RESEARCH SUPERVISORS’ BIOGRAPHICS
Dr Suzanna Chan (Belfast campus) is a Lecturer in Art History and Theory at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Supervised PhD topics to date include
contemporary painting and relationships with class and identity; craft and national
identity; and the „horrific‟ in feminist video art practice. Her research focuses on
contemporary art, gender and 'race' in visual culture and cultural discourses, and
postcolonial and feminist theories and practices. She has published peerreviewed articles, book chapters, catalogue essays and reviews on gender,
diaspora, national identity and 'race' in art and visual culture, and diasporic and
racialised spatial productions and practices. Suzanna is currently completing a
book which addresses relations between contemporary art by women, migration
and diaspora (IB Tauris). Applications related to any of the above areas of
enquiry are welcome.
Brian Connolly (Belfast campus) is Associate Lecturer in Sculpture and a multimedia artist who‟s works often relate to „place‟ or context. He employs a wide
range of artistic processes, including Performance Art, Public Sculpture,
Installation Art, and collaborative projects. He has performed & exhibited in
diverse contexts throughout Europe, America and China. He has initiated and
curated events and projects both nationally and internationally and has
been involved with artist run organizations throughout Ireland
including Bbeyond, The Sculptors Society of Ireland, Visual Artists
Ireland, Flaxart etc. He has created more than ten Public Artworks/Commissions
in a range of media, and has experience of working as an artist on design teams.
Jonathan Cummins (Belfast Campus) Associate Lecturer in Time-based Media.
Professor Barbara Dass (Belfast campus) Head of School of Art and Design.
Subjects include design studies, textile design, relationships between science
and art and design, with a specialised expertise in crystallography and woven
interlaced structures. Dr Dass' research focuses on concepts of symmetry, faultreplication and anti-symmetry as expressed Layer, Rod, Space and AntiSymmetry Groups. She has developed a particular interest in the efficiencies
inherent in natural growth systems. Dr Dass has conducted educational research
in the field of creativity and resilience (sustainable development) and recently
was awarded an ADM-HEA Teaching Scholarship for a project entitled:
“TRANSITIONS - Issues emerging from the transition between specialist
undergraduate to multidisciplinary postgraduate learning environments”.
KayLynn Devenney (Belfast campus) is associate lecturer in photography for
the BA Hons Photography and also tutors students working toward photographic
MFAs and practice-based PhDs. KayLynn holds both an MA in documentary
photography and a practice-based PhD in photography from the University of
Wales, Newport. Princeton Architectural Press published KayLynn's book The
Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings in 2007 and in 2009 she was a recipient of an
artist grant from the prestigious Anonymous Was A Woman foundation.
KayLynn‟s research interests include documentary practice conducted within a
fine art context, and photographic investigations of our notions surrounding
home. www.kaylynndeveney.com
Professor Willie Doherty (Belfast campus) is Professor of Video Art and
exhibits photographic and video installations internationally. He was shortlisted
for the Turner Prize in 1994 and 2003. He has been selected to participate in
dOCUMENTA 13 in June 2012. His research interests include the investigation of
new strategies for narrative within contemporary video art that embrace the
spatial possibilities of installation inside and outside of the gallery and that take
account of the legacies of mainstream cinema and experimental film. He
welcomes applications for Fine Art Studio Research which contribute to this
dialogue.
Dr Chérie Driver is Lecturer in Art Theory and is a member of the Research
Institute Art and Design. Since joining the University of Ulster as a researcher in
2005 she has worked on a number of collaborative research projects as
Research Assistant/Associate in the area of 'art and its locations' and
specializing in art in contested spaces and art and documentation. Since 2010
she has been working as a Lecturer in the School of Art and Design and teaches
on the Undergraduate programme and coordinates a module on the Critical
Context of Public Practice within the MA Art in Public. She is a research partner
on the project „art based research // research based art‟ concerned with the role
of art as research, its function in public space and its possibilities for
transformation in contested or divided cities. Dr. Driver‟s research is related to
Feminist theory and practice in the visual arts, Irish art history, theory and
practices, art and its locations, art in public, art in contested spaces. She
welcomes applications related to these areas.
