Mairead McCann

I am a mature student, undertaking a Phd part-time. I am based in Sligo, North West of Ireland and I am a lecturer at the Atlantic Technological University.  I am studying in the School of Arts, English and Languages in Queen’s University Belfast. My research interests include the underrepresentation of women in Political Decision-making Fora, Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis. In my research project I am investigating female political leaders’ speech through a discourse  analysis of the language in use evidenced in two televised leaders’ debates broadcast during the Northern Ireland Assembly Election in Spring 2017.  The project involves not only the politicians’ actual speech but also an investigation of how media represented their speech.