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Personal Information
College Photo Name O'Sullivan, Carmel
College Address Education,
Arts Building
Main Department Education
College Title Associate Professor
E-mail carmel.osullivan@tcd.ie
College Tel +353 1 896 3532
Web http://www.tcd.ie/Education/courses/drama-summer-school
Fax +353 1 677 7238
 
Biography
Carmel O'Sullivan is the Co-ordinator of the Division of Continuous Professional Development in the School of Education and a member of its Arts Education Research Group. She organises an international Summer School in Drama and Theatre in Education each year (M.Ed.), and is a founding member of ADEI (the Association for Drama in Education in Ireland). Carmel is involved in several externally funded research projects. Her research interests include Drama and Theatre in Education; the work of the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal; Drama with children and young people with an autism spectrum disorder; and teaching and learning in higher education. Carmel is a regularly invited speaker at national and international conferences, and has delivered lectures and workshops in academic and professional institutions worldwide. She has organised numerous national and international drama in education seminars, workshops and conferences. Carmel is a member of the international editorial advisory committees for three peer-reviewed journals, and is external examiner in a number of institutions. She is also very active in her local community and has continued to work with children and young people on a weekly voluntary basis throughout her professional career.
 
Teaching interests and responsibilities
Teaching responsibilities (2011/12): • PDE (Secondary) - Drama in Education; • PDE (Secondary) - English; • M.Ed. - Drama/Theatre in Education; • M.Ed. - Teaching and Learning in Higher Education; • M.Ed. - Academic Reading and Writing; • Ph.D. - Arts Education. Post-graduate supervision (2011/12): • 12 Ph.D. students; • 9 Masters dissertation students.
 
Professional Qualifications
Qualification Institution Class of Degree Title of Dissertation Date Conferred
Ph.D. Socio-Political Theatre Birmingham City University   Augusto Boal - A Critical Encounter: ‘Towards a Theory ...... ’ 2007
MA Drama University of Central England Honours United We Stand, Divided We Fall? - An examination of the generic arts debate and its relevance to drama in education. 1994
PG.Dip. Drama in Education University of Central England Honours   1994
ALCM (Associate of the London College of Music) London College of Music Honours   1990
B.Ed. Mary Immaculate College of Education, Ireland Honours   1989
 
Representations
Details Date
Member of academic advisory committee for IDIERI (the International Drama in Education Research Institute) 2012
Member of the international academic advisory committee for Language Learning/Teaching and the Performing Arts, Université de Nantes 2012
External examiner for St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra (2011-2014) 2011 to date
External examiner in the School of Social Studies, DIT (2011-2014; 2000-2003) 2011 to date
Member of the Academic Board of IICP (Institute of Integrated Counselling and Psychotherapy) 2010 to date
 
Administrative Functions
Details Level Date From Date To
Faculty nominee on Coiste na Gaeilge 2010 to date
Member of the College working group for the implementation phase of the Graduate Education Strategy (modularisation) 2010 2011
Director of Teaching and Learning Postgraduate 2009 2011
Co-ordinator of the Division of Continuous Professional Development 2009 to date
Member of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences working group on teaching and learning methodologies 2009 2010
 
Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies
Details Date From Date To
AISHE (All Ireland Society for Higher Education) 2005 to date
ADEI (Association for Drama in Education in Ireland): Founding member and Chairperson (1999 to 2009) 1999 to date
ATE (Association for Teachers of English) 1998 2008
ND (National Drama, UK) 1997 to date
IDEA (International Association for Drama and Theatre in Education): member of the Executive Committee (1998-2004); secretary to the Accountancy Committee (1998-2004); member of the International Advisory Committee (2005-2007) 1995 to date
More Memberships>>>
 
Awards and Honours
Award Date
I received one of only two major awards for postgraduate study granted by the Irish Arts Council in 1993. 1994
 
Languages
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Basic Basic Basic
Irish Fluent Medium Fluent
 
Employment Details
Position Held Job Description Where Date From Date To
Lecturer   Trinity College Dublin 1998 to date
Lecturer Newman College of Higher Education, Birmingham 1994 1998
Supply teacher (part time)   Birmingham City Council 1993 1994
Primary school teacher   Scoil Oilibhéir, Ballyvolane, Cork 1989 1993
 
Description of Research Interests
• Drama in the education of children and young people with an autism spectrum disorder • The work of Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal • Drama and Theatre in Education • Teaching and learning in higher education
 
Research Interests
AUTISM SPECTRUM Art Education Community Drama Dance Education
Drama and theatre in education Higher Education Special Education
 
