Dr Louise Callinan is Head of Access Policy at the Higher Education Authority, with responsibility for driving the implementation of the National Access Plan 2022-2028 and overseeing the Programme for Access to Higher Education, a multi-stranded funding instrument to support the achievement of equity of access objectives in higher education. She has extensive experience working in the higher education sector across a range of diverse roles, including academia, national policy and strategy, system performance, and research funding. She was formerly the Director of the Irish Research Council.