Catherine Kavanagh

Catherine Kavanagh is Lecturer in Economics at University College Cork. Her PhD, from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, focused on analysing compensation in the UK labour market using human capital models. Early publications are in the areas of: unemployment and incomes policies; measures of economic progress; income distribution and inequality; the effectiveness of public capital expenditure; and labour market effects of EU. From 2001 to 2004, Catherine was Manager of the Expert Skills Group for Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), based at Forfás, Dublin. As Manager of the Government led EGFSN, she was responsible for the publication of many reports which examined in a systematic way, the skills requirements for key sectors of the Irish economy. Published reports include an examination of the skills needs of the ICT sector, biotechnology, engineering, construction, logistics, food, and financial services. Catherine’s current research interests are in the area of social progress and sustainable development. She has published many reports on monitoring Ireland’s performance on achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She has also undertaken consultancy projects in the areas of human capital and productivity, and skills gaps/needs analyses. She was a member of the Council of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance. She is a member of the Academic Council of Social Justice Ireland. Since 2006, she is Programme Director of the MSc Business Economics.