Dr Theresa Ryan is a lecturer in the College of Arts and Tourism at TU Dublin (DIT). Her research interests lie primarily in memory and identity, place-making, events and social inclusion, as well as tourism development. She is chair of the school Culture & Heritage Research pillar, is involved in a European project on skills development for tourism (Next Tourism Generation Alliance), has published in the areas of tourism, heritage interpretation; events, social connections & place identity, and is currently completing a research project that explores identity and place-making in tourism.

She lectures on a range of event and tourism management programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as supervising a number of dissertation students. Theresa has extensive international lecturing experience and is currently involved in the delivery of a joint Event Management programme between TU Dublin and the University of Hainan. She is PhD co-ordinator at the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism and is currently supervising three doctoral projects. She has acted as External Examiner on tourism and events programmes previously, and is currently examiner for an Irish institution.