Our Lecturers

Doing projects better makes good business sense. This programme provides the opportunity to work with fellow learners from across industry sectors and together develop your wider understanding of projects so that you can play a lead role in delivering value and benefits to your organisation.

John Kelly
Director, Centre for Project Management
John Kelly
Director, Centre for Project Management

John has over 15 years international project management experience working in the UK and Australia on large scale infrastructure projects before joining the University of Limerick in 2002. He is a chartered engineer with Engineers Ireland, has PMP certification with the Project Management Institute and completed a Masters in Project Management (M.PM) in UL in 2000.

John’s interests include project governance, commercial management of projects, network organisations and project management for SMEs.

Students taking my module develop their cultural intelligence (CQ), a tremendously important skill required to manage global programmes and projects

It is heartening to see students extend their consideration of project management processes and products towards the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit

Sandra Flynn
Lecturer in Project Management, Module Leader, Centre for Project Management, KBS
Sandra Flynn
Lecturer in Project Management, Module Leader, Centre for Project Management, KBS

As a project and programme manager for the worldwide Apple Online Store and supporting retail contact centres from 2001 to 2017, Sandra has extensive experience in managing projects and project teams in a dynamic, diverse environment.

A lifelong learner, Sandra’s primary degree from the University of Limerick was in European Studies, specialising in social research (1987). In 1996 she qualified as an Accounting Technician and was awarded a Masters in Project Management from UL in 2003 with first class honours. She has been a Project Management Professional since 2007, is a Stanford Certified Project Manager (2016) and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (2014).

A project management educator since 2004, Sandra's expertise includes module design and development for both classroom and online delivery at the University of Limerick (postgraduate level) and Munster Technological University (undergraduate level). Her specialist teaching areas in project management include global virtual teams, cultural intelligence and sustainability in project management practice. She has extensive experience in supervising MSc students on their capstone research projects across a variety of project management topics and recently co-authored an article for the journal Project Leadership and Society with a former research supervisee.

Upon retirement from Apple in 2017 Sandra's focus has been on the changing face of education for the twenty first century. In 2018 she was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Education with distinction from the University of Edinburgh and is currently in her third year of a PhD in Technology Enhanced Learning at Lancaster University. Her thesis explores the contribution of intergenerational relationships to informal and non-formal lifelong learning practices of older adults in Ireland with particular focus on digital skills. This research has a target completion date of 2023.

In her spare time Sandra is an active volunteer, currently involved with Age Action’s Getting Started programme tutoring older adults with their digital skills, Cork City Partnership’s Friendly Call programme and with her local Tidy Towns committee.

Never expect your projects to fail, but always plan for it as the best way to get back on track is to have a plan for when you're off it.

Terence O’ Donnell
Lecturer in Project Management
Terence O’ Donnell
Lecturer in Project Management

Terence has extensive Senior Management experience in both the public and private sector and is a Director and shareholder with the I.T. Alliance Group since 2004.

An accomplished international portfolio & programme management professional with strong commercial expertise Terence has over 35 year’s program and project management experience including senior management and independent consulting roles, including UL, HP, Digital, HSE, Nixdorf and LYIT. He has extensive and wide-ranging experience in helping businesses implement strategic initiatives, incorporating PMOs and Governance frameworks from conceptualisation through to operations.

In recent years, he has specialised in reviewing organisations capability in their 'management of projects' and regularly conducts assurance reviews for both individual projects and the systematic delivery and management of strategic initiatives. He is regularly engaged by clients to set up significant business change programmes and to frame governance structures along with programme and project management best practice to corporate and public sector clients.

A founding member of the local Project Management Institute's (PMI) chapter and past president of the Irish chapter, he has also published a series of articles on various project management topics and set up the National Conference in Project Management (an annual event since 2001).

Finally, Terence was awarded the Distinguished Contribution to Project Management award for his career achievements working in the project management education and consulting arena at the 2017 National Project Awards.

I want my students not only to be Project Managers with a Master’s Degree but to become Master Project Managers who inspire their team members to achieve success

Paul Maguire
Lecturer in Project Management
Paul Maguire
Lecturer in Project Management

Paul has over 40 years’ experience of managing major Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Construction and Enterprise IT projects and is currently a Module Leader on the MSc in Project and Programme Management. Paul has recently retired from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) where he held several Executive and Managerial roles. Paul’s final role was as WW Director, Quality and Process Management where he was responsible for HPE’s Quality Management System, Lean Six Sigma program and Strategic Initiatives. An accomplished Change Manager Paul has managed several large-scale organisational change programmes and Mergers & Acquisitions. As an Enterprise IT programme manager Paul managed a range of systems integration and “managed services” projects for Digital/Compaq’s major customers.

