Dr. Michelle O’Sullivan is a Lecturer in Industrial Relations in the Kemmy Business School. Michelle teaches in the areas of dispute resolution, negotiation skills and employment relations to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Her primary area of research expertise is on precarious work with a focus on public policy in regulating precarious work. She has spoken widely on the topic of precarious work to practitioners, the media and the wider academic community and is on the Scientific Advisory Panel for a TASC/Foundation for European Studies Research Project: ‘After the Crisis: Recovery and Good Jobs in Ireland’.
Michelle led a Kemmy Business School team to undertake the first study on zero hours contracts in Ireland in 2015 which was commissioned by the Irish Government. The research report was published in November 2015 and its policy recommendations are being considered by the Government. Michelle’s other research interests include trade unions, employee voice and silence, employment law and public policy in industrial relations.
She is author of 2 books, 11 book chapters and 13 journal articles and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Industrial Relations. In October 2015, Michelle was appointed to the 9-person Board of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The WRC formed as a result of the largest reform of State dispute resolution bodies in over 20 years. Michelle is also a Council Member of the Irish Academy of Management and the Irish Association for Industrial Relations.