Joanna received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in 2010 and gained postdoctoral experience on projects concerning social engagement in later life. In 2014 she received a Leadership in Ageing Research Fellowship from the Institute of Public Health, in which she focused on social factors determining cognitive decline in later life, gaining experience in the Irish and Northern Irish cohorts for the longitudinal study of ageing (TILDA and NICOLA). Joanna joined Maynooth University in 2019. Joanna has received over €3 million as PI or co-PI on projects concerning social functioning and most particularly loneliness in later life. Currently she is a co-investigator on the Canadian Institute of Health Research funded project “Intersectional and life course approaches to loneliness”; on the Dutch government funded project “Interventions in the built environment targeting loneliness in young adults”, and she is leading the HRB-funded project “Housing and health in older adults”. Joanna has authored more than 80 publications in the field of gerontology and most commonly loneliness. As current Chair of the Loneliness Taskforce Research Network and member of the government-facing Loneliness Taskforce (lonelinessresearch.org) Joanna is committed to influencing policy on loneliness and ageing. Joanna is collaborating with Professor Markus Helfert in the IVI on the LERO/SFI funded project “Data governance and evidence-based policy making – partnership for research on ageing and older people”.