Prior to joining Digital Paul was an Associate Director for Bucknall Austin and Senior Engineer in ESSO’S Project Management Division. During his time at Bucknall Austin Paul acted as Construction Project Manager/Consultant for ‘Blue-chip’ clients. While working at ESSO Paul worked on Oil and Gas projects ranging in value from $10M to $11B. He also acted as Project Manager advisor on numerous EMEA projects.
Paul has extensive international experience having completed 3 International Assignments.

Paul is passionate about knowledge transfer and on-going education and ran a series of training sessions in HP/HPE covering; all aspects of Project Management, Bid Management, Change Management, Quality, Consulting and Cultural Awareness. Paul holds a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering and MSc in Manufacturing Strategy.

Online MSc in Project & Programme Management - Part time Online Learning
Year 1 Year 2
Semester 1
Project and Programme Management Science and Principles
People and Behaviour in Projects
Strategic Management of Programmes
Knowledge and Information Management in Project Environments
Semester 2
Project and Programme Planning and Control
Project Leadership and Governance
Programme Value, Risk and Decision Making
Research in Projects and Organisations
International Project Management
Commercial Management of Projects
Semester 3
In-Company Project
Research Paper

Two-Week Online Induction

Prior to starting the programme, all learners participate in a two-week online induction programme. This provides an introduction to the virtual learning environment, the course content, your lecturers and your classmates. This induction proves particularly useful for people who are returning to third-level education after a break of several years, helping to ease you into the programme and feel confident and motivated about beginning your modules.

Module. Break. Repeat.

Each year includes three semesters; the first has two taught modules, the second has three taught modules, and the third is project work. Each taught module is 5 weeks long, and students have a one-week break between modules, giving busy professionals the opportunity to either break from studies or catch up on work time lost during the five-week module period.

Year 1

Induction

Induction

Semester 1

Module 1
6 ECTS

PROJECT AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT SCIENCE AND PRINCIPLES

Provides insights into the fundamental principles of project and programme management and how they might apply within various settings and sectors.
Module 2
6 ECTS

PEOPLE AND BEHAVIOUR IN PROJECTS

Focuses on the soft skills needed to successfully manage and lead projects, across any industry, on a global scale.

Semester 2

Module 3
6 ECTS

PROJECT & PROGRAMME PLANNING & CONTROL

Applies goal directed methods & tracking, aimed at achieving future sustainable benefits through projects and programmes.
Module 4
6 ECTS

PROJECT LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE

Raises awareness of the importance of effective project leadership, having clear roles, responsibilities and appropriate governance structures in place.
Module 5
6 ECTS

PROGRAMME VALUE, RISK AND DECISION MAKING

Explains how to develop business models and value solutions that are implemented through programmes, with a focus on long term sustainable benefits.

Semester 3

Module 6
12 ECTS

IN-COMPANY PROJECT

Is a “cap stone” that provides the opportunity to apply many of the learnings from the first year of the MSc. in Project and Programme Management in a real project setting.
Download Course Schedule

Year 2

Semester 4

Module 7
6 ECTS

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND PROGRAMMES

Provides a critical overview of corporate strategy and strategy implementation with a focus on programme management competence as levers for strategic renewal.
Module 8
6 ECTS

KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Shows how good management of knowledge and information resources can contribute to enhanced organisational performance through projects.

Semester 5

Module 9
6 ECTS

RESEARCH IN PROJECTS AND ORGANISATIONS

Explains various research methods and how they can be applied to investigate industry related problems with particular emphasis on the management of projects.
Module 10
6 ECTS

INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Addresses the challenges of global projects including leading, communicating and collaborating with virtual teams with diverse cultural backgrounds.
Module 11
6 ECTS

COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT OF PROJECTS

Includes project evaluation and selection with specific emphasis on commercial aspects that effect project investment decisions.

Semester 6

Module 12
18 ECTS

RESEARCH PAPER

Provides an opportunity to explore project management as a discipline and use the latest research and conduct an empirical study into issues and challenges that arise on projects.
Download Course Schedule

Download 2024 Programme Brochure

Learn more about the UL online MSc in Project & Programme Management modules, fees and accreditations.
Download Brochure 2024