Dr. Cadhla O Sullivan

Biography

Cadhla O’Sullivan is a Research Fellow at the Children's Policy Centre, based in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. She successfully defended her PhD in August 2023, graduating from Queen's University Belfast in December 2023. Her research focuses on a qualitative ethnographic style study with children and youth in Colombia, investigating performing arts-based intervention for peacebuilding and peacekeeping. Cadhla has presented her findings at various conferences in Ireland, the UK, and Australia and has authored articles and book chapters on related subjects. She holds a first-class honours degree in Social Science from University College Cork, Ireland. In 2019, she was awarded a master’s degree in Children’s Rights from Queen’s University Belfast, where she conducted her PhD research as part of a LINKS team collaboration with Lancaster University, UK. Her work as a research assistant contributed to the production of a systematic review and evidence gap map on Social Emotional Learning for children in low- to middle-income countries. Cadhla’s research interests lie in child justice, children’s human rights, childhood poverty and inequality, child and youth wellbeing, sustainable education, and social cohesion, utilizing qualitative methods and a creative participatory approach.

Research Interests