Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education, Deputy Director of EPI•STEM
Dr Niamh O’Meara is an Associate Professor A in Mathematics Education and Deputy Director of EPI STEM, the National Centre for STEM Education located in the School of Education at the University of Limerick. Niamh commenced her PhD in 2007 when she investigated the knowledge needed to teach mathematics effectively and designed a model of knowledge for effective mathematics teaching for the 21st Century. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Limerick in 2011. In 2016 she was also awarded a M.Sc. in Mathematical Modelling from the University of Limerick.
Niamh’s primary area of research is mathematics education and under this umbrella she is particularly interested in mathematics teacher knowledge and understanding, mathematics teacher education, mathematics curriculum issues, out-of-field mathematics teaching and numeracy education. Niamh has published over 35 peer-reviewed journal articles, one book, eight book chapters, seven technical reports in these areas. In addition to this, Niamh regularly presents her work at both national and international conferences such as ICME, AERA, MEI and ESAI conferences. A full list of Niamh’s publications can be found here.
During her time in EPI STEM Niamh has been involved with numerous research teams who have secured funding from both national and international funding bodies. She has been a principal investigator and/or co-principal investigator on projects that have received funding from the Erasmus+ scheme, the SFI Discover scheme, the Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation fund, the Irish Research Council New Foundations Scheme and the Teaching Council’s John Coolahan scheme. She has also been key member of research teams for two longitudinal studies of national importance, funded by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (to evaluate the Junior Cycle framework) and the DES/Teaching Council (to investigate the first ten years of teachers professional journey).
Finally, Niamh lectures in the areas of both mathematics and mathematics pedagogy on the two mathematics undergraduate teacher education courses in UL. She is also the course director for one of these programmes (LM097: Bachelor of Science (Education) in Mathematics and Computer Science). Niamh also acts as the academic advisor on the Professional Diploma for Mathematics Teachers, a programme that offers upskilling to those teaching mathematics out-of-field.
If you wish to contact Niamh please email niamh.omeara@ul.ie
