Dr. Paul Downes is Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre, Senior Lecturer in Education (Psychology), St. Patrick’s College, Dublin City University, Ireland. He has been involved in various expert advisory roles for the European Commission in the areas of social inequalities, lifelong learning, second chance education and early school leaving and is a member of the Commission’s Network of Experts on the Social Aspects of Education and Training (NESET). Dr. Downes has been a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Cambridge, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (2011) and a member of the Irish Senate and Parliament Expert Advisory Group on early school leaving (2010). Published internationally in areas of psychology, education, law, philosophy and social policy, he is Thematic Expert for the EU Urbact, PREVENT project. His most recent book is Access to Education in Europe: A Framework and Agenda for System Change (Springer (2014).
