Mairéad Pratschke has been working at the intersection of digital technology and education for 25 years, as an academic researcher, learning designer, consultant, author and speaker. Her career has straddled the worlds of education, technology, professional and executive education, lifelong learning and edtech start-ups.

Author of Generative AI and Education, she is focused on the impact of AI on our societies, economies and political cultures; on the future of work and learning; and on how to meet the challenges and opportunities that this wave of technological change presents.

Mairéad is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Data Science Institute (DSI) and a Research Fellow at the USA’s National AI Institute for Adult Education and Online Learning (AI-ALOE). She sits on the AI-ALOE External Advisory Board (EAB), the Irish Digital Learning Institute (DLI)’s Industry Advisory Council, and the Government of Portugal’s National Council on Pedagogical Innovation in Higher Education (CNIPES).

Mairéad holds a PhD in History from McMaster University in Canada and a master’s degree in European Studies from KU Leuven in Belgium. She began her professional career in Brussels, Belgium, working for two European committees and created the first online courses in European Studies for her alma mater in Canada.

Irish born and raised in Canada, Mairéad has worked in the USA, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Spain and Ireland. Her first book, Visions of Ireland, is on the visual representation of identity and the use of modern media as a vehicle for language revival. Mairéad is multi-lingual, and a citizen of Ireland, the European Union and Canada.