Sinead O’Gorman Consulting offers expert consulting services with a focus on international education, human rights, academic freedom, global partnerships and at-risk and refugee scholars & students.

Sinead has worked for more than 25 years at the intersection of international education and human rights. Prior to launching her consultancy practice, Sinead was Director of Scholars at Risk Europe, the European headquarters of the global Scholars at Risk Network (SAR), based at Maynooth University, Ireland.

Over 16 years in leadership roles within the global SAR Network, Sinead led the establishment and strategic growth of SAR’s European office, securing and managing major EU-funded fellowship programmes and multi-partner initiatives to support at-risk scholars and students. Sinead successfully led funding efforts that secured more than €28 million from the EU and private donors, including MSCA4Ukraine and Inspireurope, funded under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. As Director of SAR Europe she oversaw operations, finance, fundraising, communications, network development, policy and advocacy, while mentoring and supervising a dedicated team of staff. Working closely with SAR Europe’s board, funders, and Maynooth University leadership, she ensured legal, regulatory, and governance compliance and built strong cross-sectoral partnerships to advance SAR’s mission.

Sinead previously served in programme, policy and research positions at the Institute of International Education (IIE) in New York, the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) in London and at the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS). Sinead holds an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, an M.A. in Études Françaises (French Studies) from the Université de Montreal, and a B.A. (Hons) in English and French from Trinity College Dublin. Sinead was a pensionnaire étranger at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (rue d’Ulm) in Paris. She is also a certified translator (French/English) and a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), holding a Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) from the CIOL, UK.