Dr.Colm O’Doherty is currently a Lecturer in Applied Social Studies at the Institute of Technology Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland.
  
Qualifications:
PhD, completed in 2004, critically examined the national deployment of family support services.
MA - Social Services Administration, completed in 1995.
B. Social Science- completed in 1975.
Key Skills:
• Over 25 years’ experience in third/tertiary level academic environments [University College Cork; Institute of Technology Tralee]
• Extensive course development expertise, including a BA in Social Care, a BA in Early Childhood Care and Education, a BA in Youth and Community Practice and an MA in Social Studies.
• Management skills include Head of the Social Sciences Department in the Institute of Technology Tralee, and Head of the North Cork Social Work Department.
• After eighteen years front line practice in social work, family support and community development he took on a pivotal role in community and social work education at University College Cork.
• Experience of management, supervision and assessment of complex research projects/thesis/dissertations.
• Excellent report writing skills and experience including drafting numerous research and policy reports (research findings, evaluation, reviews, and policy development), e.g. he has completed research projects for the Health Services Executive and Kerry County Council.
• Author of three books – A New Agenda for Family Support –Providing Services that Create Social Capital (2007) and Community Development in Ireland- theory, policy and practice (with Ashling Jackson, 2012) and has contributed chapters to another seven publications. He is also the editor (with Ashling Jackson) of Learning on the Job Parenting in Modern Ireland published in 2015. He is co-editor of The Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies (IJASS).
• Extensive professional career experience as a social worker in Coventry, where he developed a family support service in the inner city. He has also held positions as a social worker in West Wales and in Cork City and County, where he continued his involvement in family support and community development practice.