She was awarded a first class honours BSc in Botany and Mathematics from UCD in 1992; a first class honours MSc in Rural Development from UCD in 1995; and a PhD in Sociology from NUI Maynooth in 2008. Niamh has worked in DCU since 2008. Previously she worked in international and community development in Africa and Ireland. Niamh’s research specialises in how social and political inequalities come to be produced and reproduced. Her work to date has focused on exploring the conditions under which more marginalised groups and communities wield an influence at local and national levels.