Dr. Cliona Hannon is the new Chief Executive Officer of the Katharine Howard Foundation and a Chen Yidan Visiting Global Fellow in Harvard University 2021-2022.

Cliona was formerly Director of the Trinity Access Programmes (1999-2021), Trinity College Dublin and a Visiting Fellow and Course Director in Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University (2016-21). She has developed a range of innovative courses to diversify admissions into selective universities and to prepare teachers in socio-economically challenged communities to lead change in their classroom, school and communities. She is an expert on the development of educational outreach and admissions routes for students from under-represented socio-economic groups, which has transformed admissions in Trinity College Dublin, the University of Oxford  and the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Cliona has a BA (History and Sociology), MA (Development Studies), MBA and a PhD (Sociology of Education). She has published a book on use of the capability approach as an evaluative lens for student development in less advantaged communities. She has also published on the financing of higher education, international admissions policies and leadership in higher education.