Assoc ProfessorGráinne O'Donoghue

Gráinne O’Donoghue is an experienced, award-winning university educator with a strong track record in teaching, curriculum design and educational leadership. She is a recipient of the UCD Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning Award (2018), a College-level Teaching and Learning Award (2022), and a University-level Excellence in Teaching Award (2022/23). Her scholarship in teaching and learning includes 25 peer-reviewed education publications, cited over 500 times. Her doctoral research focused on entry-level healthcare professional education, specifically physical activity promotion, exercise prescription, and graduate preparedness for contemporary phyiotherapy practice.

As Subject Head of Physiotherapy, Gráinne provides academic leadership for teaching and learning across the undergraduate and postgraduate programme, with responsibility for curriculum oversight, quality assurance, accreditation, and continuous enhancement of the student learning experience.

In her previous role as Programme Director of the MSc Physiotherapy (Professional), Gráinne led the most recent curriculum review and reform in 2023, ensuring alignment with contemporary professional, regulatory and societal needs. Between 2019 and 2021, she established, designed and delivered a number of innovative educational initiatives, including the Professional Certificate in Cardiac Rehabilitation, an interdisciplinary module on the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases, and the SPHPSS micro-credential in Fundamentals of Exercise Prescription.

Gráinne has contributed to education at an international level, serving as the European representative at the World Physiotherapy Global Health Summits, where she supported the development of an action plan and the identification of health promotion competencies for contemporary physiotherapy practice. In 2023, she was awarded the UCD National Digital Badge for Universal Design in Teaching and Learning by UCD Access and Lifelong Learning.