Curran has been director general (DG) of the European Broadcasting Union since September 2017. He is the former DG, managing director of television and editor of current affairs of RTÉ, Ireland's national television and radio broadcaster. As DG, he radically restructured RTÉ following the financial crisis that began at the end of 2008 and successfully positioned RTÉ as a robust digital media organization. A strong and long-time advocate of public service media, Curran is also an award winning investigative journalist and producer. As an editor and producer, Curran’s programming won numerous awards for journalism and he was executive producer on a range of live television events, including the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997, general election coverage, live entertainment series and factual programming. Curran attended Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated from Dublin City University in both European Studies and Communications, specialising in national and international broadcasting policy. He was appointed adjunct professor of journalism at Dublin City University in 2016.