Artists in Residence

Fiona Harrington is a visual artist who uses handmade lace, found objects and ceramic processes to create her work. She has received numerous accolades, including the Thomas Damann Bursary, the RDS Graduate Prize, a National Craft Award and the Branchardière Bursary. More recently, she received the Fire Station Studios Sculpture Practice Award and Arts Council funding to support a research trip to Venice, where she studied rare needlelace techniques with local master lacemakers.

Julie Merriman uses present-day and historical data as research material to investigate modes of inscription, replication and transmission. A central element of her practice is the repurposing of obsolete office copying materials: carbon paper and typewriter film. Currently, she is re-employing an early office stencil and ink print technology called Mimeograph. Exhibitions include Attitude of a Plane at Linenhall Arts Centre, Mayo 2023, Dark Abstraction at VISUAL Carlow 2024 and Stories of Art at Glucksman Gallery, Cork 2024.

Vanessa Daws is a Dublin-based long-distance swimmer and visual artist whose work engages with the environment, history, and personal narratives connected to water. Her artistic practice is rooted in exploration and connection, focusing on the cultural and ecological significance of water bodies. Through her innovative project Psychoswimography, Vanessa offers a fresh perspective on the ways we interact with and understand the natural world.

Colin Barrett is the author of two short story collections, Young Skins and Homesickness, and the novel Wild Houses. His short fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Harpers, Granta and the Stinging Fly, and in many other journals and magazines. Wild Houses won the 2024 Nero Prize for Debut Fiction and was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.

Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha  was born in the Lagan area of east Donegal but now lives in the Conamara Gaeltacht. She is a young, up-and-coming writer who specialises in contemporary Irish-language poetry, a subject for which she was awarded a PhD in 2025. Her first published collection is Solas Geimhridh agus Dánta Eile (Barzaz, 2023) and her second, Mainistir na Feola (Barzaz, 2025) appeared recently. She is currently working on two other projects: Éiric na Seirce agus Baile an Eibhir.

Mia DiChiaro is a contemporary dancer and artivist whose ideas often circulate around participatory art and climate justice. Originally from New York, she received her dance training at the Ailey School and developed an interdisciplinary B.A. in ‘Performance and Arts Activism’ (New York University). In Ireland, she received a M.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance (University of Limerick) and has since performed works by David Bolger, Liz Roche, Lucyna Zwolinska, Jack Webb, Ursula Robb, Paul White, and Dina Abu Hamdan.

Cliodhna Noonan is a theatre artist and director with a special interest in creating imaginative, engaging work for young audiences. Her practice spans devised theatre, movement-based performance, and participatory projects. A graduate of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Cliodhna has worked extensively in Ireland and internationally, including with companies such as Graffiti Theatre, Theatre Lovett, and The Ark. Her work is characterised by playfulness, visual storytelling, and a commitment to nurturing creativity in early years and primary school settings. Funded by the Arts Council 

The Ark is a dedicated cultural centre for children, based in the heart of Dublin’s Temple Bar. Since 1995, The Ark has created and presented inspirational, high-quality arts experiences for children aged 2 to 12, across theatre, music, visual art, literature, dance and more. Through performances, exhibitions, workshops, and its artist development programmes, The Ark champions children’s right to access and engage with the arts in a meaningful way. Funded by the Arts Council.

Sarah Gilmartin is best known for her critically acclaimed novels, Dinner Party (2021) and Service (2023), Sarah’s work has garnered international praise, including shortlistings for the Irish Book Award and the Kate O’Brien Award, as well as accolades like Waterstones Book of the Month and inclusion in the Washington Post’s top books of summer. A co-editor of Stinging Fly Stories and a recipient of the Máirtín Crawford Short Story Award, Sarah’s short fiction has appeared in The Dublin Review, New Irish Writing, and The Tangerine.

