The DCU Team

Dr Enda Whyte is a Certified Athletic Therapist, Chartered Physiotherapist and programme chair for the BSc. in Athletic Therapy and Training. His primary teaching focus is in the areas of clinical assessment and rehabilitation. He is particularly interested in developing injury prevention strategies by identifying and addressing risk factors for common injuries in sports such as injuries to the hamstring, hip and groin and concussion, especially in community and female sports. He is the current chair of the international committee for ARTI and is a member of the CAATE's International Committee.

Dr Sinéad O'Keeffe is a Certified Athletic Therapist and Assistant Professor in Dublin City University. Sinéad recently completed her PhD, where her research focused predominantly on the psychology of musculoskeletal injury. Her primary teaching interests are within the areas of injury assessment and rehabilitation, with a particular focus on the application of psychology within injury rehabilitation. Sinéad’s research interests are within the area of injury psychology, particularly the influence of injury on mental health and athletic identity in sporting populations. As an early career researcher, Sinéad has a keen interest in qualitative research and listening to the athlete’s voice within a research setting. Sinéad also works clinically as the Head Athletic Therapist for Clare Ladies Football and Kilmaley Camogie club youth teams.

Dr Siobhán O'Connor is a Certified Athletic Therapist and Associate Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance.  Her primary teaching interests are in the area of injury prevention and clinical practice. She has a special interest in injury surveillance and her research interests are of a multi-disciplinary applied clinical nature, focusing on research areas that pave the way for the development of injury prevention strategies in under-researched populations such as young adults, female athletes, community sports etc. She is currently serving as Vice President of the WFATT and is the international liaison for ARTI. 

Kieran Moran is Professor of biomechanics, examining injury, performance and movement for health across the lifespan, both from a sports and a functional movement perspective. He lectures in sport and exercise biomechanics and biomechanics of injury. His research includes: 1) the use of sensor based technology (wearable and fixed) to quantify movement outside of the laboratory and to use the same sensors to provide relevant (bio-) feedback to enhance movement and correct movement abnormalities, 2) developing novel algorithms and using machine learning to analyze complex movement data and 3) developing novel techniques to explore and identify each individual's optimal movement technique in order to enhance it, rather than (erroneously) assuming that there is a single optimal technique that everyone should employ.

Aoife Burke is a Certified Athletic Therapist and an Assistant Professor. Her primary teaching interests are in clinical education. She is the Clinical Education Coordinator for the Athletic Therapy and Training programme, with particular interests in ensuring high quality clinical teaching with application of this knowledge across diverse clinical experiences that are reflective of real life practices. Her research interests are in the areas of biomechanics, injury surveillance and wearable technology, with a specific focus on running populations and the development of proactive healthcare. She is the current representative of Athletic Rehabilitation Therapy Ireland (ARTI) on the Research and Education Committee of WFATT.

 Thomas Murray is a Certified Athletic Therapist and is a Teaching Assistant on the BSc in Athletic Therapy and Training in the school of Health and Human Performance in DCU. His primary focus in teaching has been in anatomy, motor learning and control, and clinical assessment. Currently Thomas works as the Head Athletic Therapist for the Irish Women’s Hockey National Development Squad and U21’s and is acting Head Athletic Therapist at Naomh Jude Senior Footballers and Hurlers. He is currently serving on the Certification Committee for ARTI.

Kate Sheridan is a Certified Athletic Therapist, Chartered Physiotherapist and a Clinical specialist in pain management.  She has a special interest in medical exercise and its influence on chronic pain conditions in particular chronic spine pain.  Kate is a patient advocate for individuals living with chronic pain and is passionate about enhancing pain management education for both patients and student therapists alike. She is an Assistant Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance and currently lectures on the spine and lower limb Injury modules as well as the manual therapy and clinical modality modules.  She is currently serving on the Certification Committee for ARTI.

Dr. Donnla O’Hagan is an Assistant Professor in Sport Psychology in the School of Health & Human Performance. Her primary teaching interests are sport psychology, psychology of injury, and research methods. She is very interested in multi-disciplinary collaborative research that is applied in nature.  She has a special interest in research in high pressure/emergency situations particularly in factors affecting health and performance such as sleep and stress, and methods of maximizing training and performance.