Mairéad is Chair in Digital Education in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at the University of Manchester. She holds a Ph.D. in History from McMaster University in Canada and an M.A. in European Studies from K.U. Leuven in Belgium. Her career has straddled the worlds of higher education, education technology, professional and continuing education, and edtech start-ups. Irish-born, she has worked in Canada, the USA, Belgium and Spain, in multiple languages and sectors, as an academic researcher, digital learning designer, university lecturer, director of academic services and consultant for digital programmes in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sports and business. She is focused on how we can leverage digital pedagogies to support educational innovation using emerging technologies. Her book on Generative AI and Education is slated for publication in 2024.