Maura Smiddy

Maura Smiddy is a Lecturer at the University College Cork (UCC) within the School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. Her roles include directing the MSc in Infection Prevention and Control and developing online postgraduate programs. She holds leadership roles in the Infection Prevention Society (IPS), including Chair of the Research and Development Committee.

Education: Maura earned a Master of Public Health (2009) and PhD (Medicine and Health, 2019) from UCC, alongside postgraduate qualifications in teaching and learning.

Research focuses on infection prevention and control (IPC), patient safety, hand hygiene, sepsis prevention, and implementation science. Key projects include analyzing hand hygiene’s impact on bloodstream infections (Epidemiology and Infection, 2020) and leadership perspectives on healthcare-associated infection guidelines (BMJ Open, 2019).

Grants: Recent funding includes the €625,000 PROSPERH Horizon 2020 project (2024-2029) on mental and physical health at work. Other grants address IPC education, AMR knowledge, and sepsis management.

Awards: Teaching and Learning Award Nominee (2021), Current Leaders Leadership Programme (2022), and PhD (UCC, 2019).

Advising: Supervised 19 postgraduate students (2020–2023) on topics like vaccine hesitancy, antimicrobial resistance, and sepsis management in general practice.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with the ESPRIT Research Group, IPS Research and Development Committee, and HSE teams. Organized Safe Patient Care seminars and IPS webinars on IPC and sustainability.