Dr. Aoife Hegarty was born and grew up in southeast London and later moved to Ireland. It was from this point that she became aware of how geographical surroundings can affect accessibility to education opportunities. As art and culture grew to be one of her most profound passions in life, Aoife chose to embark on an academic journey with the ultimate goal of helping to bridge the gap between arts education and the public. As learning continues to be a lifelong experience, Aoife continues to absorb new knowledge to fuel her curiosity about life.

Following a devastating flood in 2023 in her town, in which her home was deeply impacted, Aoife along with her husband and two young children, moved into a campervan to travel across Europe for six months. During this time, the family encountered many amazing experiences, met new people, tasted different foods, spoke diverse languages, and discovered several of Europe’s beautiful cultures, all while maintaining the chaos of normal family life!

This enriching and life changing experience allowed Aoife to delve further into exploration of art, culture and society. It also presented a fresh perspective on life, society, travel and in particular travel with toddlers. (Spoiler alert: the ‘terrible twos’ are a universal trait!). Aoife has a deep love and respect for nature which was also allowed to blossom during this trip. The style of slow, meandering travel through Europe allowed for a deeper appreciation for how nature and culture can intertwine and can be reflected on with regards to artistic practices too.

Aoife completed her PhD with the Digital Humanities department in University College Cork and completed her MA in Public History with Royal Holloway, University of London. Prior to that, she studied history of art and history. Her area of expertise centres on the teaching and learning of art and culture. Her thesis, while solidifying the extensive research on the value of arts education, explores the possibilities of access to such experiences in primary schools as well as methodologies to break potential barriers ensuring equal access for all. As part of this research, she developed a framework that can be utilised by teachers to embrace arts and cultural topics in the classroom and formulate valuable experiences regardless of socio-economic backgrounds.

In her professional experience, Aoife has worked with several museums and galleries, most prominently in the education departments. She has years of teaching experience with children and adults on practical workshops and lecturing on history of art. Teaching is something she thoroughly loves to do and continuously reflects on to ensure growth and learning are a core element of her role as a teacher. Additionally, as part of her academic research, she specialises in outreach education and so has conducted and consulted a number of outreach workshops for the community, consolidating accessibility to arts and cultural experiences.

From a personal perspective, Aoife thrives in her role as mother and considers it her greatest achievement. She feels connected to and empowered by the many images of ‘mother’ in art throughout the history of humanity and finds this to be a great source of inspiration. While without a doubt it is the most challenging role in her life, it is also the most rewarding. Her two sons bring joy to her daily (along with the odd grey hair), and represent to her everything that is beautiful in life.

Aoife is committed to contributing to a world in which diversity is celebrated, imagination is valued and creativity is encouraged.