Ian joined the teaching staff in 1979, becoming College Lecturer in 1983 and Senior Lecturer in 1996. He set up the Carboniferous Research Group. Ian has organised a Geological Conference in Dublin in September 1994 (European Dinantian Environments) and was a co-convenor of the "Permo-Carboniferous Carbonate Platforms and Reefs Symposium" in El Paso, Texas in May 2000. He received a President's Award in 1993 from UCD for scholarly research and is currently Chief Editor of the Geological Journal (1999-). He was co-editor of SEPM Special volume 83 (2003). Ian was an invited keynote speaker at "Carboniferous Platforms and Basins" Conference in Koln (2006). He was a co-convenor and chairperson of the "XVI International Congress of Carboniferous and Permian" in Nanjing (2007), and chairperson at the "X International Congress of Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera" in St Petersburg (2007). Ian was appointed as newsletter co-editor for IASFCP (2007-2011) and a European Council Member. He was appointed a member of Graduate Faculty of Oklahoma State University in 2007. In 2008 Ian was appointed Associate Professor of Palaeontology in UCD. He has been invited as a co-convenor and chairman of XVII International Congress of Carboniferous and Permian" in Perth (2011).