Professor Karen Fleming (Belfast campus) is Director of the Research Institute
Art and Design and led textiles research in Interface: Centre for Research in Art,
Technologies and Design. Professor Fleming welcomes research applications
related to contemporary and historical textile art; textiles and culture- particularly
relating to linen and linen diaspora; craft and applied art; art, craft and science;
pedagogy; textile art, quilt art, embroidery including gender, education, historical
and technical aspects. Fleming‟s own practice is established in exhibiting work
nationally and internationally, curation, published papers and cross disciplinary
sci-art collaboration concerning the haptic and tactility in science and medical
education.
Dr Alastair Herron (Belfast campus) Lecturer, has considerable working
experience especially in areas involving creativity, nature and sustainability.
His primary research interests for the last decade have been in the area of art ,
nature and practice based learning. He has also produced research on such
issues as natural environment and creativity through media arts. Previously he
trained as a producer/director and made a significant number of participatory
programmes and films linked to creative and experimental visual practice. He has
to date successfully supervised and examined over ten practice based PhDs in
areas of Art and Media Arts.
Anthony Hutton (Magee Campus) Senior Lecturer, School of Creative Arts.
Anthony‟s main interest is interaction design. His work often involves
ethnographic studies to understand existing user behaviour and seek new design
opportunities. He is interested in finding methods to embed design in the
software development lifecycle. His current projects are about the “internet of
things”. He also runs a UU spin out company (EyeSpyFX) which makes mobile
phone apps and solutions for remote video monitoring.
Dr Adriana Ionascu (Belfast campus)
Lecturer in 3D Design, School of Architecture and Design
Architecture and Design Research Institute
Adriana Ionascu studied Fine Art in Europe and has a first class degree and a
master degree in 3 D Design from Loughborough University School of Art and
Design. As a professional craft/designer/maker she is interested in hybrid
materials (combinations of porcelain and natural fibres) and in the process of
casting form. She exhibits her work in Ireland, England and abroad.
Her doctoral thesis (Poetic Design, a Theory of Everyday Practice) focuses on
the cultural significance of domestic artefacts handled within preset social
practices. As a writer she has contributed articles to journals such as „Ceramics:
Arts and Perception‟ and presented papers to Design History Society
Conferences. Her essay, entitled „Object and User Performance in Rituals‟ is part
of the „Visual and Performance Arts‟ book published by the Athens Institute for
Education and Research in 2011.
She is interested in designart, generative design and design for debate.
Adriana is a member of the Design History Society, the Crafts Council of England
and InSEA.
She is currently exhibiting at Handwerksform Hanover, Germany.
Professor Liam Kelly (Belfast campus) is Professor of Irish Visual Culture with a
specialist interest in modernist and contemporary Irish art and architecture. He
has published widely on contemporary fine art practice. He currently teaches the
history and theory of late 19th and 20th century western art and design, having a
particular interest in international contemporary art, architecture and design. As a
former Director of the Orchard Gallery, Derry he has extensive experience of
curating Irish and international art at home and abroad as well as curating sitespecific public art projects. He welcomes research applications related to these
projects.
Dr Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes is Reader in History and Theory of Art, Belfast
campus. She has completed a four-year term as Head of the Research Graduate
School and welcomes research proposals in Modern and contemporary art
history / theory / practice; word and image studies; historiography of art; Irish and
German art; curatorship and engaged art practices. Her books include “Beuysian
Legacies in Ireland and Beyond” (LIT 2011), "Post-War Germany and 'Objective
Chance': W.G. Sebald, Joseph Beuys and Tacita Dean (Steidl 2008/2011),
"Joyce in Art" (2004). She has curated exhibitions in Ireland, Russia and Korea.
She is Board member of The MAC, Belfast.
Dominic Logan (Belfast Campus), Lecturer in School of Architecture and
Design.
Shirley MacWilliam (Belfast Campus) Associate Lecturer in Fine Art specializing
in lens based practice.
Dr Justin Magee (Magee campus) Senior Lecturer in Product Design, is Course
Director for „Design for Creative Practice‟ and Subject Director for design at
Magee. He was Director of Academic Enterprise for 5 years and retains strong
commercial engagement, entrepreneurship and enterprise activity. As a
practicing product designer, he has an interest embracing the wider field of
product and transport design issues. His main research interests and
publications relate to clinical applications and unmet needs through product
design, transformational design and digital modeling / animation. He welcomes
applications in any of these fields.
