Posts by Dr. Shana Cohen

Shana Cohen Head Shot

Dr. Shana Cohen

Dr. Shana Cohen is the Director of TASC.

She studied at Princeton University and at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received a PhD in Sociology. Her PhD analyzed the political and social consequences of market reform policies in Morocco for young, educated men and women. Since then, she has continued to conduct research on how economic policies have influenced political and social identity, particularly in relation to collective action and social activism.

She has taught at George Washington University, the University of Sheffield, and most recently, University of Cambridge, where she is still an Affiliated Lecturer and Associate Researcher.  Her areas of teaching have included global social policy, globalization, and human services.

Before coming to TASC, she was Deputy Director of the Woolf Institute in Cambridge. In her role at the Institute, she became engaged with interfaith and intercultural relations in Europe, India, and the Middle East.

Beyond academic research, Shana has extensive experience working with NGOs and community-based organizations in a number of countries, including Morocco, the US, the UK, and India. This work has involved project design, management, and evaluation as well as advocacy. She has consulted for the World Bank, the Grameen Bank Foundation, and other private foundations and trusts.


Energy poverty, environmental degradation, lack of affordable housing and the rise of the far right

Shana Cohen 09/05/2023

This article was first published in The Irish Times on the 9th of May 2023.   President Michael D Higgins’s speech at a recent event honouring TASC, Ireland’s think tank for action on social change, provoked a backlash that is still continuing. The President was criticised for not sufficiently acknowledging changes in how …



We Must Strengthen the Democracy We are Trying to Defend

Shana Cohen 12/04/2022

First Published in the Irish Times 6 April 2022 The conflict in Ukraine has united democracies around the world, just as it has pushed Russia further …

Climate action income supplement could alleviate costs of transitioning to carbon zero future

Shana Cohen 03/03/2022

The rise in oil prices and the recent IPCC report, which stresses that we have very little time to mitigate against the worst effects of climate …

Taxing our 17 billionaires will not fix inequality

Shana Cohen 01/02/2022

First Published in the Irish Times 21 January 2022 The newly-released Oxfam report has asked governments to impose a one-off 99.9 per cent tax on the …

Only bold political vision will prepare the public for climate change

Shana Cohen 05/08/2021

The recent climate catastrophes and human cost, the revelations about Pegasus cybersecurity, and the billionaires’ space race all reflect the …

Job Creation Post-Pandemic

Shana Cohen 15/03/2021

The economic fallout from the pandemic has affected workers in Ireland across sectors, positions, income, and skills. However, the closure of …

How can progressive policies become more politically acceptable?

Shana Cohen 12/01/2021

In an address before Thanksgiving last year, President-elect Biden stated, “Our democracy was tested this year.” He added, “What we learned is …

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Paul Sweeney

Paul Sweeney is former Chief Economist of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He was a …

Shana Cohen

Dr. Shana Cohen is the Director of TASC. She studied at Princeton University and at the …

Robert Sweeney

Robert Sweeney is a policy analyst at TASC and focuses on issues surrounding Irish …



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