PPI Ignite Network at TCD
Partner University
Trinity College Dublin
THE TEAM
Who to talk to at TCD
Prof Eimear McGlinchey
Academic Co-Lead
Prof Eimear McGlinchey is an Assistant Professor in Intellectual Disability and a faculty member at the Global Brain Health Institute. Her research is based at the Trinity Centre for Ageing and the Life Course in Intellectual Disability, focusing on the area of brain health in individuals with intellectual disabilities. Prof McGlinchey has led the PREVENT Dementia – DS project, part of the Horizon 21 European Down syndrome Consortium and is a co-applicant on the IDS-TILDA study. For over a decade, she has worked to ensure that people with an intellectual disability are included in the research process at all stages.
Prof Éilish Burke
Academic Co-Lead
Prof Éilish Burke, RGN RNID BNS MSc PhD, is a Professor in Intellectual Disability Nursing and co-director of the Trinity Centre for Ageing and the Life Course in Intellectual Disability, in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. Her research focuses on bone health, osteoporosis, health assessment, inclusive healthcare screening methods and accessible health promotion.
Prof Burke is a co-applicant on the IDS-TILDA supplement and previously served as director of research for the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity. She is the lead on a number of modules on the Masters in Ageing Health and Wellbeing in Intellectual Disability.
Declain Meenagh
PPI Co-Lead
Declan Meenagh has extensive experience in advocacy, engagement and PPI work. With Fighting Blindness, he worked across departments on projects, taking the lead in assistive technology, as a user of the technology, to help internal and external projects with accessibility checking. Mr Meenagh has advised the Health Service Executive, the Department of Health, the WHO and pharmaceutical companies on the patient perspective of sight loss, rare disease and health policy.
He also supported 500 people with sight loss to access support groups during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Meenagh served as a member of Dublin City Council from 2020-2024.
Dr Liz Farsaci
Programme Manager
Dr Liz Farsaci is the Programme Manager at the PPI Ignite Office in Trinity College Dublin. She previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Policy and Management in the School of Medicine. In this role, she researched health policy, universal health coverage and health financing. She also established a teaching collaboration with the Institute for Global Health Sciences at University of California San Francisco. She received her PhD from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, investigating women’s lived experiences of access to community midwifery care. Prior to her academic career, she worked as an award-winning journalist.