School Research

The School of Film, Music & Theatre has a thriving, forward-looking, and diverse research culture. Rooted in the strong national and international reputations for research excellence of its three constituent departments – Film & Screen Media, Music, and Theatre – the School is a major focus for creative research in the University and the city of Cork.

The School is committed to an innovative, exciting research agenda that combines its impressive range of vital contributions to new critical perspectives in the humanities with its cutting-edge work in creative practices across all three subject areas. The School is motivated by the ambition to deeply influence and renew the research landscapes within which it works by re-imagining the interface between critical thought in the arts and research through practice.

The School is home to a thriving scholarly and graduate studies community. It has hosted a notable number of Irish Research Council doctoral scholars, IRC and Marie Skłodowska-Curie–funded postdoctoral fellows, and Fulbright visiting scholars. Its staff have held external funding awards from a wide range of national and international bodies, including the European Research Council, the Irish Research Council, the Arts Council of Ireland, the Wellcome Trust, Enterprise Ireland, Creative Ireland, Cork County Council, the China Education Ministry, Music Generation, and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, among others. The School also supports creative practitioners in their innovative work through the Film Artist and Traditional Artist in Residence programmes jointly funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and the Theatre Artist in Residence jointly funded by Cork Opera House.

A major player in the city and region, and the lead partner within the University in the creative partnership it enjoys with the Cork Opera House, the School has an active impact agenda. It takes pride in its outward-looking knowledge-sharing ethos and culture of collaboration, in keeping with the creative and critical practices that characterise the disciplines of which it is composed, and is open also to collaborations with the whole range of disciplines that make up the contemporary university.

Specific areas of excellence, supervision and mentorship, past and current research projects, major publications and outputs are detailed in the research pages of the three Departments.