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We are a group of researchers and academics at University of Galway. We research whistleblowing from a social science perspective.
Whistleblowing is a courageous act where individuals expose wrongdoing or unethical behavior in their organizations, often at great personal risk, to benefit society as a whole. This is a platform dedicated to research and the exchange of knowledge between academia and practice.
Our research is funded by the EU Commission (Horizon Europe and CERV), Science Foundation Ireland, and University of Galway's Hardiman Fund. Previous supporters include British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, ESRC UK, ACCA and Harvard University.
University of Galway, Whitaker Institute and J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics
Kate Kenny is Professor in Business and Society at University of Galway, J.E Cairnes School of Business and Economics, Ireland. She has a B. Eng in Civil Engineering and a Phd from Cambridge University’s Judge Business School. Kate has held fellowships at the Edmond J. Safra Lab at Harvard University and Judge Business School. Kate has been researching whistleblowing and organizations for ten years, with projects funded by ESRC, British Academy, and Leverhulme Trust.
Postdoctoral Researcher, J.E Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway
Dr Bashir Alao is a postdoctoral researcher in the Discipline of Management at the University of Galway. His research expertise sits at the intersection of organisational ethics, governance, and sustainability. His work is characterised by a strong comparative and qualitative approach, examining how policies and systems can foster transparency, integrity, and justice within organisations. His doctoral research developed a novel theory (Retaliation Paradox Theory) for a sustainable, protective, and independent whistleblowing anti-corruption model through a cross-country study and integrating organisational justice and power relations theories. This work used case law, interviews, and a global qualitative survey to explore how legislation and incentives can create a culture where employees can speak out against wrongdoing. He’s an experience auditor and compliance expert and has authored and co-authored several articles on Whistleblowing, Corruption, Ethics, Auditing, and ethical HRM.
Postdoctoral Researcher, J.E Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway
Taymi holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy with over 10 years of experience in social research. She is an adjunct professor at the Department of Public Affairs of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences and the Specialization in Policy Design, and has been an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies on Inequalities at the University San Francisco de Quito. Taymi works with Professor Kate Kenny on the BRIGHT project: Building Resilience through Integrity, Good Governance, and Honesty Training (EU Commission funded). She is also a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Researcher in the ROSETTA Fellowship Programme, co-funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Lero, and the University of Galway.
Postdoctoral Researcher, J.E Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway
Johanna Wiisak was a senior researcher at Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku Finland and started her post doc research project on whistleblowing in healthcare on 2nd December 2024 at J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway, Ireland. The project is funded by SyMeCo, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoc fellowship programme at Lero – the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software. Johanna has been researching whistleblowing in healthcare from a health professional ethics perspective for over ten years. She has developed a conceptual model of reasoning for whistleblowing, among other things. She has also worked as a researcher on two international and one national research project. One project, involving 14 European countries, focused on the decision-making and roles of nurse leaders at political, strategic and tactical levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, and another project involving six European countries investigated the moral competence of nurses. A national research project aimed to promote the careers of early career nurses by strengthening well-being at work in care settings for older people.
Johanna works with Professor Kate Kenny on the SyMeCo, MSCA-LERO funded project, Towards an ethically sustainable and resilient healthcare with systems thinking (EU Horizon Europe funding)
PhD candidate, J.E Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway.
John Devitt is Chief Executive of Transparency International (TI)’s chapter in Ireland. Since founding TI Ireland in 2004, John lobbied for the Protected Disclosures Act and advised the Irish Government on the legislation, as well as international organisations, including the UN and European Commission on whistleblower protection. In 2011, John established TI Ireland’s Speak Up Helpline which has supported nearly 3,000 people reporting wrongdoing and in 2016 co-founded the Transparency Legal Advice Centre which has given free legal advice to more than 150 people making protected disclosures. In 2024 he was appointed to the Irish Government’s Advisory Council on Economic Crime and Corruption. John is also Trustee and former Chairperson of the Whistleblowing International Network and a PhD candidate at the College of Business, Public Policy and Law at the University of Galway.
We are pleased to invite you to join online the Workshop “Gender and Intersectionality in Whistleblowing”, co-organised by Transparency International and the University of Galway as part of European Commission co-funded projects.
