Jane Suiter is an Irish political scientist, professor and director of Dublin City University's Institute for Future Media, Democracy, and Society ("FuJo")[2] and research lead of Ireland's Constitutional Convention and the Citizens' Assembly.[3] She is the co-author or co-editor of three academic books and one guide book,[4][5] and over 40 journal articles.[6] In December 2020, she was named "Researcher of the Year" by the Irish Research Council[7] and in February 2021, she was promoted to the position of professor by DCU.[8]

Jane Suiter
OccupationPolitical scientist
Academic background
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
ThesisChieftains delivering : political determinants of capital spending in Ireland 2001-07 (2011)
Academic work
InstitutionsDublin City University[1]

Career

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Suiter began her career at the FT Group and AP Dow Jones, and joined The Irish Times in 1996, before becoming economics editor in 2001.[9][10] She earned a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin's political science department in 2010.[11] As a media commentator she has contributed to BBC News,[12] The Washington Post,[13] and The Late Debate on RTÉ Radio 1.

At Dublin City University, she has specialised in the fields of deliberative democracy, journalism, and disinformation.[14] In 2018 she led a research project "journalism and Leadership Transformation"[15] as well as a European Commission Horizon 2020-funded project "Provenance" with Science Foundation Ireland's ADAPT stream to tackle online disinformation.[16] She is a visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University.[17]

In 2020 she co-authored a study into behaviours and attitudes during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.[18] She is co-editor of the Taylor & Francis academic journal Journal of Contemporary European Studies.[19]

Public projects

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In 2011, Suiter created (with University College Dublin political scientist David M. Farrell)[20] "We the Citizens", a national initiative to increase public engagement with politics.[21] The pair convened the Constitutional Convention in 2012,[1] as well as the Citizens' Assembly on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution in 2016,[22] both of which reviewed potential constitutional changes in the Irish state.[13][23] This culminated in successful referendums; the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland 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.[24] In 2020, Suiter, Farrell, TU Dublin's Yvonne Galligan and Simon Niemeyer of the Australian Citizen's Parliament,[25] received a research fellowship[26] to convene the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality.[27]

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.[28]

Work with the Royal Irish Academy

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Suiter is a member of the Social Sciences Committee of the Royal Irish Academy.[29]

Awards and honours

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Books

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  • Suiter, Jane; Trehy, Louise (2003). Dublin for Kids: 800 Things to Do in and Around Dublin for the Family. Dublin: O'Brien Press. ISBN 978-0-86278-814-8.
  • Reuchamps, Min; Suiter, Jane, eds. (2016). Constitutional Deliberative Democracy in Europe. Colchester, UK: ECPR. ISBN 978-1-78552-258-1.
  • Farrell, David M.; Suiter, Jane (2019). Reimagining Democracy: Lessons in Deliberative Democracy from the Irish Front Line. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-4934-6.
  • Culloty, Eileen; Suiter, Jane (2021). Disinformation and Manipulation in Digital Media: Information Pathologies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-35667-0.

Personal life

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Suiter married music journalist Leo Finlay in 1990. English rock band Blur, played at the reception in King's Inns, Dublin.[31][32] They had one son.[33] Finlay died in 1996.[33]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Jane Suiter | Staff Profile | DCU". www.dcu.ie. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ^ Weckler, Adrian (29 April 2020). "Big tech 'failing to tackle the spread of fake news'". Independent.ie.
  3. ^ 8 O'Clock Buzz (28 August 2020). "Democracy In Crisis Part 2: Mini-publics, Citizens' Assemblies and Juries". WORTfm.org. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  4. ^ Suiter, Jane; Trehy, Louise (17 June 2003). Dublin for Kids. O'Brien Press. ISBN 0-86278-814-5.
  5. ^ "ECPR Press: Constitutional Deliberative Democracy in Europe - ISBN 9781785521454". ecpr.eu. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Jane Suiter - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Dr Jane Suiter named Irish Research Council Researcher of the Year". Irish Research Council. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  8. ^ "FuJo Director Jane Suiter promoted to professor". FUJOMedia.eu. 12 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Economics Editor is appointed". IrishTimes.com. 2 February 2001. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  10. ^ ""Articles tagged "Jane Suiter"". IrishTimes.com. 16 February 2022.
  11. ^ Suiter, Jane (2010). Chieftains delivering : political determinants of capital spending in Ireland 2001-07 (Thesis). Trinity College Dublin. hdl:2262/78221?show=full.
  12. ^ Suiter, Jane; Reidy, Theresa (21 May 2015). "Why Ireland's holding a same-sex marriage referendum". BBC.com. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  13. ^ a b Farrell, David; Harris, Clodagh; Suiter, Jane (5 June 2015). "The Irish vote for marriage equality started at a constitutional convention". WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  14. ^ Hutton, Brian (1 May 2021). "All politics is social: How Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have taken the fight online". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  15. ^ Hamilton, Peter (28 April 2018). "DCU leading €3.9m data journalism project". The Irish Times. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  16. ^ Kennedy, John (8 November 2018). "DCU leads €2.4m EU project to tackle 'fake news'". Silicon Republic. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  17. ^ Fegan, Joyce (7 January 2019). "Threats abound in the future of news". IrishExaminer.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019.
  18. ^ "DCU responds with multiple research initiatives to find swift solutions to challenges posed by Covid-19 crisis". DCU.ie. 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020.
  19. ^ "Journal of Contemporary European Studies - Editorial board". Taylor & Francis. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  20. ^ Atmos, Mila (26 December 2019). "Interview with the Irish Citizens' Assembly (Jane Suiter & David Farrell)--Future Hindsight". Future Hindsight (Podcast) (S08E07 ed.). YouTube. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  21. ^ McKay, Susan (5 January 2019). "A Jury of Peers". ForeignPolicy.com.
  22. ^ "The Irish Citizens' Assembly Project". CitizensAssembly.ie. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  23. ^ Quinn, David (2 May 2021). "Citizens' assembly is a stitch-up, not democracy". The Sunday Times (Ireland). ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  24. ^ a b "The Irish Citizens' Assembly Project to receive the 2019 Brown Democracy Medal". University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  25. ^ Gastil, John; et al., eds. (2013), "The Australian Citizens' Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy", Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation, 8, Penn State University Press: 162, doi:10.5325/j.ctt32b9zd, ISBN 978-0-271-06012-5, JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctt32b9zd
  26. ^ "Inaugural meeting of Citizens' Assembly on gender equality". CitizensAssembly.ie (Press release). 25 January 2020. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  27. ^ McGarry, Patsy. "Gender equality: Citizen's Assembly moves to fulfil 1916 Proclamation aims". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  28. ^ O'Regan, Eilish (9 January 2021). "Public asked to be part of a 'Citizens' Jury' on how personal health records are used". Independent.ie. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  29. ^ "Social Sciences Committee: S". Royal Irish Academy. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  30. ^ "Research award recipients honoured". DCU.ie. 3 May 2019. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  31. ^ Cuddihy, Tony (2014). "Pics: A ridiculously young Blur playing at an Irish wedding back in 1990". JOE.ie. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019.
  32. ^ Calder, Tina (12 July 2009). "Air we go". The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  33. ^ a b Finlay, Colm. Blur At Oxygen (MP3). Drivetime (RTÉ). Retrieved 26 August 2019.
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