Dara Ryder

Dara Ryder is Chief Executive Officer of AHEAD, an Irish NGO establish in 1988 which is dedicated to creating inclusive environments for people with disabilities in education and employment. He became CEO in 2020 having previously managed AHEAD’s digital presence and developed a suite of online CPD programmes relating to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive practice in his role as Digital Media and eLearning Manager there. This included co-leading the development of a national UDL badge programme with colleagues in University College Dublin, a 10-week programme which has now been taken by over 4,000 educators. In recent years, he played a leading role in the cross sectoral collaboration to develop ALTITUDE – the National Charter for Universal Design in Tertiary Education.

In 2024, Dara was recognised for his work in promoting the UDL framework internationally by CAST, who awarded him the inaugural UDL Innovative Practice Award.

His research interests include examining the participation rates of students with disabilities in higher education, exploring the learning experiences and desires of students with disabilities, and examining the implementation of Universal Design and UDL in policy and practice.

After graduating from Queens University in 2005, Dara joined Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education as a lecturer, where he became interested in inclusive education when working first-hand with students with disabilities in his classroom.  When the opportunity arose in 2008, he joined AHEAD where he has been working ever since on creating inclusive environments in education and employment for people with disabilities.