Professor Greg Maguire (Belfast campus) Professor of Animation
Greg Maguire is Professor of Animation at the School of Art and Design in
Belfast. His main areas of interest are in digital characters and tools for
animation. He has been instrumental in the launch and development of Walt
Disney Feature Animation, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation,
Electronic Arts, and Digital Domain. His filmography includes, Walt Disney‟s
Dinosaur, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Star Wars: Clone Wars,
Happy Feet, Terminator Salvation and Avatar. He is a member of the the Visual
Effects Society, Association for Computing Machinery, and the Irish Film and
Television Society.
Dr Joseph McBrinn (Belfast campus) Lecturer in History of Design and Applied
Arts. His research centres primarily on the intersections of Queer Theory and
Design History. He has written widely on art and design from the eighteenth to
the twenty-first centuries covering topics such as Design Reform; Modern Craft;
National Romanticism; and Contemporary Craft. He has a particular interest in
textiles and especially the histories of embroidery and tailoring. He is currently
engaged in three book projects that deal with sewing and masculinity; fashion
and national identity; and the history of design in Ireland.
Liam McComish (Belfast Campus) Senior Lecturer in Digital Imaging.
Mary McIntyre (Belfast campus) is Reader in Fine Art, lecturing on the MFA Fine
Art course across a broad range of fine art disciplines, specialising in lens-based
media. Mary's photographic work has been widely exhibited nationally and
internationally. Her research interests include fine art photography‟s relationship
with the history of painting, the place and meanings of landscape within
contemporary fine art practice and the development of lens-based fine art media
in relation to traditions of cinema.
Emeritus Professor Dennis McKeag (Belfast campus) is Professor of Product
Development at the University of Ulster and Visiting Professor in Design at the
University of Bournemouth. For the past 25 years he has specialised in product
and process innovation through knowledge and technology transfer programmes
between academia and industry, and is an acknowledged leader in this field. He
has over 100 publications and other forms of public output, and has refereed
papers in a number of conferences and publications in his areas of specialism.
He is a member of SEFI and a member of CINet. His main research interests are
innovation, design, creativity and continuous improvement.
Professor Ian Montgomery (Belfast campus) is the Dean of Faculty of Art,
Design and the Built Environment and was previously Head of School for Art and
Design and Research Co-ordinator for the Art and Design Research Institute. He
currently teaches on a number of undergraduate design programmes and is an
active PhD supervisor in the Design and Communication areas. Ian is interested
in research applications in the fields of graphic design, information design,
typography, design perception, and corporate identity. He has had academic
papers published in the areas of „graphic design perception‟ and „design
appropriateness‟.
Michael Moore (Belfast Campus), Head of Centre for Applied Art.
Current Supervision - „Kitsch and Popular Culture‟. Ms Katrina Hiesterman„
Promoting Rural Identity and Sustained Economies through visual art‟.
Concluding Viva Feb 13th 2012. Ms Cynthia Andrews
Previous Supervision:
Internal Examiner: „The Ceramic Familiar‟, Dr. Andrew Livinston. 2007
Future Supervision:
Currently Ms. Claire Muckian is making an application for PhD at Ulster and has
requested Moore as 1st Supervisor.
Moore is currently supervising 2 PhD‟s and is research active in the fields of
Ceramic Art Practice and Theory.
Moore welcomes research questions within the Applied Arts and their
relationship to the broader context of visual art practice. Moore has based his
research internationally including Canada, UAS, China, Denmark, Germany,
Hungary, CZ, CH.He is represented in several international collections and has
several conference and journal publications on the context of Irish Ceramic Art.
He is an Executive Member of the Council of the International Academy of
Ceramics and a registered maker of both UK and Irish Crafts Councils.
Dr Aisling O’Beirn (Belfast campus) is an Associate Lecturer in Sculpture.
Current work examines spatial politics by investigating technologies and theories
behind space exploration. It is an extension of previous work on the politics of
place, but still rooted in uncovering tensions between disparate forms of official
and unofficial information. It manifests variously as sculpture, installation,
animation and site-specific projects. O'Beirn‟s sculptural and installational work
has been exhibited in both gallery and site-specific contexts, nationally and
internationally. She welcomes practice based research projects, which explore
theses issues. Her work can be seen on www.aislingobeirn.com
Dr Taina Marjatta Rikala (Belfast campus) Senior Lecturer in Urban Design,
School of Architecture and Design
Oral History biographies include 17 works in 23 publications in 2 languages and
21 library holdings.
