Mr Michael Fitzgibbon

Biography

Coming from a background in engineering and information systems in the electronics industry, I began work in development in the early 1990s in Tanzania. Returning to Ireland in 1996, I worked at both the International Famine Centre in UCC  (later the Centre for Sustainable Livelihoods), and the statutory Higher Education Equality Unit until 2002. During this time, I worked as a development consultant in Ireland, leading and contributing to a range of projects in diverse areas from: the prevalence of asthma in marginalised communities, through gender equality in engineering education, to policy approaches to interculturalism in higher education. At this time, I also worked as an information systems consultant in sub-Saharan Africa. I joined the Department of Food Business and Development to work both in research and teaching in 2004; involvement in the development and delivery of the joint MSc in Rural Development with Mekelle University (Ethiopia) for most of the last decade was a most rewarding and challenging activity. I currently teach in UCC the areas of International Development, Conflict/Peace, Gender, Humanitarian Responses, Communications and Research Methodologies. Areas that I research include those of Food Insecurity / Smallholder Livelihoods, Value Chains, Gender, Conflict, the Media, ICTs, and in particular, Digital Data Gathering; all of these are focused mainly around impacts and consequences in low-income countries. During the last decade, my research and other development interests have included work in Ethiopia, Malawi, Lesotho, Uganda, Western Sahara, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, and Afghanistan,as well as many European countries.

I also have a strong interest in human rights and development issues closer to home, particularly in relation to minority ethnic groups and other marginalised groups such as the asylum-seeking and other immigrant communities. I was party to the founding of two local non-governmental organisations, Nasc and Ethical Development Action, and have acted as director on these, and also with Cork Simon.

Research Interests

Research Interests

Information systems implementations in the South

famine emergency responses

microfinance

interculturalism/antiracism

gender and development

Committees

• Facilitate this process, Disability Support Department Representative Group (2014 /)

Consultancy

• Sherkin Island Development Society / DIT School of Art, Design and Printing : Sherkin Island Development Society / DIT School of Art, Design and Printing: ‘Programme Evaluation and Review, Evaluation of the Art and Culture Pilot Programme’
• Institute of Technology, Tallaght : Mentorlink IT Tallaght, Engineering Dept: Online Equality Reference for Women Engineering Students and Workers, Tallaght Institute of Technology
• SHB Traveller Health Unit and Traveller Visibility Group : SHB Traveller Health Unit and Traveller Visibility Group: 'An Assessment of Traveller Needs in East Cork'
• IT Tallaght : IT Tallaght: Consultant on the development of Policy, practices and procedures to prevent and address Bullying and Harassment at an Institute level
• Southern Health Board and Blackpool, The Glen, Mayfield Health Action Zone : Southern Health Board and Blackpool, The Glen, Mayfield Health Action Zone
• Mentorlink, IT Tallaght, Engineering Dept : Mentorlink, IT Tallaght, Engineering Dept: Consultant on the development of Equality and Diversity policy, practices and procedures

Publications