Assoc ProfessorGráinne O'Donoghue

Gráinne O’Donoghue is Associate Dean for Physiotherapy and Subject Head of Physiotherapy, and an Associate Professor in the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science. She is a CORU-registered physiotherapist (PT033845).

She holds a BSc in Physiotherapy from University of Manchester (1998) and an MSc in Sports Physiotherapy from University College Dublin (2005). Prior to joining academia, she worked for over ten years as a clinician in public and private healthcare settings, with expertise in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, sports rehabilitation and exercise prescription. She completed her PhD at University College Dublin in 2011, with research focused on entry-level physiotherapy education and the promotion and prescription of physical activity and exercise in healthy and clinical populations.

From 2012 to 2015, Gráinne undertook post-doctoral training in the Health Promotion Unit at the Steno Diabetes Center, Copenhagen, where she worked on EU FP7–funded research examining inter-individual variability in response to lifestyle interventions in people living with pre-diabetes. She subsequently held a Research Fellow position at Dublin City University (2015–2017), contributing to major European research programmes focused on the determinants and measurement of diet and physical activity. During this period, she also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Statistics with distinction at Trinity College Dublin.

Gráinne joined UCD in November 2017. Her research activities focus on physical activity and exercise prescription in clinical populations, obesity care (weight bias and stigma), and healthcare professional education, with the aim of improving clinical practice, patient outcomes and health service delivery. She is Principal Investigator on two Health Research Board (HRB)–funded Applied Partnership Awards, delivered in partnership with the HSE.

These include Obesity Stigma Education for All (OSE4ALL), which involves the co-design of an inter-professional e-learning resource to support the destigmatisation of obesity among healthcare professionals, and the iPAPH Study, which focuses on the development of a theory-informed implementation intervention to support the adoption and uptake of the National Physical Activity Pathways in Healthcare.

She is currently Associate Dean for Physiotherapy and Subject Head, having previously served as Programme Director for the Professional Masters in Physiotherapy and the Professional Certificate in Cardiac Rehabilitation. She contributes to teaching on the BSc and MSc Physiotherapy programmes and is a Module Coordinator on several taught postgraduate programmes. Gráinne serves on a number of national and international committees and advisory groups, including the Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration, the Exercise is Medicine Ireland National Advisory Board, and as Lead for the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Expert Group within World Physiotherapy Europe.