edel murphy

Edel Murphy is a research project manager in the Discipline of General Practice, working on the SPHERE Follow-Up Study. Edel holds a B.Sc. from University College Dublin and completed an M.Sc. in Cell Biology, in the (then) National Institute for Higher Education Dublin and the Higher Diploma in Education. In 2012, she graduated with an M.Sc. in Clinical Research from NUI Galway. 

After a short spell teaching at second level, Edel had a successful career for a number of years in the technology industry, as an information designer/project manager and later, as an operations manager, with Digital Equipment Corporation and later with Compaq. She then ran her own project management company, working with clients in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Drawing on her experience in business, technology and education, Edel’s versatility allowed her to move seamlessly from leading business projects in an international logistics company, to developing and delivering an educational CD-ROM on ageing and older people to each primary school in Ireland, to delivering complex web sites to a variety of clients, ranging from a local radio station to a national voluntary organisation.  

Edel first worked as a research project manager with NUI Galway in 2005 and has worked in a number of different Disciplines within the University.

Edel's research experience includes quality of life of older people in long-stay care, the use of reminiscence with people with dementia in long-stay care, the portrayal of older people in the printed media and OCHAR, the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest register. Her thesis for the Masters in Clinical Research in 2012 focussed on quality of life of older people with dementia in long-stay care.

She joined the SPHERE Follow-Up study in 2012, as project manager and researcher. This study is a 6 year follow-up to the original SPHERE study, a randomised controlled trial of tailored practice and patient care plans designed to improve outcomes for patients with coronary heart disease.

Selected Publications

Cooney, A; O'Shea, E; Casey, D; Murphy, K; Dempsey, L; Smyth, S; Hunter, A; Murphy, E; Devane, D; Jordan, F (2012) 'Developing a structured education reminiscence-based programme for staff in long-stay care facilities in Ireland'. Journal Of Clinical Nursing (in press).

O'Shea, E.,Devane, D.,Murphy, K.,Cooney, A.,Casey, D.,Jordan, F.,Hunter, A., Murphy, E. (2011) 'Effectiveness of a structured education reminiscence-based programme for staff on the quality of life of residents with dementia in long-stay units: A study protocol for a cluster randomised trial' Trials 12 (41)