Dr. Bríd Quinn, B.Ed (NUI), MA & PhD (Limerick), is Lecturer in Public Administration and specialises in local governance and EU policies. She is Course Director for the MA/GD in Partnership Studies, programmes geared towards practitioners. Prior to her career as an academic, she was a primary school principal. Long involved in local and regional development, she has carried out consultancy work in Ireland, Europe and Tanzania and has participated in a variety of EU research projects. She is co-author (with Nicholas Rees and Bernadette Connaughton) of Europeanisation and New Patterns of Governance in Ireland, Manchester University Press, 2010. She has published in a range of journals (International Journal of Public Sector Management ; Regional and Federal Studies; Administration ; Policy and Politics) and contributed chapters to several edited books. Her current research projects focus on e-government; regeneration impacts; partnership as a governance tool and local government reform.