🗓️ Date: Wednesday, 5 November 2025 🕥 Time: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm GMT
Speaking Truth, Leading Change: A Conversation with Zelda Perkins
Thursday, 6 November | 12:00–1:00 PM | AMB-065, Arts Millennium Building, University of Galway
Supported by the University of Galway’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Office
Zelda Perkins, former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, broke her non-disclosure agreement to expose systemic abuse and has since become a leading voice for reform. As co-founder of Can’t Buy My Silence, she has turned an act of personal courage into a global campaign transforming how we think about power, secrecy, and accountability.
In this year’s Sheehy Skeffington Distinguished Lecture, Zelda will reflect on leadership, resilience, and the challenge of sustaining change—from individual refusal to collective reform. This fireside conversation will explore what ethical leadership looks like today, and how courage can ignite transformation.
As part of the celebrations of the 25 Years of LERO – the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, Dr. Taymi Milán presented the poster “The Impact of Time on Digital Whistleblowing Systems”.
Recognition for Excellence at the Irish Academy of Management Conference 2025
The paper “Incentivising Ethics: Should Internal Whistleblowing Be Rewarded? A Cross-Country Study” by Dr. Bashir Alao was honoured with the Best Paper Award in the Leadership & Organisational Behaviour track at the Irish Academy of Management Conference, hosted this year at Maynooth University.
Signalling Trustworthiness of Internal Whistleblowing Channels in Organizations: Temporality matters! by Wim Vandekerckhove, Marianna Fotaki, Kate Kenny and D. Derya Özdemir Kaya has just been published in Organization Studies.
New Publication: Whistleblowing as Disclosure Injustice
We are pleased to announce the recent publication of the article "Whistleblowing as Disclosure Injustice: Testimonial and Structural Barriers to Being Heard" in Gender, Work and Organization Journal by Prof Kate Kenny and Dr Maria Batishcheva from the University of Galway.
Professor Kate Kenny to Participate in Feminist Philosophy Meeting 2025To celebrate feminist philosophy and the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, we are excited to announce that Professor Kate Kenny will participate in the Feminist Philosophy Meeting 2025, hosted at the University of Bath on Monday, June 9th.
On 4 April, the European Whistleblowing Conference: Collaborative Pathways to Integrity was held in Brussels, bringing together a community of professionals dedicated to advancing whistleblowing practices across Europe. This event was a collaborative effort between key organizations, including the European Whistleblowing Institute (EWI), Whistleblowing International Network (WIN), Network of European Integrity and Whistleblowing Authorities (NEIWA), Transparency International, Transparency International Greece, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, EDHEC Business School, and the University of Galway.
On Wednesday, 19th March 2025, the Management Discipline Research Seminar took place, featuring Prof. Susan Stewart (Western Illinois University) and Bashir Alao (University of Galway) as speakers, who addressed critical topics related to human resource management and the prevention of workplace harassment.
🔔 Registrations are now open for the European Whistleblowing Conference
This conference is the first of its kind, bringing together key stakeholders from the European Commission, Council of Europe, EU National Authorities, leading civil society actors, academics, lawyers, and integrity professionals.
Book Launch: "Regulators of Last Resort: Whistleblowers, the Limits of the Law and the Power of Partnerships"
On Friday, February 28, 2025, the book Regulators of Last Resort: Whistleblowers, the Limits of the Law and the Power of Partnerships (Cambridge University Press, 2025) was launched at the James Hardiman Library of the University of Galway.
‘Did you get to sit down and have a brief meeting with the Minister for Justice?’
‘No. Absolutely Not. As usual, the Minister was unavailable… I have never met a Minister for Justice. In forty years of campaigning for a public inquiry.’
‘Ever?’ ‘Ever.’
‘I am told in the forty-seven years since, there have been 23 Ministers for Justice.
You have never had a meeting, face to face, with any of them?’
‘No. Never.’
RTE Drivetime, Interview with Osgur Breatnach, September 2023.
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To celebrate feminist philosophy and the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, we are excited to announce that Professor Kate Kenny will participate in the Feminist Philosophy Meeting 2025, hosted at the University of Bath on Monday, June 9th.
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