Aimie Brennan

Aimie Brennan is the Dean of Education: Policy, Practice and Society and Senior Lecturer in Education Policy and Research Methods at the Marino Institute of Education. She also leads the BSc in Education Studies program. With a PhD in Sociology from University College Cork (2014), her career spans social research and teacher education, focusing on pre-service teacher preparation across early years to post-primary levels.

Education:

• PhD in Sociology, UCC (2014)
• MA in Sociology, UCC (2009)
• BA in Sociology & Geography, UCC (2008)

Research Interests:

Her work centers on the sociology of education, teacher education policy, and research methods innovation. Current projects include cross-border collaborations on teacher education policy, longitudinal studies on student engagement with sociology, and the Student Teacher Educational Research (STER) initiative—a student-staff partnership publishing a peer-reviewed journal. She explores themes like sociocultural barriers in education, neuroscientific approaches to learning, and ethical frameworks for educational research.

Grants & Leadership:

• Schools Officer, Sociological Association of Ireland
• Secretary, Educational Studies Association of Ireland
• Advisory Board Member, National Student Engagement Programme (NStEP)
• Co-Founder of STER project

Publications:

Her outputs include monographs like Brain Health for Learning (2024), peer-reviewed articles on teacher education policy disconnects, and edited volumes on sociological pedagogy. Recent work emphasizes neuroscience integration in education and ethics in early-career research.

Labs/Initiatives:

Leads the STER initiative and contributed to projects like LeCoLe: Learners as Co-Creators, focusing on student-driven learning innovation.