Marie-Claire McAleer is head of research and policy at the National Youth Council of Ireland. She is a member of the European Commission - Council of Europe Pool of European Youth Researchers.
Her research interests lie in the areas of social inclusion, youth political engagement and participation, youth migration and youth unemployment.
Marie-Claire has extensive experience conducting research on youth issues and contributing to the development of public policy at a national and European level.
She has publications on educational disadvantage, youth emigration, youth unemployment, the use of social and digital media in youth work, and the provision of youth work in rural Ireland. Marie-Claire holds a Masters in Social Science from University College Dublin and is currently undertaking a doctorate in Social Science at University College Cork.