Research Projects
Project title Exploring Minds: An early years arts pilot project
Summary Fingal County Council Arts Office, Fingal Traveller Organisation, community artists and the School of Education Arts Education Research Group, aim to pilot a unique Early Years Arts programme for Traveller children and their parents living in halting sites in Skerries and Swords. The programme will introduce young children and their parents to a quality arts experience, primarily through the media of Music and Visual Arts. Strand One will be developed as an 'Artist Residency Model for Arts Development and Parental Involvement’, and will involve the use of the DIEAC Framework in all aspects of its design, implementation and evaluation.
Funding Agency Fingal County Council and The Arts Council
Programme
Type of Project
Date from 2012
Date to 2013
Person Months


Project title The DIEAC Framework (Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Arts in Context)
Summary In response to the diversity and significance of collaborative arts practices in a range of social and community contexts, the School of Education and the Long Room Hub (TCD) in partnership with Create (National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts in Social and Community Contexts) and the Arts Council, propose to research and develop the DIEAC framework. This framework is proposed on the basis of providing an adaptive and flexible tool for designing, implementing and evaluating arts in context (DIEAC). Existing guidelines and models mainly cater either for project planning or retrospective evaluation. This forward-looking framework is predicated on the basis of providing a holistic approach to artists working in social and community contexts. The DIEAC framework will utilise the Arts Council’s Artist in the Community Scheme, managed by Create, as the source material for the research enquiry.
Funding Agency School of Education Arts Education Research Group, Create and The Arts Council
Programme
Type of Project
Date from 2011
Date to 2014
Person Months


Project title Social skills education through drama for children and young people on the autistic spectrum
Summary Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a pervasive developmental disorder, which most researchers feel falls at the higher-functioning end of the Autistic Spectrum. Individuals with AS can experience significant difficulties with social interaction and communication, flexible thinking, and imaginative play. People with the syndrome are often characterised by an impairment in social interaction as well as stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities. There is no known treatment that has any effect on the basic impairments underlying Asperger Syndrome, but challenges can be diminished by appropriate management and education. The prime motivation for this funded research project came from the realisation that although it is widely recognised that young people with Asperger Syndrome lack the ability to empathise with other people, there is little research on how to help them develop this ability, as most literature in the field focuses on the outcome rather than the process: on methods to enable children achieve social skills by imitating the ‘correct’ (acceptable) behaviours, rather than helping them decode the images they see and understand the meanings below the surface. This project aims to investigate whether the sustained use of an integrated creative arts approach with specific focus on the use of drama in education will lead to a more successful social, personal, emotional and cognitive education of young people with AS. It aims to bring about a greater understanding of what it means to live with AS and the implications on one’s life.
Funding Agency ASPIRE (Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland); National Lottery funding
Programme
Type of Project
Date from 2009
Date to 2012
Person Months


Project title Integrated Executive Function (IEF) Training
Summary This study is investigating the effects of a novel form of brain training on children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is a collaborative study between researchers in Trinity College, DCU and ASPIRE, and is the first of its kind to take place in Ireland.
Funding Agency ASPIRE (Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland)
Programme
Type of Project
Date from 2009
Date to 2012
Person Months


Project title 'Corduroy’ - a short film based on a young adult with high functioning autism
Summary Consultant to a short film based on the life of a young adult with high functioning autism (written and directed by Hugh O'Connor). ‘Corduroy’ was selected for competition at the 60th Berlin Film Festival (2010) and at the Dublin Film Festival (2010).
Funding Agency Irish Film Board
Programme
Type of Project
Date from 2009
Date to 2010
Person Months


More Research Projects>>>
 
Publications
Peer Reviewed
Carmel O'Sullivan, Teacher in Role: An exploration of its application in the classroom as a creative pedagogy, Research seminar , Ioannina, Greece, March 16 to 18, 2012, The Municipal and Regional Theatre of Ioannina, 1 - 28pp
O'Sullivan, C. , Drama for Learning. A 21st Century Vision for Education, featuring Dorothy Heathcote and Cecily O'Neill [3 hour DVD], 2012, -
Role-Playing in, editor(s)L. Cohen, L. Manion and K. Morrison , Research Methods in Education (7th edition), Oxon, Routledge, 2011, pp510 - 527, [Carmel O'Sullivan]
O'Sullivan, C. and Karavoltsou, A., Drama in education and self-directed learning for adults, Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, Volume 17, (2), 2011, p64 - 79
Malone, N. and O'Sullivan, C. , The Stage and the City: Narrative, Identity and Place in Dermot Bolger's The Ballymun Trilogy (2004-2008), RIDE - The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 16, (2), 2011, p235 - 250
More Publications>>>
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Last updated 22 July 2011 kellyva@tcd.ie.