External Advisory Panel

Edel Tierney | Tusla Child and Family Agency

Edel Tierney (PhD) is a National Research Officer at Tusla, Ireland’s Child and Family Agency, where she supports the development and use of research to strengthen child and family services, inform policy, and improve practice. Her work focuses on ensuring research is evidence-based, collaborative and responsive to the needs of children, young people and families. Her research interests include child protection, family support, participatory research, implementation science and disability. Throughout her career, Edel has been involved in projects that address issues of public importance, often working with interdisciplinary teams to generate insights that inform policy, practice, and public discourse and embedding the voices of those at the centre of the research. Edel is a Chartered Member of the Psychological Society of Ireland and has contributed to collaborative research initiatives across the health and social care sectors.

Martin Orrell | University of Nottingham

Professor Martin Orrell is a leading figure in old age psychiatry and dementia research, with an international reputation for advancing evidence-based mental health care for older people. He is Director of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), a partnership between the University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. He also serves as Honorary Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist with the Rapid Response Liaison Team at Queen’s Medical Centre. He is Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Mental Health, Disability and Human Rights at the IMH. Professor Orrell is an Emeritus National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator, a Board Member of Early Detection and Timely INTERvention in DEMentia (INTERDEM), and Editor of the journal Aging & Mental Health.

Eric O'Brien | Foróige Ireland

Eric O' Brien is the Chief Executive Officer in Foróige, where he is only the fourth person to lead the organisation in its 75-year history. Eric’s journey with Foróige began more than twenty years ago in Blanchardstown, where he started out as a youth worker. Since then, he has dedicated his career to empowering young people and strengthening youth work across Ireland, leading services in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary, and serving most recently on Foróige’s Senior Management Team. Throughout his career, Eric has remained passionate about the people who make youth work possible – the volunteers and staff who dedicate their time to helping young people thrive. In the CEO role, Eric brings a rare combination of frontline understanding, management insight, and deep belief in people.

Timo Harrikari | University of Helsinki

Timo Harrikari (PhD) is Professor of Social Work (full) at the University of Helsinki. Throughout his research career, Harrikari's research has focused on social work, with a particular focus on child protection, juvenile delinquency and criminal justice. In recent years, Harrikari has broadened his research focus to include disaster social work. Harrikari's major international publications include Social Work and Social Change (2014), Towards Glocal Social Work in the Era of Compressed Modernity (2019) and Social Work during COVID-19: Glocal Perspectives and Implications for the future (2023).

Merril Silvestein | Syracuse University

Merril Silverstein, Ph.D., is inaugural holder of the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies at Syracuse University in the Maxwell School's Department of Sociology and in Falk College's Department of Human Development and Family Science. He received a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University. Published in over 150 research publications, he has focused on aging in the context of family life, with an emphasis on life course and international perspectives. He serves as principal investigator of the Longitudinal Study of Generations and has had projects in China, Sweden, the Netherlands and Israel. He is a Brookdale Fellow and Fulbright Senior Scholar and between 2010-2014 served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Derek Stewart | University of Galway

Born in Ayr, Scotland, Derek Stewart was treated successfully for throat cancer in 1995. A former teacher, Derek worked with young people experiencing difficulties in adjusting to mainstream education in Glasgow then Nottinghamshire where he now lives. He subsequently became actively involved in numerous aspects of patient involvement and advocacy at a local, national and international level being the founder Chair of the Consumer Liaison Group for the National Cancer Research Institute, UK. Derek’s connection with methodology research is based on his interest in making all studies as efficient, relevant and effective as possible. He was awarded an OBE in 2006, for his services to health, and in particular cancer care. In 2020 Derek was appointed Honorary Professor at University of Galway. Recently Derek has been chairing the UK Health Research Authority (HRA) #MakeItPublic Campaign Group on Research Transparency.