Hello and thank you for the chance to meet the IPR.G community. My name is Noreen O’Leary and I am from Ireland. I am a qualified speech and language therapist and have been interested in health professions education since completing my own training. I have a Masters in Clinical Education. My thesis for this programme focused on the issue of identity and the difference between imagined professional identity as a student and reality as a graduate clinician.
I became involved in IPE in 2017, when I started my doctoral programme. My PhD focused on practice-based (placement) IPE for health professions such as speech and language therapy, human nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. My research has mainly used qualitative methods and I am very interested in the contribution of qualitative research to addressing complex research question. I am also very interested in the role of theory in making sense of complex issues and understand how and why interventions or change do or do not work.
During the course of my PhD I became aware that there was not a network for educators with an interest in IPE in Ireland. I established an IPE Special Interest Group with a colleague and am currently co-chair of this group which provides networking and professional development opportunities for members. I am also a member of the UK-based Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education. I am a member of the research working group and currently lead a sub-group looking at the impact of IPE on graduate practice. In May 2021 I became a member of the IPR.Global Partnership Development Working Group and am very much enjoying getting to know international colleagues. IPR.Global offers a great opportunity to develop global networks and projects, drawing on knowledge and skills from all regions. I am excited to be part of IPE as it evolves and grows over the coming years, building on existing foundations and moving in new and innovative directions.
More information on my research and publications can be found here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1148-2186 and I am on Twitter @OLeary_Noreen.
