Our Team

Donal McDade(BSSc, DipSc, MSc)

Donal McDade is Managing Director of SMR which he formed in 2002. Donal has held research posts at Queen's University, The Equal Opportunities Commission and the Eastern Health and Social Services Board (Public Health). Since 1994 until recently Donal had been Operations Director with a research agency in Northern Ireland and has managed several of the largest, most complex surveys, undertaken across Ireland. Donal holds an MSc (with distinction) in Research Methods in the Human Sciences and has worked on research commissions for many of the government departments and statutory bodies in Ireland. He has a particular interest in social policy related research and has worked for all of the clients listed in our client page. Download Donal's CV here.

Richard Buchanan (Principal Research Consultant)

Richard Buchanan is a former senior civil servant in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. His career has spanned a number of government Departments, including the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Finance and Personnel, the Northern Ireland Office, and the Department of Education. Over the past 10 years, some of the areas Richard has contributed to include the development and implementation of an inner city regeneration project (Making Belfast Work); the preparation an HRD strategy and culture change programme for DHSS; the development and implementation an inter-agency drugs strategy for Northern Ireland; as well as acting as secretary to the Acute Hospitals Review Group with responsibility for making recommendations on the future profile of acute hospital services in Northern Ireland. Download Richard's CV here.