Ian O'Donnell - Biography#

Ian O'Donnell is Professor of Criminology at University College Dublin where he served two terms as director of the Institute of Criminology. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (FBPsS), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), an Adjunct Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford, and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA). He has been a Chartered Psychologist since 1996. He holds degrees (including three doctorates) from Dublin, Cambridge, London and the National University of Ireland. Professor O'Donnell's most recent book - Prison Life: Pain, Resistance, and Purpose - was published by New York University Press in February 2023. In addition to his scholarly endeavours he has contributed to the criminal justice policy debate both nationally and internationally, serving as a Council of Europe expert and as a member of numerous government committees and advisory groups. For three years he was Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust and during the nine years he spent in England he served as a magistrate. He writes regularly on criminal justice matters for national newspapers.