Three New Faculty Appointed to UCD Sutherland School of Law
(L to R) Dr Amanda Byer, Dr Ciara Molloy and Dr Aoife McPartland
We are very pleased to announce the appointment of three new colleagues to the UCD Sutherland School of Law faculty.
Dr Amanda Byer: Ad Astra Fellow in International Law and Global Justice
Dr Amanda Byer has joined the School as Assistant Professor in International Law and Global Justice. She has been appointed as part of the Ad Astra Fellows programme, a UCD initiative to recruit fifty early-career faculty this year. Dr Byer had previously been part of the ERC Property [In]Justice team in UCD Sutherland School of Law.
Dr Byer worked for over ten years in the Caribbean region as an environmental legal consultant. She holds a PhD in cultural heritage law from Leiden University, an LLM from University College London, an LLB and MSc from the University of West Indies, and a BA in Development Economics from the Sarah Lawrence College, New York.
Dr Byer’s research concerns the relationship between law and spatial justice, particularly the role of landscape in the protection of environmental and human rights for local communities.
Dr Ciara Molloy: Assistant Professor in Criminology
Dr Ciara Molloy has been appointed Assistant Professor in Criminology. Dr Molloy joins UCD from the University of Sheffield where she was a Lecturer in Criminology.
Dr Molloy holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from UCD and undertook her PhD at UCD Sutherland School of Law, supervised by Professor Ian O’Donnell. During her PhD she was awarded a Sutherland School of Law Doctoral Scholarship and subsequently an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. Her key research areas include historical criminology, victimology, policing, cultural criminology, and restorative justice.
Dr Molloy will lecture on the BSc Criminology and Psychology degree which is now in its third year and continues to grow in popularity with both domestic and international students.
Dr Aoife McPartland: Matheson Assistant Professor in Corporate Law and Governance
Dr Aoife McPartland has been appointed Assistant Professor in Corporate Law and Governance and will take up the role in January 2026.
Earlier this year, leading law firm Matheson LLP signed a collaboration arrangement with UCD Sutherland School of Law in the area of corporate governance and related law. This important new faculty appointment has been established thanks to philanthropic funding from Matheson.
Dr McPartland is currently a Senior Enforcement Manager with the Corporate Enforcement Authority. She successfully completed a PhD in Law in UCD Sutherland School of Law in October 2024, supervised by Dr Noel McGrath. Her doctoral thesis explored the purpose of Ireland’s restriction of company directors’ regime and its impact on directors’ constitutional rights.
Prior to completing her PhD at UCD, Aoife obtained the professional qualification of Barrister-at-Law. In addition, she holds an LLM from Trinity and a BA in Economics, Politics and Law from DCU.