TASC Staff

Dr Shana Cohen is the Director of TASC.

She has been director since 2017. In addition to her directorship, she works directly on projects involving social inclusion, economic inequality, democracy, and climate justice. For instance, she is drafting a report for Safe Ireland on how social policy can support victims of DSGBV. She has also worked on the social prescribing programme with the Coop in NEIC and policy reports on migration and social solidarity in the EU, as well as the effect of the financial crisis on the top 10% of income earners in Ireland, Sweden, Spain, and the UK. In addition to her work at TASC, Shana is an Affiliate Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge.

She has published on social action and activism, as well as social change in North Africa, her original area of academic research.She has a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an AB from Princeton University. 

Before coming to TASC, she was Deputy Director of the Woolf Institute in Cambridge. In her role at the Institute, she became engaged with interfaith and intercultural relations in Europe, India, and the Middle East.

Beyond academic research, Shana has extensive experience working with NGOs and community-based organizations in a number of countries, including Morocco, the US, the UK, and India. This work has involved project design, management, and evaluation as well as advocacy. She has consulted for the World Bank, the Grameen Bank Foundation, and other private foundations and trusts.

Expertise

• Economy and society 
• Social policy and inequality 
• Enhancing civil society impact and capacity 
• Evaluation and programme design
• International development 

Forthcoming publications

(2021) “The evolution of civil society in Morocco,” in Handbook on the Maghrib, edited by George Joffe, New York: Routledge. 

(2021) “The local political and social consequences of austerity,” in Handbook on Austerity, Retrenchment and the Welfare State, edited by Bent Greve, London: Edward Elgar Publishing. 

Recent publications

(2019) “Solidarity and Democracy: Lessons from Social Activism Under Austerity in the UK,” Journal of Anthropological Theory: Anthropological Theory Commons, December 9, 2019. 

(2019) “Global Policy and Social Solidarity: Making the link for social change,” special issue of Global Social Policy in memoriam for Bob Deacon, Ed. Alexandra Kaasch.

Sara has worked extensively in programme management in the community and voluntary sector. She has managed educational projects in Africa and Asia and worked with refugees, migrants and at-risk young people in Ireland. She has a MA in International Politics and Human Rights from London City University, and a PhD in Sociology from Trinity College Dublin where she researched trust and cohesion in post-conflict communities using qualitative and quantitative methods. As well as her work with TASC, Sara coordinates the Sociology and Social Policy Module for Trinity Access Programmes

Sara leads social inclusion research at TASC. Current projects centre on the social and structural effects of inequality, social exclusion, and poverty. This includes work on financial resilience and domestic violence, as well as developing work on cross border cooperation and the intersection between social inclusion and climate action. Research findings contribute to policy debate and the evaluation and development of programmes and interventions.

Research Themes

• Social effects of poverty and inequality
• Financial resilience
• Digital literacy
• Domestic violence
• Conflict and reconciliation

Oisín Gilmore is Senior Economist at TASC. He has responsibility for research on economic policy and economic inequality. He previously worked as an economist in the Labour Market and Skills Unit at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. In that role he wrote the "Report on Piloting a Universal Basic Income", the annual reports of the Low Pay Commission, and co-drafted the "Report on the Living Wage".

Prior to that, he worked for the 4-Day Week Campaign Ireland and wrote their launch report. He has also worked in the Humboldt University of Berlin, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Groningen, the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), University College London, and State Street. His primary research interests are on the interactions between economic development, the organisation of work and social movements.

Current research

Róisín is a climate justice researcher at TASC. This research aims to apply TASC's expertise in inequality to advancing climate justice and realising a Just Transition. As part of TASC's People's Transition work, Róisín is currently working with communities in Waterford City and the South Kerry Gaeltacht to explore how climate action can reduce inequality and be an enabler of local development. Alongside undertaking the People’s Transition projects, Róisín is also conducting research as part of an Erasmus+ funded project, Football for Climate Justice.

