Dr. Francis Ward is an educator, researcher, and performing artist based in the School of Arts Education and Movement at Dublin City University’s Institute of Education. His work bridges academic scholarship, creative practice, and technology-enhanced learning, with a strong commitment to socially engaged education and inclusive community arts engagement.

Francis’s research interests span music education across formal, informal, and non-formal contexts; technology in music education and online learning; multicultural and socially inclusive music education; Irish traditional music and dance; creative processes in music and dance; and the responsible integration of Generative AI (GenAI) into higher education teaching, learning, and assessment. He is widely published in top-tier (Q1) journals and has co-authored with leading international scholars such as Patricia Shehan Campbell. His creative outputs, including commissioned compositions, album recordings, and choreographic works, have reached international audiences across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia.

A recipient of numerous awards, Francis was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholar Fellowship in 2019–20, spending six months at the University of Washington. He was awarded an Irish Research Council scholarship for his PhD studies (2010–2016) at the University of Limerick, which examined the transmission of Irish traditional music in online environments and developed the concept of "virtual orality" as a theoretical contribution to digital ethnomusicology. He has also received Teaching Council, SATLE, and Quid funding for research and curriculum innovation.

Francis teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, coordinating modules in music education, arts education, and educational research. He co-developed the undergraduate specialism in Socially Inclusive Music Education and co-designed the new MEd in Arts Education Practice. His teaching is underpinned by inclusive, creative pedagogies that empower student agency and engage with real-world themes such as social justice and intercultural learning. He has also supervised doctoral work in music and arts education more broadly, as well as creative practice research.

His service contributions include Faculty Research Committee membership, programme evaluation (Creative Schools), international conference leadership (co-chair of NIME9), and recruitment and outreach activities supporting DCU’s civic mission. He is an active member of CARPE, and his work on GenAI, assessment, and higher education is embedded in this research centre’s focus on innovation and policy engagement.

Outside the university, Francis maintains an active performance career, including musical accompaniment at elite international Irish dance competitions such as Oireachtas Rince na hÉireann and Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, and adjudicating national and international Irish music and dance competitions. He previously performed as a dancer with Riverdance – The Show, and remains a highly respected teacher, composer, and choreographer of Irish traditional music and dance. He is also a founding member of the Pride of Dublin Céilí Band and LGBTQ+ traditional arts group Trad is Amach, championing inclusive arts participation. He has choreographed and arranged for international stages such as Festival Interceltique de Lorient (audiences of 12,000), and his commissioned musical suite Cuimhnigh ar Sarsfield: The Wild Geese Suite has been recognised as a major example of arts-based civic engagement. Francis’s profile and practice support the strategic goals of DCU. His work contributes to transformative student experiences, enhances the research reputation and impact of the university, and supports local and international engagement through cultural diplomacy and inclusive outreach. His proactive leadership in integrating emerging fields such as GenAI reflects the university’s focus on organisational resilience and future-readiness.

Current Research Projects:

• GenAI as a Co-Pilot in the Assessment of Capstone Research Projects in Education (SATLE funded)
• CeoLingua – Music and Action-Oriented Language Learning in the Primary Classroom (Teaching Council, John Coolahan Research Support Framework)
• Creative Linguistic Strategies for Embodied Learning: Verbal Language in Competitive Irish Dance Instruction
• Creative Schools National Evaluation: Dissemination of research

Current Doctoral Students:

• Dave Flynn
• Veronica Ward