaining rooted in the civic mission of University of Galway.

John Cullinan

Vice Dean for Graduate Studies
Dr John Cullinan
john.cullinan@universityofgalway.ie

Dr John Cullinan is a Professor of Economics at J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics and Director of the Centre for Economic Research on Inclusivity and Sustainability (CERIS). John has a long-standing interest in and commitment to graduate studies. He previously served as Director of the PhD Programme in Economics and was a member of the Economics PhD Committee for several years. He also has extensive experience of PhD student supervision and mentorship and in 2022 was awarded the University of Galway President’s Award for Excellence in Research Supervision. He has organised and participated in numerous workshops, conferences, training events and mentoring schemes supporting graduate students.

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Vice Dean for Internationalisation
Dr Murray Scott
murray.scott@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Murray Scott is currently Vice Dean of Internationalisation for the College of Business, Public Policy and Law. He has also served as Head of Discipline for Business Information Systems and also as programme director for the MSc in Business Information Systems/Cloud Computing Research and B.Sc Business Information Systems. He holds a Bachelor and Masters degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Dundee and completed the Higher Diploma in Systems Analysis and Masters in Commerce from University of Galway. He was awarded a Ph.D. in the area of eGovernment and Public Value from University of Galway. Murray has over 18 years of experience in the academic environment, and has previously served as visiting Professor at the Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington DC and as external examiner for Dublin City University.

Murray's research has been published in leading international journals and conferences, including the AIS Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals. His current research addresses environmental and sustainability challenges by developing innovative technology-driven models for participative, user-centred, public services aiming at creating greener communities e.g.: emergreen.interreg-npa.eu.

Michael Lang

Vice Dean for Teaching and Learning
Dr Michael Lang
michael.lang@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Michael Lang is an Associate Professor in Business Information Systems within J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, where he has worked since 1996. Over the years, he has made a very substantial input to the growth of the Business Information Systems discipline along with making several valuable and enduring contributions to organisational systems, policies and strategic initiatives at School and University level. Michael is also the recipient of numerous teaching awards at University and College level. In the past he served as Associate Head of Teaching and Learning within his School as well as holding the programme directorships of a number of programmes.