Background

Róisín holds an MSc in Climate Change: Media, Policy and Society from Dublin City University and a BA in Global Business and Spanish DCU from Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid. Prior to joining TASC, Róisín worked for several years in the not-for-profit sector with Greenpeace Australia Pacific and, more recently, with Concern Worldwide.

Current Research

Adeelia Goffe is the senior researcher for health. Her work centres on topics related to health and social care access pathways and associated outcomes for marginalised groups. She is currently working on social prescribing in vulnerable/marginalised communities and migrant health needs.

Research Themes

• Health inequalities
• Social determinants of health
• Social inclusion
• Marginalised/vulnerable groups
• Infectious disease epidemiology

Background

Adeelia has a PhD in Biology from the Georg August University of Göttingen (Germany). She also has degrees from Roehampton University (UK) and Cornell University (USA). She has published and refereed in international journals in behavioural ecology and virology. Prior to joining the TASC team, she worked on a number of research projects for the HSE and has lectured at Trinity College.

Matt works on the climate justice stream at TASC where his research strives to advance climate justice and realise a Just Transition.  He is currently working on Phase II of the People’s Transition — focusing on community-led climate action that seeks to address inequality.

Matt holds an MRes in Development Practice from the University of East Anglia and a PhD in Politics from University College Cork. He has published widely on critical political theory, social and ecological activism, prefigurative politics, the utopian imagination, and the politics of love. Prior to joining the TASC team, Matt worked in a number of community development projects in Ireland, the UK, and South Africa; led participatory research projects with a range of social and ecological activists internationally; and lectured at University College Cork.  His book Love and revolution was published by Manchester University Press in 2023, and he is currently co-editing the book Deep Commons forthcoming with SUNY Press.

Louisa joined us from the fundraising team at Dublin Simon Community where she managed Dublin Simon’s food sponsorship programme 'Food for Simon', working closely with many key industry players to address food waste as part of their CSR strategies. Other roles with Dublin Simon involved partnerships with SSE Airtricity, Kepak and Lidl Ireland.

Louisa is a passionate advocate for the growth and future sustainability of TASC and is dedicated to ensuring our mission continues to thrive for generations to come.

If you'd like to hear more about how you can support TASC, or have a suggestion about how we might fundraise, please reach out. We'd be delighted to hear from you. 

Deirdre has joined the Climate Justice Team of TASC as part of an Irish Research Council Employment-Based PhD Award. She is examining the role of place-based communities in enacting a Just Transition to decarbonisation in Ireland. This research will explore, through a series of case studies, how community-level initiatives on Just Transition can achieve sustainable development. Prior to this, Deirdre worked in international development, in advocacy for sustainable development and in monitoring and evaluation of development projects. 

Rob is a researcher in climate justice with TASC, where his work focuses on community-led climate action through the People’s Transition. Rob has a BA in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin and a MA in Spatial Justice from Maynooth University. His recent academic research has examined the unique place of curlews in national conservation policy and the emerging geographies of offshore energy. He has previously worked in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as a member of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service. 

Maria (Marysia) Pachowicz is TASC's Junior Researcher on Health. They have a B.A. in Psychology & Mathematics and an M.Sc. in Applied Psychology from Trinity College Dublin. They have conducted research on body image and disordered eating among sexual minority women for their undergraduate thesis, and on the experiences of accessing mental healthcare among people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder for their Masters thesis. They are a member of the “Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone” Reference Group of Service Users and Family Members, where they advise the Department of Health on the implementation of mental health policy, ensuring that the voice of the service user is at the centre of all decisions. They also sit on the Health Research Board Expert Group tasked with producing Ireland’s first National Mental Health Research Strategy. Maria is also a member of the Digital Mental Health Working Group of the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders. Aside from this, they have experience of working in disability services, as well as extensive experience in activism, particularly in relation to LGBTQ+ rights in Ireland and abroad.

John has been with TASC since 2017 and comes a solid background in senior office administration.

He has previously worked in large academic, health and government organisations in both Australia and Ireland.

With specialist experience in corporate event management for local government and the charity sector he is a key staff member for TASC fundraising activities.

System administrator for Salesforce CRM for TASC.