Specialisms: Spatial Analysis; character and identity studies; Architecture History
and Theory; History of Consciousness.
Principal Investigator 3DNI.
Urban design expert advisor to the Ministerial Advisory Group, NI.
Research reflects the idea of creating conceptual, historic and theoretical
frameworks in architectural research and spatial practice through project-based
creative investigation.
Ralf Sander (Belfast Campus) Reader in Fine Art, School of Art and Design. His
work manifests itself variously as sculpture, installation, video, collaborative –
and site specific projects. He examines developments in contemporary
sculpture. Sander‟s sculptural and installation work has been exhibited widely in
gallery and site specific contexts, nationally and internationally. He welcomes
practice based research projects, which explore these issues. His work can be
seen on www.ralfsander.com
Professor Paul Seawright (Belfast campus) Currently Professor of
Photography. He was awarded the Irish Museum of Modern Art/Glen Dimplex
Award in 1997 and represented Wales at the Venice Biennale in 2003. His
research interests include the relationship between art and documentary,
photography and conflict, photography and the city and the place of photography
in contemporary art. He is interested in practice centered research proposals that
address these areas and particularly invites applications to join the research
team investigating the history of the Irish Photobook (with Donovan Wylie and
Martin Parr).
Dan Shipsides (Belfast Campus) Lecturer in Art & Design Co-leader MFA Art in
Public Research topics he considers are Performative / experiential spatial
narrative through practice based art research.
Urban / rural and landscape studies, Intervention, installation, collaboration. His
research pursues a creative and often collaborative relationship to space which
incorporates the experiential.
Research exploring spaces often with a physical engagement to produce
„landscape‟ (both rural and urban) artworks based on that experience. This
research should seek to draw from, document, reflect experiences of “being
there” whilst also linking to socio-historical contexts - articulating a societal
engagement with place.
www.danshipsides.com
Dr Julie Soden, Reader in Constructed Textile Design, Belfast Campus.
Research Institute of Art and Design: Centre for Design Research
Specialist in the design, manufacture and prototyping of 3D woven and loadbearing textiles for engineering composite, infrastructural, geo-textile and
construction reinforcement applications. The research concentrates on the
production of new technical textiles and developing new material solutions using
fibre and textile-based structures for load-bearing applications.
Very cross-discipline in nature and often working across different faculties and
with Industry, projects include tailored textile reinforcements for aerospace
composites, developing natural fibre sustainable composites from bio-derived
resources, containment structures within infrastructure and concrete, and interior
textile design and moulding.
Dr Soden welcomes applications from individuals interested in these areas.
Research outcomes are normally a combination of prototype demonstrators and
text-based publication.
Prof Steven Spier, Head of School of Architecture and Design (Belfast Campus)
is known for two areas of his research. The first examines choreography as a
spatial organising system, primarily in the work of William Forsythe. The second
is contemporary Swiss architecture and the cultural, educational and professional
conditions that have supported architecture of the highest quality. His work has
been published in architecture, dance and theatre journals, he is the author of
Swiss Made, the editor of the first English language book on Forsythe, William
Forsythe and the Practice of Choreography. He lectures widely on both subjects.
Donovan Wylie (Belfast campus) is a lecturer in Photography for BA Hons
Photography. He is a member of Magnum Photos and was short listed for the
Duetsch Borse Photography Prize 2010. His research interests include forms of
photographic representation, the photographic medium in the context of art,
photography and history, cinema and photography, literature and photography.
He is interested in practice centered research proposals that address these
areas.
Professor Terence Wright (Belfast campus) is Professor of Visual Arts. His
main areas of interest include photography, visual anthropology and interactive
narrative. While his theoretical studies explore issues of visual representation, his
practice-based research focuses on location-specific ethnography for interactive
digital media. His current research interest is in visual narrativity, image and
memory. Professor Wright welcomes research proposals covering the areas of
photography, documentary film, visual anthropology, interactive narratives and
the visual representation of history.