Embedding Qualitative Research in Clinical Work Workshop - 30th May 2024

Rena Lyons, PhD, is a speech and language therapist and Associate Lecturer in the Discipline of Speech and Language Therapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Galway. She has over 35 years of clinical, teaching, and research experience. She has expertise in qualitative methodologies. Her research interests include exploring collaborative working with parents, the voice of children with developmental speech and language disorders, narratives, person-centred care and the social model of disability. She has co-edited two books on qualitative research, published qualitative research in peer-reviewed journals, and is the recipient of three journal editors’ awards for qualitative research papers.

Lindy McAllister, PhD, is an Emeritus Professor at The University of Sydney. She is a Life Member of Speech Pathology Australia, and Fellow of the RCSLT. She was made a Member of the  Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours list in June 2023 for contributions to the development of speech pathology education and services in Australia and Vietnam. Lindy uses a range of qualitative methodologies in research into work integrated learning, ethics education, and development of the profession in Majority World countries. She provides curriculum consultancy to a range of universities in Australia and internationally.

Clare Carroll, PhD, is a registered speech and language therapist and Lecturer at Discipline of Speech and Language Therapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Galway, Ireland.  Clare has a wealth of clinical experience from working in the Irish Health Service and in private practice. She uses a range of qualitative methodologies to study interdisciplinary collaborative working and to support the participation of children, young people with disabilities and their families in research. Clare is passionate about family- and person-centred services being informed by the people who use them, in particular, understanding what is important to people with communication disabilities and their families.

Mary-Pat O' Malley, PhD, is a speech and language therapist and Lecturer Discipline of Speech and Language Therapy, School of Health Sciences, NUI Galway, Ireland. She has a wealth of experience spanning clinical practice, teaching, and research with expertise in qualitative methods. Her research interests include assessing multilingual children's languages using narratives, representations of people with communication impairments in mass media, teachers' and speech and language therapists’ experiences of working with multilingual children and children’s drawings as a way of understanding the lives of multilingual children and children with a range of communication impairments including stuttering and speech sound disorders. She is creator of the award-winning, evidence-based blog on multilingualism for families, speech and language therapists, and teachers:  Talk Nua.

Aoife Gallagher, PhD, is a Lecturer in the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick. She was the first paediatric speech and language therapist to be awarded a scholarship from the Health Research Board of Ireland to complete a PhD as part of a national structured program (SPHeRe program).  She was awarded her PhD in Health Services Research in 2019. Her research interests include engaging stakeholders in service improvement. She has a particular interest in child voice and in co-developing interventions with children and young people with speech, language and communication disabilities to improve their achievement and participation in school.