Sinead O'Connor

Sinead O'Connor is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University. She completed her PhD in Human Geography at University College Cork in 2016 and has since been an active member of the academic staff at Aberystwyth. She serves as the Programme Leader for the integrated foundation year schemes, demonstrating leadership in curriculum development and student support.

• Institution: Aberystwyth University
• Department: Department of Geography and Earth Sciences
• Position: Senior Lecturer
• Leadership Role: Foundation Year Programme Leader

Her educational background includes a BA (Hons) in European Studies and a PhD in Human Geography from University College Cork.

Sinead O'Connor's research centers on feminist and cultural geographies, with a focus on the intersections of body politics, digital media, and social justice. She critically examines how digital platforms like Instagram reproduce racialized and gendered beauty ideals under neoliberal post-feminism. Her work investigates the appropriation of movements such as body positivity and fat liberation by privileged groups, highlighting how these movements often exclude marginalized voices. She also explores the geographies of international students, focusing on inclusion, encounter, and the politics of difference within higher education institutions.

Her recent publications reveal a consistent trend in analyzing power, representation, and inequality through an intersectional lens. Articles such as The racial economy of Instagram and The intersectional geographies of international students in Ireland demonstrate her engagement with critical race theory, feminist theory, and political economy. Her work bridges human geography with sociology, media studies, and education policy, contributing to broader debates on equity and justice.

Sinead O'Connor actively contributes to the academic community through peer review, editorial work, and conference organization. She has served as an editor for the Journal of Geography in Higher Education and as a peer reviewer for journals such as Gender, Place and Culture and AI & Society. She has organized and participated in numerous workshops and conferences, including the RGS-IBG Social and Cultural Geography 50th Anniversary event and the Relentless injustice conference in 2025. Her involvement in academic service reflects a strong commitment to scholarly dialogue and institutional development.

She is also engaged in collaborative research initiatives such as AberCollab: Bringing Bodies into Policy and Screening and Sharing - Decolonial pedagogies in Wales Higher Education, indicating her dedication to decolonial and inclusive pedagogical practices. Her work is recognized in policy circles and has been referenced in policy sources, demonstrating real-world impact.