People in the Centre for Youth Research and Dialogue

Dr Gail Neill

Lecturer

Dr Gail Neill is a lecturer in the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences at Ulster University.  Prior to academia she worked for over 20 years as a youth worker in a range of community and voluntary settings across Northern Ireland.  Her practice focused specifically on gender and sexualities programmes; lobbying and campaigning initiatives; and action based research.

Gail is the Programme Director for the Fast Track Community Youth Work degree programme alongside which she teaches and convenes undergraduate modules.  Her teaching interests include critical thinking; support and supervision; reflective practice; and gender and diversity.

Keen to support the critical articulation of youth work and the distinct contribution this makes, while at YouthActionNI, she founded the Critical Youth Research Hub and co-founded the Critical Voice NI website, remaining actively involved in both.  She continues to further support the youth sector through the delivery of mentoring programmes for LGBTQ young women and provides regular training on anti-oppressive practice for youth worker practitioners.

Gail graduated from Ulster University in 2004 with a BSc in Community Youth Work and completed her doctoral research from Queen’s University Belfast in 2016. She is interested in feminist participatory research and the development of innovative public dissemination and engagement tools.

Susan Morgan

Lecturer

Susan Morgan is a Lecturer in the School of Sociology and Applied Social Studies at Ulster University. She has been part of the Community Youth Work team since 2004. Before that she was spent 10 years as a practitioner working with young people and communities across Northern Ireland with a specific focus on informal education; civic engagement; work with girls and young women; gender equality and gender conscious practice.

Susan has taken a leading role in the development and delivery of Professional training in Community Youth Work. Her teaching disciplines include gender; conflict transformation; youth work in diverse societies: management, supervision and leadership; interpersonal skills; reflective practice and critical thinking and the development and management of international placements for students to destinations such as South Africa and Australia.

She takes an active role in the support and development of the vibrant Community Youth work sector in Northern through mentoring and facilitation, development of knowledge exchange seminars and engagement with the sector in support of widening access and participation for those underrepresented in higher education.

Her local and international research interests include work with girls and young women in informal settings; work with street connected children internationally and work with young people in conflict societies.

Eliz McArdle

Senior Lecturer

Eliz McArdle is a Lecturer in Community Youth Work at Ulster University and Course Director for the Certificate in Youth Studies with franchised partner, YouthAction Northern Ireland. From 2017-2022, Eliz was Project Manager for the EU funded YouthPact project; a support, development and research programme for youth sector peace building. This involved partnership, financial and human resources management and the provision of training across 49 organisations on bespoke Community youth work themes. Eliz was co-ordinator of Year One BSc Community Youth Work and Placement Co-coordinator across all full-time cohorts (2014-2018).

Previously she worked for 10 years as Team Leader for the Equality Work with Young Women team in YouthAction Northern Ireland (previously the Gender Equality Unit). This involved managing projects and staff working with young women across themes of mental health; political engagement; sexual orientation; young parenting and equality. Prior to this, she worked as Development Officer at Ulster University developing new pre-vocational training for youth workers working in community relations and peace-building in Northern Ireland.

Eliz co-founded the Critical Voice NI website for writing on youth work practice. Eliz McArdle’s research interests are in feminist youth work; how youth work practice builds mental health; and the role youth work can play in peace-building. She has been External Examiner for a range of youth work programmes at Dundalk Institute of Technology (2014-2017) and most recently for University College Cork (2019-2023).

Civic Engagement

Through YouthPact, Eliz built a network with 249 workers across 49 youth organisations. Previously as placement co-ordinator Eliz worked closely with approximately 70 youth work organisations, regionally and internationally to develop and sustain high quality placements.

Special Achievements

In 2019, Eliz was part of the CYW staff team who were awarded an Academic Excellence Award for the BSc Hons in Community Youth Work

In 2022, Eliz was nominated by the Department for the Economy for attendance at Buckingham Palace Garden Party, in recognition of her contribution to peacebuilding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eliz is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2016).

Dr Breda Friel

Senior Lecturer

Dr. Breda Friel is Course Director for the Postgraduate, Master’s programme, and Continuous Professional Development Short Courses (Level M) in Community Youth Work at Ulster University Magee campus.

She is also the director of The Centre for Youth Research and Dialogue (CYRD).  Her research area is focussed on suicide prevention, Autism Spectrum Conditions, and the importance of relationship in practice.  Her current research is studying Museums, Crisis and Covid-19.

Specialising in trauma debriefing and critical incident responses, Breda is an accredited therapist and clinical supervisor with the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) and the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

She works with statutory and voluntary agencies in managing resources and support following critical events and current research is focusing on the unfolding narrative and practice themes emerging from Covid-19 and its impact on individuals and communities.

Breda is a founding member of several mental health initiatives, including

• Insight Inishowen
• Jigsaw Donegal
• the Social Prescribing Programme
• the award-winning Feel-Good Fortnight community resilience programme in Inishowen

She is the author of The Irish Association of Suicidology: A History (2020).

Dr Mark McFeeters

Lecturer in Community Youth Work

Mark McFeeters is a Lecturer in Community Youth Work, based in Belfast. He has worked in the youth work sector for 19 years, in the community voluntary sector for Youth Initiatives NI and East Belfast Mission.

Mark studied at UU as a postgraduate student from 2007 - 2009 and has since gone on to complete his MSc and PhD here at UU. Mark is currently the Year Head for the year one, full time BSc students. He also coordinates Assessed Practice for the Community Youth Work programmes and is responsible for recruitment on the full time programme.

Learning and Teaching

Mark teaches across a range of modules for both Undergraduate and Postgraduate students and is a member of the Critical Voice NI Advisory Group as well as the Youth Work Educators Forum in Ireland.

He currently represents the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences on the Faculty Employability Sub-Committee and represents the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences on the University Employability Sub-Committee.

Research

Mark completed his PhD in July 2023. His PhD is entitled; Sacred Space, An Exploration into the Distinctiveness of Faith-Based Youth Work from a Christian Perspective in Northern Ireland.

This involved speaking to youth workers and young people about their experience of faith-based youth work.

Mark is working on a number of publications from his PhD and is a member of the Centre for Youth Research and Dialogue. He is currently undertaking his MEd in Higher Education Practice as part of the Centre for Professional Practice Enhancement at UU.

Special Achievements

Mark is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2024) and was part of the Community Youth Work team who received an award for Academic Excellence in 2019.

Dr Mark Hammond

Senior Lecturer

Mark Hammond studied community youth work as an undergraduate at Ulster University from 1994-1997. He has worked in the youth work field for almost 30 years with various statutory and voluntary sector youth work agencies.

Before joining the community youth work team as a Lecturer in 2006, Mark worked with the Corrymeela community and YMCA Ireland in the areas of cross community, community relations work and peace building. He has studied and trained in the areas of education, management, mediation, and group work.

Mark is currently a course director for the full time BSc Hons Community Youth Work programme at Jordanstown. He stresses the importance of the student experience and pastoral care.

Research interests

Mark completed his PhD in 2018. This study explored the purpose of youth work and the processes in which it engages. He is currently involved in two research projects with young men and youth at risk. He is also supervisor for two PhD studies in peacebuilding and faith based youth work.

Teaching

He contributes to both the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in community youth work and has supervised several masters students to completion.

Mark teaches across a number of modules, including topics such as leadership, research methods, youth work theory and individual/group work.

He was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2016, and currently sits on the Youth Work Training Board and an Education Authority project board for the youth service funding scheme.

Dr Andy Hamilton

Research Associate