Shauna O'Neill

She is from Cloontuskert, a small village in county Roscommon, and completed her second-level education at Meánscoil Muire gan Smál, Roscommon. While a student at Meánscoil Muire gan Smál, her passion for both Science and Education alike was truly ignited. She is a former Runner-Up Awardee in both the BT Young Scientist and SciFest National Competitions. For her BT Young Scientist project work, she was awarded the Intel Student Award and subsequently represented the Republic of Ireland at the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Phoenix, Arizona.

Following completion of her Leaving Certificate, she entered Trinity College Dublin to complete a B.A. (Mod.) in Nanoscience, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials, receiving an Intel Women in Technology Scholarship during her studies which involved completing a placement at Intel Ireland as a data visualisation engineer and receiving mentorship from scientists working at Intel.

Shauna’s love for education drew her back to her long-term ambition to become a post-primary teacher in completing the Professional Master of Education programme at the University of Galway. During her final year, she was selected for the Access to Post-Primary Teaching (APT) Bursary, working in a final year practitioner research group project with Dr Elaine Keane and Dr Manuela Heinz, APT Principal Investigators, which explored the knowledge, understanding and awareness of Senior Cycle students in schools with Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) status about access to higher education, initial teacher education, and the teaching profession. This research study formed part of the Access to Post-Primary Teaching Project 2021-2022, funded by the Higher Education Authority under the Programme for Access to Higher Education Strand One (PATH 1).

Shauna is excited for her career in the world of education and would like to thank everyone who has supported her educational journey to date.