Dr Paul Hanly

Biography

Dr Paul Hanly is a lecturer in Economics in the Department of Economics, Cork University Business School, University College Cork. He is a past graduate of UCC with a BA Honours (1.1) in Economics and History and MA in Economics (1.1), along with a PhD in Economics from the University of Limerick.

As an internationally recognised expert in health economics and behavioural economics, Paul’s research explores the intersection of health, human capital, productivity, and public policy—focusing on the economic burden of disease, behavioural interventions for cancer prevention and the labour market impacts of illness. Paul possesses particular expertise in illness-associated productivity loss, microcosting health technologies, labour market modelling, quality-of-life measurement, and non-market activity economic valuation. His work continues to shape both scholarship and policy, with research that informs healthcare decision-making and economic policy development at national and international levels.

Paul is an award-winning and internationally recognised researcher with over 50 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Social Science and Medicine (4-star ABS ranked journal), Tourism Management (4-star ABS ranked journal), European Journal of Health Economics, Pharmacoeconomics, and Value in Health. His research has generated over 2,000 citations with a h-index of 30, and he has successfully attracted almost €2 million in research funding from prestigious bodies including the Health Research Board, Irish Cancer Society, and MSD Oncology. His work has won numerous prizes across internationally recognised research societies, including the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Best New Investigator Award. Paul serves as a journal reviewer for The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology and Nature Communications, and maintains an extensive international research collaboration network with centres of excellence including the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, American Cancer Society, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Trinity College Dublin.

Paul teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at University College Cork (UCC). He places research-led teaching at the core of his approach and is an advocate for blended learning and the flipped classroom methodology. His teaching emphasises applied learning and the development of students' analytical and critical thinking skills. In recognition of his teaching excellence, he received the Teaching Hero Award in 2021 from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and has created an Economics Learning YouTube channel with nearly one million views.