Victoria's work focuses on how the spatial and relational dynamics of administration and policy both shape and are challenged by artistic practice as social, cultural, and professional endeavours. Holding degrees in in Art History (BA, MA) and Sociology (PhD), her work is interdisciplinary, socio-historically informed and often based on collaborative research designs, data collection and analysis with research participants. Her research has received support from the Higher Education Authority, the Irish Research Council, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (UK), and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK).  She is co-founder of Brokering Intercultural Exchange, an international research network on arts and cultural management, and the all-island research network, Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland.  

Aoife trained in dance performance at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung in Munich, working professionally as a dancer in Germany and Ireland before returning to Ireland to study at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin (BA (Hons), PhD). She has served as Dance Adviser for the Irish Arts Council and has worked as a dance teacher and community dance facilitator. Her research spans dance scholarship, practice, and policy, and she is interested in how embodied knowledge can be integrated into policy and strategy decision-making processes. Her book publications include Dance Theatre in Ireland: Revolutionary Moves (2013) and Dance Matters in Ireland: contemporary performance and practice (with Dr Emma Meehan, CDaRE) (2018). Her work has been funded by EU Horizon 2020, AHRC, HEA, Future Screens NI/AHRC, and the Irish Government’s Co-operation with Northern Ireland Funding Scheme. She is currently Co-President of the Irish Society of Theatre Research.

Louise completed her PhD in the Doctoral Training Centre in Communication Disorders at the University of Strathclyde. Her research focused on the relationship between speech, language and movement in children. She has published in the peer reviewed journals and contributed to the book ‘Speech Production and Perception: Learning and Memory’ (Peter Lang, 2019).  In addition, she has worked in the Mental Health and Rights Division of the Scottish Government as well as acting as an advocate and advisor on climate and environmental policy, centring the voices of young people. She joined Queen’s University Belfast as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the “Youth Dance Matters” project, researching the conditions and value of youth dance across the island of Ireland that mixes dance and social science research methods.

Simon Mills is a Belfast based documentary photographer and film maker. As well as exploring making processes and communities, his work also examines land use and our changing relationship with the landscape.