An independent specialist and facilitator of governance and corporate leadership for collaborative and transboundary working, Caitriona’s work ranges across the EU and beyond its external borders. Caitriona’s current portfolio includes the role of ICLRD facilitator for the North West Strategic Growth Partnership, a unique interjurisdictional partnership for cross-border territorial co-operation in the North West of Ireland/Northern Ireland.
She also holds expert roles with the Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise for Good Governance (including capacity building for cross-border co-operation in the Western Balkans) and with the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR). Her recent work with AEBR includes ongoing work with regional and national authorities across EU Member States, in brokering implementation of case study recommendations from the DG REGIO B-Solutions initiative, which focuses on solving legal and administrative barriers to cross-border co-operation across the EU; the 2022 DG SANTE Study on Cross-Border Patient Mobility published as part of the evaluation of the EU Directive on the Rights of Patients in Cross-Border Healthcare; and ongoing liaison with AEBR’s Ukrainian stakeholders.
Caitriona’s current policy,
research and advisory work is also informed by more than two decades’
hands-on public sector collaborative working and change management
experience in Ireland and Northern Ireland and on a cross-border basis,
gained variously in executive and non-executive roles in the local government,
health and social care, and higher education sectors.
Her early career as a
graduate of University of Dublin, Trinity College, included a policy
advisor role with the Government of Ireland during the mid-1990s, followed
by social and economic development consultancy in Ireland and Northern
Ireland, and planning and delivering EU cross-border programs in the
Central Border Region. Her postgraduate research focused on the diplomatic
role of the Irish Government in the early stages of the Northern Ireland
Peace Process.
Publications in 2022 include the AEBR/DG SANTE Study on
Cross Border Patient Mobility in Selected EU Regions, NESC Research Paper
no. 25 ‘Exploring Shared Opportunities in the North West’, contributions to
the Journal of European Planning Studies and a range of policy position
papers in the public domain. Caitriona is a native of Derry/Londonderry.
A key non-academic partner, the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) is the leading association of European border and cross-border regions in Europe. It was created in 1971 with a clear aim of promoting cross-border cooperation as a basic cement of European integration. AEBR works closely with European institutions, with regular contacts to discuss cross-border issues, propose and launch new initiatives. It has a long-standing experience of successful, impact-oriented communication with policymakers at border-regional, national and European level and will be the facilitator and multiplicator of B-SHAPES dissemination activities in this regard. Furthermore, AEBR will support the involvement of youth in B-SHAPES’ research activities.