Dr Byer has joined the university as assistant professor in international law and global justice as part of the Ad Astra Fellows programme, a UCD initiative to recruit 50 early-career faculty this year.

She had previously been part of the ERC Property [In]Justice team in UCD Sutherland School of Law.

Dr Byer worked for over 10 years in the Caribbean region as an environmental legal consultant.

She holds a PhD in cultural heritage law from Leiden University, an LLM from University College London, an LLB and MSc from the University of West Indies, and a BA in development economics from the Sarah Lawrence College, New York. 

Her research concerns the relationship between law and spatial justice, particularly the role of landscape in the protection of environmental and human rights for local communities.

Dr Ciara Molloy has been appointed assistant professor in criminology. She joins UCD from the University of Sheffield, where she was a lecturer in criminology. 

Dr Molloy holds an MSc in criminology and criminal justice from UCD and undertook her PhD at UCD Sutherland School of Law, supervised by Professor Ian O’Donnell.

During her PhD, she was awarded a Sutherland School of Law doctoral scholarship and subsequently an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland postgraduate scholarship.

Her key research areas include historical criminology, victimology, policing, cultural criminology, and restorative justice. Dr Molloy will lecture on the BSc criminology and psychology degree.

Dr Aoife McPartland has been appointed as assistant professor in corporate law and governance and will take up the role in January 2026.

She has been appointed under a collaboration agreement between Matheson LLP and UCD Sutherland School of Law, which has provided philanthropic funding for her role.

Dr McPartland is currently a senior enforcement manager with the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA).

She successfully completed a PhD in law in UCD Sutherland School of Law in October 2024, supervised by Dr Noel McGrath. Her doctoral thesis explored the purpose of Ireland’s restriction of company directors’ regime and its impact on directors’ constitutional rights. 

Prior to completing her PhD at UCD, Dr MrPartland obtained the professional qualification of barrister-at-law. In addition, she holds an LLM from Trinity College Dublin and a BA in economics, politics and law from Dublin City University (DCU).