DrLinda Dowling-Hetherington

Linda Dowling-Hetherington joined UCD College of Business in 1996, having completed her BComm and Master of Business Studies at University College Dublin. In 2011, she completed a Doctorate in Education Management at the University of Bath where the topic of her doctoral thesis was: Change in Higher Education and its Impact on Academic Staff. Her research drew on both the education and business disciplines, with a particular focus on the management of change and and employee responses to large-scale organisational change.

Linda teaches in the field of human resource management and talent development. She is affiliated to the UCD College of Business HRM and Employment Relations subject area and has been a visiting professor at IESEG School of Management in Paris and Lille, France. She has been the recipient of a UCD Teaching Excellence award (2018), a College Teaching Excellence award (2018) and has been included on the UCD College of Business Dean’s List of Outstanding Teachers (2022/23).

She also has considerable experience in the design of co-curricular leadership development programmes, having created the UCD Smurfit School's innovative Global Leadership Programme in 2020. She served as Academic Lead for this programme between 2020 and 2023 and supported 813 students who completed the programme during this period.

Linda's research interests focus primarily on talent development; supporting carers and parents in the workplace; the role of continuous improvement and process excellence in global HR transformation; and the impact of A.I. on student learning.

Since 2014, Linda has also served as Director of Assurance of Learning at UCD College of Business (a post at Assistant Professor level). She plays a key role in the College's Teaching and Learning team and leads on many of the College's faculty development initiatives, including new faculty teaching and learning orientation. She is also responsible for the ongoing maintenance, enhancement and documentation of teaching quality processes for all programmes; and support for faculty in achieving the College’s assurance of learning objectives. 

Linda previously spent twelve years leading the College’s Centre for Distance Learning (CDL) (now the College's Global Campus) and has considerable experience in the development and management of part-time, distance learning, blended learning and overseas campus programmes.

She serves on a range of UCD College of Business committees, including: the College Global Engagement Group, the College of Business Accreditation Committee; College of Business Undergraduate and Graduate Programme Boards, the Learning Spaces Advisory Group. She has served on committees at university level, including the UCD Board of Academic Studies, the UCD Board of Studies for Global Engagement and the UCD Board of Studies for Research, Innovation and Impact.

She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Learning and Development Institute (L&DI).