Geraldine Mooney Simmie is the Professor of STEM Education in the School of Education at the University of Limerick, where she presented her inaugural lecture at the University of Limerick on 15th December 2025.
Geraldine is also the Director of EPI∙STEM, the National Centre for STEM Education and an expert researcher with the European Commission on Education & Skills.
During her inaugural lecture, Geraldine reflected on her educational journey to date through her undergraduate degree in chemistry and mathematics from University College Galway, followed by a research master’s in chemistry. Geraldine then completed a higher diploma in education, after which she taught in Coláiste Iognáid, S.J. the Jes, in Galway city. During this time, Geraldine wrote science textbooks and spent a decade on secondment supporting the Transition Year programme as a Resource Officer through providing in-career teacher professional development.
During her PhD research in STEM education in Trinity College, Geraldine’s compared the policy process in Ireland and Norway, from the perspective of science and mathematics teachers’ opportunities for continuing professional learning. In addition, Geraldine was a partner in four European Commission projects in teacher education in science and mathematics, working across 14 countries to research and advance curriculum innovation and pedagogies through transformative school-university partnerships.
Adopting a critical and feminist perspective, Geraldine’s research today interrogates STEM education from an ethical perspective, raising philosophical questions around what it means to be an educated person in STEM today and how that feeds into what it might mean to be an active citizen particularly within neoliberalist societies.
Geraldine’s research expertise lies in the cultural politics of education and her academic papers, published in high quartile journals, examine and theorise STEM teachers’ practices, from the perspective of their expected positioning (subjectivity), and their work practices in classrooms, schools and with external partners.
As Director of EPI∙STEM, Professor Mooney Simmie leads an internationally renowned research centre and with the research team supports the work of PhD students and research fellows in STEM education. The research centre has over forty EPI∙STEM affiliates inside and outside UL. This enables Geraldine and the research team to work with student teachers, scientists, mathematicians and engineers within the university, as well as schools, teachers, education centres and enterprises within the locality.
Geraldine is also the national convenor for the Critical and Feminist Special Interest Group in Ireland with the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI).
Geraldine was joined during the lecture by colleagues from the School of Education, the wider UL community and beyond. Her family, including her husband John, sons Sean and Donal, daughters-in-law Sabrina and Cienna, as well as her three grandchildren, Arabella, Cian and Rory attended the inaugural lecture to celebrate Geraldine’s research achievements and success.