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National University of Ireland, Galway


Research associates:
Mary O'Reilly–de Brún, M.Th, BA.Th
Senior Researcher
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Tomas de Brún, MPhil, M.Th, BA.Th
Senior Researcher
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Dr. Orla McGarry B.A. (Int.), M. Phil., Ph.D.
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The RESTORE team at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) consists of Ms. Mary O'Reilly-de Brún (Senior Researcher) and Mr. Tomas de Brún (Senior Researcher).

Mary O’Reilly-de Brún(B.A.Th; M.Th) currently holds a Senior Researcher post in the Discipline of General Practice, School of Medicine, NUI Galway, with responsibility for the tasks outlned above for the RESTORE project, 2011-2015.

Mary has over 20 years’ international experience lecturing in applied anthropology, participatory research and gender studies; as a PLA practitioner, she has extensive experience of participatory research project design, management and co-ordination. Between 1993 and 2000, she pioneered the application of participatory research methods to the interrelated fields of health, female education, poverty alleviation and interculturalism in several African countries. She co-ordinated a programme of participatory research for The World Bank with local communities in sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau) funded by the Norwegian Regional Fund for Education in the Sahel. This work with international and national agencies (The World Bank; UNICEF; AIFA-POLOP and Action Aid) was aimed at ‘bridging the gap’ between policy and practice in these West African countries.

Mary is co-author of ‘Doing Your Own Research’, published by Boyars, London, 2001.

Her current focus on migrant health, and the implementation of practical initiatives to support cross-cultural communication in general practice, advances her ongoing research interest in the iterative, adaptive use of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) research methodology and techniques in user-involved research projects across diverse cultural settings. She is also particularly interested in stakeholder-involved evaluation of PLA capacity-building and fieldwork research experiences.

From 2007 she has collaborated closely with colleagues, Tomas de Brún and Anne MacFarlane, in the design of several successful national and international research proposals in this field.

Mary is also co-founder of the Centre for Participatory Strategies (CPS) - an independent research and training organisation, established in 2002 and located in Galway, Ireland. CPS has a strong track record in the development and application of innovative PLA approaches and methods for user involvement and community-engaged research.

Selected recent publications:

  • MacFarlane, A., O’Reilly-de Brun, M. (2012) Using a Theory-Driven Conceptual Framework in Qualitative Health Research. Qualitative Health Research, Vol 22, Number 5, May 2012.
  • MacFarlane, A., O’Reilly-de Brun, M. (2012)Guideline for Communication in Cross-Cultural General Practice Consultations. Access via: http://www.nuigalway.ie/general_practice/research/research_reports.html
  • O’Reilly de Brún, M., de Brún, T. (2010). The use of Participatory Learning & Action (PLA) research in intercultural health: some examples and some questions in Translocations: Migration and Social Change. Vol. 6. Issue 1. Spring 2010. http://www.translocations.ie/volume_6_issue_1/index.shtml
  • de Brún T, O’Reilly-de Brún, M. (2010) Participatory Learning and Action Training Manual, Centre for Participatory Strategies (in-house publication), Galway, Ireland.
  • Wicklow County Council (2009). Recipe for Harmony: an Anti-Racism and Diversity Strategy for County Wicklow, 2009-2011. Bray, Co. Wicklow. http://www.wicklow.ie/Apps/WicklowBeta/Publications/CommEnterprise/Anti-Racism.pdf
  • MacFarlane, A, O’Reilly-de Brún, M. and de Brún, T. (2008) Participatory approaches work. British Medical Journal (letter), February; 336: 405 – 406.

Tomas de Brún (B.A Th; M.Th, M.Phil) currently holds a Senior Researcher post in the Discipline of General Practice, School of Medicine, NUI Galway and his current work in health services research focuses on user-informed service provision and implementation issues particurlarly in relation to improving heath service delivery to migrants who experience language and cultural difficulties in primary care GP consultations (EU FP7 RESTORE project).

Tomas is Co-founder of the Centre for Participatory Strategies (CPS). CPS is an independent research and training organisation, established in 2002 and located in Galway, Ireland.

The Centre has a strong track record in the development and application of innovative Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approaches and methods for user involvement and community-engaged research, and since 2002 has had a particurlarly fruitful relationship with the Discipline of General Practice, NUI Galway as a partner and collaborator on several participatory research projects (CARE 2002-2005, Heart Failure Projct 2009, ) and several successful research awards (GP Pilot Interpreting Project, 2008, HRB Partnership Award 2011, FUSION project 2011, EU RESTORE project 2011 – 2015) .

