Publications

Podcasts 
  • Career Chronicles - working mothers, the inconsistency of workplace support, facilities, policies and experiences (2024) [Link]
  • Veilederforum-podden: Inkluderande praksis (The tutor forum podcast: Inclusive practice) Veilederforum.no (2023) [Link]
Conferences, Symposia and Invited Talks
  • Gender and Class, NICEC Seminar: Diversifying the Careers Workforce (2023) [Slides]
  • Occupational Segregation in Modern Apprenticeships Stockholm International Conference of Research in Vocational Education and Training (2022) [Recorded presentation, available on request]
  • Supporting the employability of adults aged 50+ in the post- Covid-19 era The Open University Employability Conference 2022 (2022)
  • Researcher Ethics in the CIAG sector Career Development Institute/AGCAS/University of Derby National Research Conference (2022)
  • Conducting research as a career development professional Career Guidance and Development CPD Conference Scotland (2022)  
  • Panel member: Social equity, peace and justice, Career Development Institute National Conference (2021) 
  • Race equality and career guidance practice (with Uuganaa Ramsay) Career Development Institute (2021)
  • Occupational segregation in Modern Apprenticeships Presentation to the Scottish Apprenticeships Advisory Board Gender Commission (2021)
  • Conference presentation (with Jens Boernemyer) Family Background and Career Decision-Making Career Guidance and Development Conference Scotland (2021)
  • Conference presentation: Ethical Practitioner-Led Research The CDI/AGCAS/ICEGS National Research Conference (2021)
  • Webinar: Addressing unconscious bias and white privilege in career guidance practice (with Uuganaa Ramsay), Skills Norway (2020)
  • The implications of unconscious bias for careers professionals Career Development Institute Student Conference England (2020) [video accompanied slide deck]
  • Domestic abuse and career development practice Career Guidance and Development CPD Conference Scotland (2020)  
  • Dementia in the workplace: the implications for career development practice (with Dr Louise Ritchie) Career Guidance and Development CPD Conference Scotland (2020)  
  • Establishing practitioner-led research processes: integrating labour market research into practitioner training Nice Academy (2019)
  • Dementia in the workplace: the implications for career development practice (with Dr Valerie Edgell and Dr Louise Ritchie) British Society of Gerontology 48th Annual Conference - Resilience and Living Well in Local Communities (2019)  
  • Addressing Gendered Career Decision-Making: Adapting career guidance and counselling practice to the contemporary family unit NICEC (2019) [Slides]
  • Paper Presentation: Professional Education in Career Guidance and Development: placing equality and diversity activity at the forefront of curriculum design and programme delivery Equality Challenge Unit Conference, Scotland (2018) [Slides]
  • Keynote Speech:  The `Blueprint´ framework for career learning in Scotland Nordiskt nätverk för vuxnas lärande (2017) Conference Details
  • Equality-Aware Career Conversations Career Development Institute Student Conference Scotland, (2017) [Slides]
  • E-learning applications in guidance counselling: a Scottish Perspective Guest lecture, Dublin City University (2017) [Slides]
  • Hybrids and metatheories: are 'new' career development theories over complicating things? AGCAS Scotland (2017) [Slides]
  • Keynote Speech: Equality, inclusion and the career development professional Skills Development Scotland Annual Career Guidance Research Symposium (2017) [Abridged audio and slides]
  • Working together to Progress Equalities Career Development Institute (2016)
  • Embedding equalities in workbased learning pathways Skills Development Scotland Annual Career Guidance Research Symposium (2016) [Slides]
  • The Writer's (Career) Journey National Association of Writers in Education Annual Conference (2015) [Post]
  • Doctoral Research in Career Education, Information, Advice and Guidance Skills Development Scotland Annual Career Guidance Research Symposium (2015) [Slides]
  • Creative Writing MFAs in the UK The Open University Arts Lecturers Conference (2011)
  • International Young Writers National Association of Writers in Education Annual Conference (2009)
  • Making Skills Work Network Project/University of Salford (Conference Coordinator) (2007)
Professional Publication Articles
Academic
Journal Articles
  • Olaru, E. and Bolger, E. (2022) Meeting the career development needs of single parents. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling. April 2022: Issue 48
  • Bolger, E., Egdell, V. and Ritchie, L. (2021) Dementia in the workplace: the implications for career development practice. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling. doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2021.1902471
PhD Thesis
  • Gendered career decision-making : occupational segregation in Modern Apprenticeships
    (2021) [Link]
Poster Presentations
  • PhD Thesis Overview The CDI/AGCAS/ICEGS National Research Conference 2021 (2021) [Poster]
  • Addressing gendered career decision-making: adapting career guidance and counselling practice to the contemporary family structure International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance Conference (2019)
  • Addressing under-representation in our sector Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe, Academy Conference (2018)
  • Poster accepted - unable to attend (maternity leave) International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance Conference (2018)
  • PhD Colloquium Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (Business and Management Pathway) (2015)
Peer Reviewer 
  • The EDI Caucus
  • SAGE
  • Taylor and Francis
  • Trotman
  • British Journal of Guidance & Counselling
  • Australian Journal of Career Development
  • New Media & Society
  • Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Equality and Diversity
  • Journal of Librarianship and Information Science
  • Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability
Web of Science ResearcherID: AFL-0742-2022
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1997-1395

Other

Popular posts from this blog

Why would someone choose to be a careers adviser?

One of the modules I’m teaching this trimester at UWS is Career Development Theory, examining the theories that explain how and why people make career decisions. A career decision I often wonder about is “Why would someone choose to be a careers adviser?” I’m not being flippant; I see few reasons why the media representation of the role would influence anyone to become one. From the outside, it’s not a job that gets good press. There is a heck of a lot of bad-mouthing of the careers profession and its purpose, the occasional high-profile media story (nobody mention  Mary Poppins ) and then there’s the section in every celebrity life story ever: “They told me to/not to do it, the clueless adviser, and they were so, so wrong.” We know that high profile TV programmes boost the profile of certain careers.  CSI  led to a raft of wannabe forensic scientists.  Call the Midwife  and  One Born Every Minute  respectively give young people a dramatised and f...
Read more

Exploring the relationship between guidance practice and self-care

I've published a new short article on LinkedIn, reflecting on my time as Guest Editor of Veilederforum, where I talk about some of the things that really matter to me as a career guidance professional and academic: continuous professional development; practitioner well-being; domestic abuse; equality, diversity and inclusion and, of course, the gender imbalances in our field. You can access the article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/exploring-relationship-between-guidance-practice-self-care-bolger
Read more

Veilederforum, Guest Editor

I have again been working closely with colleagues in Norway, delivering training and recording resources and a podcast for the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills. The resources and podcast will be published later in 2023. I am also the current guest editor for Veilederforum , for whom I have been commissioning new articles by experts in career guidance and development. Two articles have been published to date (at the end of the articles linked below, you will find a link to the English language translation).  Dr Laura Lebec and Dr Louise Ritchie: Career guidance through the lifespan: Working with clients with dementia Gill Frigerio: Practitioner Wellbeing Two further articles are forthcoming, a piece focusing on career guidance work with refugees/asylum seekers and migrants, authored by Dr Deirdre Hughes & Prof. Füsun Akkök, and another on client mental health wellbeing authored by Dr Deirdre Hughes, Chris Percy & Liane Hambly.   I will be writi...
Read more