Eileen Hogan

As a lecturer in social policy with particular interest in the arts, a significant focus of my academic work centres on creativity, well-being, creative labour, and cultural policy. In my recent research I explore the relationship between music-making, welfare and social policy, particularly focusing on services that promote community and youth participation and engagement, contextualised within broader discourses of arts participation, belonging, and cultural funding. Recently I have been developing research into cycling as a social practice, questioning how cycling is interrelated with people’s sense of well-being and their relationship to the city, and the implications for pro-cycling urban policy-making. I have also become more active in the field of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in recent years, with a particular practical and academic interest in digital education and technology-enhanced teaching and learning practices. I am Director of the new Masters in Social Policy and Social Justice (Online) and Deputy Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Youth Work course team. I am a research associate with UCC's Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21). 

• Creativity, cultural participation and well-being

My research explores themes of creativity, cultural participation, and well-being. Recently published work, developed through my doctoral research, focuses on the interrelationship of music-making and well-being, identity and place. I have enjoyed participating in music-oriented collaborative projects including a music-themed art research project with young asylum-seekers, in collaboration with Dr Caitríona Ní Laoire (Applied Social Studies, ISS21) and Tadhg Crowley and Fiona Kearney (UCC Lewis Glucksman Gallery). In 2014, I acted as joint curator of the Sir Henrys@UCC Library Exhibition - about Cork's iconic music venue (1977-2003) - with Martin O'Connor (UCC Library) and Stevie G/Stephen Grainger (Cork DJ), which ran from July to September 2014. I have also published on youth arts policy and practice in Ireland in collaboration with the National Youth Council of Ireland.

• Cycling research

Recent collaborations include research with Cork Cycling Campaign, The Environmental Forum, and the Urban Cycling Insitutue (Amsterdam), on the socio-cultural significance of cycling in Cork city, funded by the Irish Research Council.

• Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

In recent years, I have become more active in the field of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. I completed a Masters in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education level in UCC in 2017, and my dissertation explored the use of blog-facilitated research supervision. This inspired a practical and academic interest in the uses of digital technologies in social policy education. 

I have since led two collaborative projects funded by the National Forum for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, namely The Social Commons (2016) and SPEEDS (Social Policy Education: Enhancing Digital Skills)(2016-2019).

I am currently working on a new learning and teaching project that explores the use of VR technologies in social work education.