Laura Rooney Ferris

We are delighted that former A&SL committee member Laura Rooney Ferris will be speaking at this year’s conference. Laura is currently working with the HSE’s Health Library Ireland (HLI) as Library Resources Manager with a remit for National Procurement and since 2015 she has produced and presented the podcast series ‘Librarians Aloud!’ which details the professional journeys of librarians from Ireland and internationally.

In her presentation, ‘Building a culture of Open Research for Health and Social Care Practitioners‘ she will examine the barriers to open publication for health practitioner researchers and outline the aims and development of this project.

Trevor Boland

Trevor Boland is the Assistive Technology Officer in the Disability and Learning Support Service in DCU. This makes him uniquely placed to advocate for inclusion, accessibility and Assistive Technology (AT) in education. Previously, he worked as the Digital Officer in AHEAD and worked on many projects, including the National UDL Rollout for staff in Further and Higher Education.

In his presentation, ‘Inclusive Technology is everywhere: Why is it then so hard to find?‘ Trevor will look at how AT is ubiquitous in digital systems like Google, Microsoft and Apple but it is still very much unnamed and hidden in plain sight for most. He will talk about how technology can support students with their academic tasks, how this tech fits into the lifestyles of students and how they support wellbeing.