Patrick O'Mahony National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland

Dr. O'Mahony received his doctorate from the National University of Ireland in 1991 and spent the next seven years as Director of the Centre for European Social Research before taking up a position as lecturer in Sociology at UCC in 2000. He theoretical interests cover a wide span but are currently focused on questions of public participation and the public sphere. He has wide-ranging methodological expertise in a variety of research approaches and techniques. He has conducted and coordinated wide-ranging research, primarily focused on questions of environment, the societal implications of new technology and identity and ideology in Ireland and internationally. He is currently working on a book on the Public Sphere of Biotechnology in Britain and Ireland and the UK.