Réaltán Ní Leannáin is the presenter of the popular podcast series Bláth na dTulach, and in 2023, Réaltán received Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin for her exceptional work editing the acclaimed short story anthology of the same name. Réaltán’s writing has reached a global audience, with translations into English, Basque, Catalan, Galician, Slovenian, Frisian, Korean, German, and more.

Cliona Harmey is an artist and educator who works primarily with media technologies and sculpture. In her artwork she works with technologies at a range of different scales, going from large scale public art works using live data (Dublin Ships) to much smaller ephemeral/modular system based works for galleries or other contexts. In her most recent practice she has made work which responds to contexts and situations where the global and local intersect (climate, borders, transit, maps). She is currently a lecturer in the Media Department at NCAD. 

Day Magee is a Dublin-based artist, performer, and writer exploring self-mythology and the intersections of queerness, illness, and religiosity. Their multimedia practice combines ideology and phenomenology through performance and workshops. Day's work has been commissioned by and featured in notable galleries, arts organisations and festivals, including TULCA Festival, Arts & Disability Ireland, and the Hugh Lane Gallery. They received support from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Aingeala Flannery is a writer, journalist, and broadcaster.

Her critically acclaimed debut The Amusements was published by Penguin Sandycove in 2022. It won both the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year at Listowel Writers’ Week 2023 and the John McGahern Prize in association with the University of Liverpool

For more information on Aingeala Flannery (Writer in Residence) please click here

Muireann Ní Chíobháin's is a screenwriter and an author children’s fiction in both Irish and English.

She has written five Irish-language books for children, which have been published by Futa Fata: Scúnc agus Smúirín, three books in the Eoinín series, and Gealach agus Grian, which was published in November 2023. 

For more information on Muireann Ní Chíobháin (Scríbhneoir Cónaithe Gaeilge) please click here

Dave Rudden is an author, performer and creative writing teacher based in Dublin.

This residency is funded by the Arts Council as part of the Young People, Children and Education (YPCE) Residencies scheme 2023.

For more information on Dave Rudden (Artist in Residence) please click here

Award-winning poet Anne Tannam was announced as Poetry Ireland's new Poet in Residence at Dublin City University.

This role is funded by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Fund of the Sidney E Frank Foundation, Dublin City University and the Arts Council of Ireland.

For more information on Anne Tannam (Poet in Residence) please click here

Sophie White was appointed Writer in Residence at the School of English, Dublin City University. Sophie White is a novelist, essayist and podcaster from Dublin.

Her sixth book, Where I End (Tramp Press, 2022) won the Shirley Jackson Award in 2023 and was called, “brilliantly visceral” by the Guardian and “exquisite and disturbing, brutish and beautifully crafted” by The Irish Times.

For more information on Sophie White (Writer in Residence) please click here

Aifric Mac Aodha is a poet and editor. She published her first collection, Gabháil Syrinx, in 2010 (An Sagart).

She spent a period as editor of Comhar and for several years she has been Irish-language editor for various journals including The Stinging Fly, Poetry Ireland Review and gorse.

For more information on Aifric Mac Aodha (Irish Language Writer in Residence) please click here

Edwina Guckian was awarded Artist in Residence at St. Patrick’s Campus DCU, Drumcondra, Dublin as part of the Art’s Council YPCE Residencies under the School of Arts Education and Movement.

YPCE Residencies support artists or arts organisations to spend an academic year in residence in a higher-education institution in Ireland that provides initial teacher education (primary, post-primary or further education)

For more information on Edwina Guckian (School of Arts Education and Movement) please click here

DCU & Firestation Artist Studios Artist in Residence.

Originally from Kerry and returning to Ireland from Paris after ten years, Susan works predominantly in drawing and installation and her work explores themes of integration and how we inhabit a place.

For more information on Susan Leen (Visual Artist in Residence) please click here

Elva Mulchrone is a Dublin-based visual artist.

