Katriona O'Sullivan: 'I don't think I could take bots online criticising my arse, my face, my dress sense. People looking at things other than my politics'

"Just over two years ago, I interviewed Katriona O'Sullivan - then a senior lecturer, but now a professor in Maynooth University's department of psychology - in her sparse on-campus office. We talked, and cried a little, as she detailed the story that would become her memoir, Poor. A remarkable and powerful account of poverty, addiction, neglect, homelessness and trauma, O'Sullivan recalled how she was born in Coventry to parents battling addiction."

"Her childhood was marked with abuse, poverty and neglect. As a teenage single mum living in Summerhill in Dublin, she enrolled onto the Trinity Access Programme at Trinity College, thus kickstarting what would become an illustrious academic career."

Katriona O'Sullivan was born in Coventry to parents battling addiction. Her childhood featured abuse, poverty, neglect, and periods of homelessness. She became a teenage single mother and lived in Summerhill, Dublin. She enrolled onto the Trinity Access Programme at Trinity College Dublin, which enabled her to pursue higher education. She progressed through academia to become a senior lecturer and later a professor in the department of psychology at Maynooth University. The trajectory from marginalised childhood circumstances to an illustrious academic career illustrates resilience, educational opportunity, and the long-term impacts of early adversity.

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