Kevin Rafter

Biography

Kevin Rafter is Professor of Political Communication. He has published widely on topics related to media and politics with a specific emphasis on Ireland including numerous authored/edited books and over 50 research articles in international ranked journals and book chapters from leading academic publishers. He was invited in 2016 to be the 'Independent Rapporteur' to post-election government talks which resulted in the formation of Ireland's current minority coalition administration. Previously, in 2014 he was asked by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to be the Independent Chair of a major initiative on civil service reform that led to the first external oversight of the Irish civil service, the introduction of organisational capacity reviews and a new performance management system for senior staff as well as a code of conduct for special advisers. He is currently a Non-Executive Director at Oxfam Ireland and at Dublin Bus. Since joining DCU in 2010 Kevin has served as Associate Dean for Research (2012-16) and as Chairperson of the MA Political Communication programme (2010-16). From 2008 to 2010 he was Head of the Department of Film and Media at IADT, Dun Laoghaire.

Research Interest

Irish politics; political communication; journalism studies