Mary Harney ’96 earns PhD at 77 after a lifetime of advocacy and resilience

Dr. Mary Harney, a human rights defender and advocate, earned her PhD studying with the Irish Centre for Human Rights.

“It is an absolute milestone. It’s more than that. All I have ever wanted in my life is education. To me it’s the most important thing in the world," she said. “To achieve it at this stage – the final part of the jigsaw puzzle… I started my BA when I was 42, I am 77 now. Now for me, I’d like to say the circle has been complete, but I think there is more. I am hungry for more but I do not know what that more is, yet.”

University of Galway Interim Deputy President Becky Whay officiated at the conferring ceremony.

“It is a privilege to share a stage and, on behalf of University of Galway, to bestow a doctorate on Mary Harney," she said. "She is an inspiration to all of us in the university and a remarkable symbol of the value of education.”

Dr Maeve O’Rourke, senior lecturer in the Irish Centre for Human Rights and Harney’s PhD supervisor, said, “We are so proud of Mary’s achievement. She is an inspiration to all of us in the Irish Centre for Human Rights and to human rights defenders globally.”

“Mary completed a brilliant PhD thesis on human rights movement lawyering, following on from a first class honours LLM degree in international human rights law," professor Siobhán Mullally, director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at University of Galway, added. "Her remarkable story, and her combination of scholarship and activism, reflects the very best of what human rights education is about in today’s troubled world.”

Asked whether she had any advice for survivors or advocates, Harney said, “Find a support group. If there isn’t one already out there, create one. The power of meeting with disenfranchised people and becoming part of that group as opposed to being apart from it, I think that is one of the most important things. We cannot support just by waving flags and protesting. We have to get out boots on the ground and work together with the people that are going through this very traumatic time in our world and we have to have solidarity on that. We cannot do it if we are all divided.”

Harney’s doctoral thesis was on the topic: “Towards Best Practices in the Pedagogy of Human Rights Clinics: Movement Lawyering, its Emotional Impacts on Students and the Question of Teaching Resilience.”

Described by colleagues in the Irish Centre for Human Rights as the “resister in chief” and a renowned human rights activist and student, Harney holds a BA in human ecology and an honorary master’s degree in philosophy from College of the Atlantic in Maine. She also has two postgraduate degrees from University of Galway: an MA in Irish studies and an LLM in international human rights.

Harney was born in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, in Cork. Her inspirational life story is featured in the award-winning documentary Testimony (2025), which follows the lives of various Irish citizens who were incarcerated in Ireland’s notorious institutions for unmarried women and their children. Testimony was the recipient of the 2025 ICCL Human Rights Film Award.

The ceremony took place at University of Galway’s 2026 Summer Conferring, where more than 400 students were awarded degrees, diplomas, and certificates, including 105 new PhD graduates.