Conceptually driven, her practice examines the role of mathematics and abstraction in contextualising an understanding of who and where we are, social science concerns, repeat pattern, randomness and of aesthetics.

For more information on Elva Mulchrone (Visual Artist in Residence) please click here

To find out more about Elva's exhibition Eudaimonia dreaming and collaboration with Prof Maeve O'Brien at DCU please watch this interview on DCU's YouTube Channel. 

Emily Waszak is a Dublin-based visual artist and textile worker. Her work is “concerned with building anti-capitalist imaginaries as prefigurative resistance in the landscape of organised abandonment under racial capitalism.”

She uses textiles as a medium through which to reclaim and revalue feminised, reproductive labour. 

For more information on Emily Waszak(Visual Artist in Residence) please click here

Sadhbh Devlin is primarily a writer of literature in Irish for children and teenagers but also writes fiction in Irish for adult readers.

Sadhbh is an active member of Children’s Books Ireland, the ‘Writers in Schools’ initiative, Poetry Ireland, and the Association of Irish-Language Writers.

For more information on Sadhbh Devlin (Scríbhneoir Cónaithe Gaeilge) please click here

A graduate of St. Patrick’s College, Dave Rudden is an author, actor and creative writing teacher based in Dublin.

His first novel, Knights of the Borrowed Dark, was called ‘a magical debut’ by the Guardian. Knights went on to win the 2016 Irish Book Award for Best Senior Children's Novel and was chosen in 2017 as the Dublin UNESCO Citywide Read. 

For more information on Dave Rudden (Writer in Residence) please click here

Dublin City University announced the appointment of writer, Richie Conroy, as Irish-Language Writer-in-Residence for 2021. The position was funded jointly by The Arts Council and DCU.

Richie Conry is a writer of short stories, a novelist and a scriptwriter. He has also produced film and television scripts.

For more information on Richie Conroy (Scríbhneoir Cónaithe Gaeilge) please click here

Ciara Ni É was DCU’s Irish language writer in residence in 2020.

She is the founder of REIC, a monthly multilingual spoken word and open mic night that features poetry, music, storytelling and rap. She has performed internationally in New York, London, Brussels, Sweden, and across Ireland.

For more information on Ciara Ní É (Scríbhneoir Cónaithe Gaeilge) please click here

Fiona McDonald is a Dublin based interdisciplinary artist. She holds a BSc in Biological Chemistry from University of Ulster a BA & MA in Fine Art from NCAD & a MSc in Multimedia Systems TCD.

work includes Sensing Ecologies, a soundscape of geo-located sounds and interviews created for Bull Island.

For more information on Fiona McDonald (Artist in Residence in Technology and Innovation) please click here

Joanna Hopkins is a highly regarded artist who has exhibited across Ireland, Asia, the USA, UK and Europe. She works predominantly in film, drawing and installation. 

This residency was offered in collaboration Fire Station Artists’ Studios.

For more information on Joanna Hopkins (Visual Artist in Residence) please click here

Mandy O’Neill is an award-winning photographer and visual artist whose work has been inspired by long term engagement with children and young people in the context of primary and post-primary schools in central Dublin.

During the residency, Mandy engaged with DCU staff and students and explore the architectural landscape of the University.

For more information on Mandy O’Neill (Visual Artist in Residence) please click here

Composer Colm Ó Foghlú was appointed Artist in Residence in the context of Primary Education in 2019. 

Composer, director, writer and producer, Colm has toured extensively throughout Australia, Europe, Asia and North America.  A former Musical Director for Riverdance, he has composed, arranged and produced numerous award-winning shows and albums.

For more information on Colm Ó’Foghlú (School of Arts Education and Movement) please click here

In conjunction with The Arts Council, a new Irish-language Writer-in-Residence was appointed for DCU in 2019. 

She organised a creative writing workshop for budding Irish-language writers and anyone with an interest. 

For more information on Réaltán Ni leannáin (Irish Language Writer in Residence) please click here