| Role/Grade | Research Fellow |
| Team | PISA |
| Research Interests | Research methodology, statistical analysis, measurement, assessment, testing, educational inequalities |
| Professional profile
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Anastasios Karakolidis is a Research Fellow with oversight of OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Ireland and serves as the National Project Manager for PISA 2025. He has also contributed to several other research projects in the ERC, including the National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading (NAMER) and the Post-Primary Assessment & Diagnosis – English (PPAD-E) test.
Anastasios holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ioannina, Greece, an M.Sc. in Quantitative Methods and Statistical Analysis in Education from Queen’s University, Belfast and a PhD in Assessment from Dublin City University. He has been actively involved in a number of research projects across countries and has delivered lectures on research methodology and advanced statistical techniques to postgraduate students and academic staff. His research interests focus on research methodology, statistical analysis, measurement, assessment, testing and educational inequalities. Anastasios has published in peer-reviewed academic journals and presented at numerous international conferences. |
| Researcher Profiles | ORCID – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7460-7759
Google Scholar – https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9CsRChYAAAAJ&hl=en LinkedIn – https://ie.linkedin.com/in/anastasios-karakolidis-14a170b3 Research Gate – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anastasios-Karakolidis |
Department: Research Fellows
Rachel Cunningham
| Role/Grade | Research Fellow |
| Team | Test Development |
| Research Interests | Early numeracy and mathematics education more widely; measúnú Gaeilge (Irish language assessment); test development and psychometrics; experimental research designs; mental health literacy. |
| Professional profile | Rachel is a Research Fellow at the ERC with an academic background in Psychology and Mathematics (B.A. Mod)) and Health Services Research (M.Sc). She returned to work at the ERC in 2015, having previously worked at the Centre from 2007 to 2009. In the interim, she studied and worked in research in the UK. Rachel has previously worked on national and international surveys of mathematics, science and reading achievement, as well as evaluation studies, but now specialises in Test Development. She co-authored the Drumcondra Post-Primary Test – Maths and managed the redevelopment of the Drumcondra Primary Mathematics Test (standardised in 2018). As a Research Fellow, she currently oversees the redevelopment of the Drumcondra Tests of Early Literacy and Numeracy, a study which involves the development of these assessments as Gaeilge for the first time. Rachel also oversees the Test Development aspects of ERC DOTS, the ERC’s e-assessment platform, as well as the redevelopment of the Triail Ghaeilge Dhroim Conrach. |
Conall Ó Duibhir
| Role/Grade | Research Fellow |
| Team | Test Development |
| Research Interests | Irish Language, Test development, Sociology of Education, Education for Sustainable Development.
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| Professional profile | Conall Ó Duibhir has worked in the ERC since 2019. Conall previously worked on the implementation of PISA 2022, before moving on to the standardisation of Measúnú agus Diagnóisic Litearthachta don Iar-bhunscoil – Gaeilge (MDLI-G) as project manager. Conall is currently overseeing the redevelopment of Triail Ghaeilge Dhroim Conrach.
Conall holds an MSc in Sustainability Science (Stockholm University) and an MA in Digital Humanities (Linnaeus University). He also completed the taught components of an Masters programme in Education for Sustainable Development (Gothenburg University). |
| Researcher Profiles | LinkedIn – https://ie.linkedin.com/in/conall-%C3%B3-duibhir?trk=public_post-text |
Dr David Millar
David is a Research Fellow at the ERC. He has expertise in methodologies, including sampling, weighting, complex data techniques and test analysis and scaling. David has D.Phil. in psychology from Ulster University and has worked at the Educational Research Centre since 1994. His areas of expertise include survey sampling, test construction, and the scoring and scaling of assessment data.
