Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has a strong academic background spanning the humanities, law, politics, and public policy. She graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002 before completing a Master's degree at University College Dublin in 2004, where she graduated first in her class. She subsequently undertook doctoral research at the UCD School of Politics and International Relations, earning a PhD in Public Policy and Political Science. Her doctoral work received national recognition when she was awarded the prestigious Basil Chubb Prize in 2015 for the best politics thesis in Ireland in 2014.