I’m Danielle Byrne, a visiting research fellow at the Trinity Centre for Social Innovation in the Business School of Trinity College Dublin. My academic research interests include nonprofit and social economy business models, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, hybrid organisations and institutional influences. My PhD thesis was on social entrepreneurship among Irish nonprofits that receive funding from the state.
I have provided teaching support in Trinity for undergraduate modules on Business in Society and Social Entrepreneurship and for social enterprise projects on the MBA programmes. Additionally, I am…
- A member of ARNOVA (the Association for
Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action) – and honoured to have been awarded a doctoral fellowship for their 2018 conference. - And of EMES (research network for social enterprise)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
- Member of the UK Green Alliance
- Board member of the Irish Social Enterprise Network
Before turning to pracademia, I was programme manager at Pobal with responsibility for the Community Services Programme, Rural Social Scheme and Tús. And before that I was executive director of environmental regeneration charity Groundwork Hackney, regional director (London and the SE) of Groundwork UK, and CEO of Islington Chamber of Commerce.
I have a long history of community activism of which perhaps my best days were at the London social enterprise Walworth Garden and serving on the board of Friends of the Earth England Wales & Northern Ireland.
My background in writing and research did not start, and probably will not end, in the social economy – as a young woman I worked as a copy writer and have taken that skill with me through my career. In recent years I reviewed for Plays International magazine and in 2017 edited The Runner McGough – the Untold Story. I run social media and websites for Bullock Harbour Preservation Association and Hugh Leonard Playwright.
You can contact me here.
Social Economy Investigator 