Dr Lorraine Gilleece
| Role/Grade | Research Fellow |
| Team | Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) |
| Research Interests | Educational Disadvantage, Equity in education, Evidence-informed Policy, Literacy, Evaluation |
| Professional profile (300 words) | Dr Lorraine Gilleece is a Research Fellow at the ERC, currently overseeing Ireland’s participation in the 2026 cycle of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). From 2019 to 2024, she led the ERC’s research and evaluation related to educational disadvantage and represented the ERC on the DEIS Technical Group, DEIS Monitoring and Evaluation Group and DEIS Advisory Group, chaired by the Department of Education. She has co-authored several reports in recent years examining the experiences and achievement of students in DEIS primary and post-primary schools. She has also recently overseen the development of an evaluation framework for teachers’ professional learning in Ireland.
Since joining the ERC in 2007, Lorraine has gained extensive experience of large-scale assessments, having worked on studies including PIRLS, ICCS (the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study), PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey) and the National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading. Her current research interests focus on improving the use of evidence to inform education policy, with a particular focus on equity in education.
Lorraine holds a B.A. (Mod) in Computer Science, Linguistics and French and a Higher Diploma in Statistics, both from Trinity College Dublin where she was elected Scholar in 2000. She also has an MSc in Psychology and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, both from Liverpool Hope University. She completed her Ph.D. in Linguistics in Trinity College Dublin. |
| Researcher Profiles | ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2804-0405
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraine-gilleece-0b482890/
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Dr Brenda Donohue
| Role/Grade | Research Fellow |
| Team | Test Development |
| Research Interests | Literacy, digital literacy, test development, gender, EAL students, multilingualism, creativity in education. |
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Professional profile
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Brenda Donohue is a researcher in the areas of education, creativity and gender. She has over ten years of experience with the ERC, working variously in the areas of Test Development, Large-scale International Assessments, and Evaluations. She has published both qualitative and quantitative research studies in the areas of student achievement, digital literacy, and creativity in education. Brenda is part of the Editorial Board of the Irish Journal of Education. She also acts as External Advisor on the NEPS Research Ethics Committee. Formerly Project Manager of PISA 2022, among her current projects, Brenda is overseeing the Standardisation of the English language PPAD-E assessment of literacy, at post-primary level, and is the Fellow with responsibility for online testing. |
| Researcher Profiles
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ORCID – 0009-0007-9281-3525
Google Scholar – https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=hYWVjHoAAAAJ LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-donohue-69986046 |
Dr Emer Delaney
Emer is a Research Fellow with responsibility for PIRLS and a number of aspects of the ERC’s test development programme. She is the National Research Coordinator for PIRLS 2021 and a member of the international Reading Development Group for PIRLS 2026. Emer managed the development and standardisation of the New Drumcondra Primary Reading Tests (2018) and has ongoing involvement in the development of the ERC’s Drumcondra Online Testing System (DOTS). She contributes to the international FLIP+ working group to develop an online library of items that test English language proficiency, and she is an associate editor of the Irish Journal of Education.
Dr Aidan Clerkin
| Role/Grade | Research Fellow |
| Team | TIMSS; Transition Year; Irish Journal of Education |
| Research Interests | Large-scale assessments; Student engagement and wellbeing; Social-emotional development; Evaluation; Longitudinal research methods |
| Professional profile | Dr Aidan Clerkin is a Research Fellow at the ERC. With a background in psychology, his work includes national and international large-scale assessments of education, programme evaluation, and research on topics including socioemotional development in adolescence and uses of research for policymaking. From 2018-2022, Aidan led the development of ERC DOTS, an online platform for delivery and reporting of standardised tests to schools which was nominated for two international eAssessment Awards (Best Summative Assessment Project and Best Transformational Project). He has provided advice based on research findings to Ireland’s Department of Education as well as to ministries and other policymakers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia. With the World Bank, he has contributed to research on a range of topics for countries including Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Somalia, and Tanzania. His research interests include social-emotional development, student engagement and wellbeing, and their relationships with academic achievement; intervention and programme evaluations; and longitudinal research methods. He holds a BSc (Psychology) from Queen’s University Belfast and a PhD (Education) from Dublin City University.
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| Researcher Profiles | ORCID – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9512-6727
Google Scholar – https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Hqk_3q8AAAAJ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-clerkin-7754a434/ |