Tomas has over 20 years international research and lecturing expertise in applied cultural anthropology with a specific focus on development anthropology (Kimmage Development Studies Centre, Dublin, Ireland and the Danish Centre for Development Co-operation, Arusha, Tanzania). He is subject specialist and course designer for the core Anthropology Applied to Development/Anthropology of Developemnt components of the Kimmage Overseas Development Education (KODE) Master’s Degree in Development.

Tomas has a specific interest in ethnicity, culture and integration and has wide experience in the application of PLA research methods in these fields. He has designed and delivered participatory research training programmes in sub-Saharan Africa for The World Bank, Washington, D.C. USA; AVSC International, New York; AIFA-POLOP, Guinea-Bissau; UNICEF, Guinea Bissau; and Action Aid, The Gambia.

He has been a member of national and international expert groups (Migration & Citizenship Research Initiative, UCD, Ireland; NORFACE European group on the use of evidence based research in policy) and was appointed External Examiner to the Milltown Institute of Theology & Philosophy (Dublin) B.A and M.A programmes in Theology and Anthropology (BA) and Faith & Cultures (MA) in 2004, under the Higher Education Training Awards Commission (HETAC), Ireland.

Selected recent publications:

  • MacFarlane, A. and de Brún, T (2010). Medical pluralism: Biomedicines as ethnomedicines Chapter 8 in McClean, S. and Moore, R. Folk Healing and Health Care Practices in Britain and Ireland: Stethescopes, Wands and Crystals. Epistemologies of Healing, Vol. 8. UK: Berghahn Books.
  • Kennedy. P, de Brún. T, O Reilly de Brún. M, MacFarlane. A. (2010). An exploration of evidence-based policy in Ireland: health and social inclusion in Evidence & Policy, Vol 6, Issue 2. May 2010.
  • O’Reilly-de Brún. M, de Brún. T, (2010). The use of Participatory Learning & Action (PLA) research in intercultural health: some examples and some questions in Translocations: Migration and Social Change. Special Issue on Migration and Health; Volume 6, Issue 1. http://www.translocations.ie/volume_6_issue_1/index.shtml
  • de Brún T, O’Reilly-de Brún, M. (2010) Participatory Learning and Action Training Manual, Centre for Participatory Strategies (in-house publication), Galway, Ireland.
  • Wicklow County Council (2009). Recipe for Harmony: an Anti-Racism and Diversity Strategy for County Wicklow, 2009-2011. Bray, Co. Wicklow.
  • http://www.wicklow.ie/Apps/WicklowBeta/Publications/CommEnterprise/Anti-Racism.pdf
  • MacFarlane, A, O’Reilly-de Brún, M. and de Brún, T. (2008) Participatory approaches work. British Medical Journal (letter), February; 336: 405 – 406.

Dr. Orla McGarry B.A. (Int.), M. Phil., Ph.D. joined the RESTORE team as a research associate in September 2013. She is currently engaged in the creation of a repository of literature on PLA approaches to primary care and on analysis of evidence-based intervention and guideline development.
Orla has conducted extensive research in the area of migration; her research interests include youth experiences of migration, cross-cultural communication, religious identity, agency and cultural adaptation. She has expertise in the area of youth-oriented participatory research and has designed and implemented innovative visual and online methodologies. Orla has been employed as a research associate in the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre in NUI, Galway since 2012 and previously worked on the evaluation of the BELONG programme, an integration programme for migrant youth. She completed a Ph.D. on cultural adaptation among migrant youth in the School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI, Galway in 2012. She was awarded an M.Phil. in Ethnic and Racial Studies by Trinity College, Dublin in 2008.

Selected publications and reports

  • Professor Pat Dolan, Dr. John Canavan, Dr. Orla McGarry, Dr. Cormac Forkan, Mr. Liam Coen, Dr. Allyn Fives, Ms. Leanne Robins and Ms. Patsy O’Sullivan (2013) The BELONG Programme: Final Evaluation Report. UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre.
  • McGarry, O. & McGrath, B. (2013) ‘A virtual canvas – using a blog site to explore young Muslims’ friendships, positions & identifications’. Forum: Qualitative Social Research: 14 (1).
  • McGarry, O. (2012) ‘“Sometimes it’s tough just fitting it all in”: Identity Formation and Social Membership among Teenagers in an Immigrant Community in the West of Ireland’ in McGarry, O. & Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, A. (eds.) Landscapes of (Un)Belonging: Reflections on Strangeness and the Self [E-book]. Oxford: Interdisciplinary.Net Press.