Jane Suiter is an Irish

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, professor and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

's Institute for Future Media, Democracy, and Society ("FuJo") and research lead of Ireland's Constitutional Convention and the Citizens' Assembly. She is the co-author or co-editor of three academic books and one guide book, and over 40

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

articles. In December 2020, she was named "Researcher of the Year" by the

Irish Research Council The Irish Research Council () was an associate agency of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority. In November 2023, Simon Harris, the Minister for Fu ...

and in February 2021, she was promoted to the position of professor by DCU.

Career

Suiter began her career at the FT Group and AP Dow Jones, and joined ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' in 1996, before becoming economics editor in 2001. She earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

's political science department in 2010. As a media commentator she has contributed to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and ''The Late Debate'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

. At Dublin City University, she has specialised in the fields of

deliberative democracy Deliberative democracy or discursive democracy is a form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. Deliberative democracy seeks quality over quantity by limiting decision-makers to a smaller but more representative sample ...

, journalism, and

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

. In 2018 she led a research project "journalism and Leadership Transformation" as well as a

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

-funded project "Provenance" with

Science Foundation Ireland Science Foundation Ireland (SFI; ) was a statutory body in Ireland. It was an agency of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in th ...

ADAPT ADAPT (formerly American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) is a United States grassroots disability rights organization with chapters in 30 states and Washington, D.C. History The Atlantis Community was started in Denver, Colorado, in 1975, ...

stream to tackle online disinformation. She is a

visiting Fellow In academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of ...

at the

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) is a UK-based research centre and think tank founded in 2006, which operates Thomson Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme, also known as the Reuters Fellowship. History The institute ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. In 2020 she co-authored a study into behaviours and attitudes during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. She is co-editor of the

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

academic journal ''

Journal of Contemporary European Studies The ''Journal of Contemporary European Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers European studies. It was established in 1980 as the ''Journal of Area Studies: Series 1'' and renamed ''Journal of Area Studies'' in 1992. I ...

''.

Public projects

In 2011, Suiter created (with

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

political scientist David M. Farrell) "We the Citizens", a national initiative to increase public engagement with politics. The pair convened the Constitutional Convention in 2012, as well as the Citizens' Assembly on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution in 2016, both of which reviewed potential constitutional changes in the Irish state. This culminated in successful

referendums A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

; the

Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Act 2015 (previously bill (proposed law), bill no. 5 of 2015) amendments to the Constitution of Ireland, amended the Constitution of Ireland to permit marriage to be contracted ...

introduced marriage equality and the Thirty-sixth repealed the constitutional ban on abortion. The project was awarded the Brown Medal for Democracy in 2019 by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

. In 2020, Suiter, Farrell,

TU Dublin Technological University Dublin () or TU Dublin is Ireland's first technological university. It was established on 1 January 2019, with a history going back to 1887 through the amalgamated Dublin Institute of Technology which progressed from t ...

's Yvonne Galligan and Simon Niemeyer of the Australian Citizen's Parliament, received a research fellowship to convene the

Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality The Citizens' Assembly ( and also known as We The Citizens) is a citizens' assembly established in Ireland in 2016 to consider several political questions including the Constitution of Ireland. Questions considered include: abortion, fixed ter ...

. In 2021, Suiter convened a Citizen's jury for IPPOSI, a patients' advocacy group, to consider how medical information could best be centralised to ensure maximal patient benefit will minimise privacy and sensitivity concerns.

Work with the Royal Irish Academy

Suiter is a member of the Social Sciences Committee of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

Awards and honours

* DCU President's Research Award in the area of Humanities and Social Sciences, Business, Education and related areas 2018 * McCourtney Institute for Democracy at

, Brown Medal for Democracy (shared) 2019 *

's "Researcher of the Year" 2020

Books

* * * *

Personal life

Suiter married music journalist Leo Finlay in 1990. English rock band Blur, played at the reception in

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments. The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...

, Dublin. They had one son. Finlay died in 1996.

References

External links

We the Citizens (initiative)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suiter, Jane Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish women journalists Irish women academics Irish political scientists Academics of Dublin City University Academic journal editors Living people Members of the Royal Irish Academy