Research output per year
Research output per year
Accepting PhD Students
PhD projects
I encourage prospective candidates to contact me in relation to research projects that explore: the work of women theatremakers in Irish theatre, drama and theatre education, and/or, practice-based investigations.
Research activity per year
Kate McCarthy (pronouns: she/her) is a Lecturer in Drama. Her teaching, research, and performance practice explore and challenge exclusionary and gendered narratives. Her teaching activities and research outputs use multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression, taking many forms including: theatre practice, workshops, community engagement projects, educational resources, public talks, podcasts, summer schools, as well as publications and conference contributions.
Kate trained at the Cork School of Music (Munster Technological University), Trinity College London (Associate and Licentiate Diplomas in Performing), and in Drama and Theatre Studies at University College Cork (BA and MA). As a practitioner, Kate has facilitated and devised numerous contemporary performance projects in Ireland and in the UK—ranging from youth theatre to site-responsive and street theatre to drama and theatre education projects.
Since moving to Waterford in 2006, Kate has facilitated a wide range of drama and theatre community engagement projects in the region with the following organisations: Animated State Dance Company; Butler Gallery & Museum; The Copper Coast Geopark; Cruinniú na nÓg; Curious State Theatre and Street Spectacle Company; Garter Lane Arts Centre; Little Red Kettle and Waterford Libraries. Kate also supports work created by young people and has facilitated projects in this domain with organisations such as Activate Youth Theatre and Physcially Phishy youth theatres (Cork); Klub Music (Waterford); Waterford Youth Arts; WIT's Learning for Life programme, and Youth Theatre Ireland.
Kate's teaching and learning philosophy is informed by three interrelated approaches: the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Teaching for Understanding (TfU), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). She teaches a range of practice-based and theory-based undergraduate modules in the Department of Arts (see Courses for more information), including on the BA programmes in Theatre Studies, English, and Visual Art. She has also taught on the Social Care, Early Childhood Studies, Design in Visual Communication, and Fáilte Ireland programmes.
Kate was nominated as a Teaching Hero (National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning) in the 2020-2021 academic year. With Dr Úna Kealy, Kate was the recipient of the Institute's 2016 Teaching Excellence Award. With Dr Kealy, she is currently co-supervising Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Post-Graduate scholar Aaron Kent's PhD: 'Re-shaping narratives: An analysis of life and culture as dramatised by Irish women playwrights following the Irish War of Independence (1922-1959)'.
Kate was awarded the WIT Early Career Research Award in 2021. Her research interests include: the arts and education; contemporary theatre practice, in particular participatory performance and live art; the work of Waterford playwright, Teresa Deevy; and Waterford’s Magdalene Laundry and Industrial School.
Research projects
Lyrical Bodies investigates Waterford playwright Teresa Deevy’s ballet Possession, a work never yet performed, to explore and analyse ableism and gender discrimination towards the Irish Deaf community and Deaf woman via theatre practice research. The project considers how deafened playwright Teresa Deevy reflected on the socio-cultural environment of the mid-twentieth century. This project is funded by the WIT Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Fund and Research Connexions.
Performing the Region investigates the theatre practice of the South East region. The project is situated within the Analysing Social Change Research Group.
Letters from the Past constitutes an inter-generational archival project researching the correspondence between Waterford playwrights Teresa Deevy and James Cheasty.
The Waterford Memories Project comprises an oral history, digital humanities project that investigates the Waterford Laundry and Industrial School. (PI Dr Jennifer O'Mahoney, Dept of Arts). This project has multiple research outputs, each funded by different organisations including the Irish Research Council, Creative Ireland, and Waterford City and County Council.
Generation Climate Change: funded by Creative Ireland, this project provided young people in Waterford city and county with opportunities for creative, critical, and reflective thinking about the climate crises and examined drama education and the Mantle of the Expert approach as a critical pedagogy.
Funding awards
2021- present Advisor (with Dr Úna Kealy) for the And-Mitchell Project, a research initiative funded by the Regional Government of Andalucia, Spain. The project also comprises scholars from the universities of Almería and Pablo de Olavide, in Spain to explore the life and work of writer Mairin Mitchell.
2021-present: Invited by Dr Nicole Brown (University College London) and Director of Social Research & Practice and Education to consult on a new series of Practice as Research publications.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
PhD, Trinity College Dublin
2010 → May 2018
Award Date: 18 Apr 2019
Masters Degree, University College Cork
Oct 2004 → Sep 2005
Award Date: 13 Oct 2005
Bachelors Degree, University College Cork
Sep 2001 → Jun 2004
Award Date: 14 Oct 2004
Advisor, University of Almeria
2021 → …
External Examiner, University of Limerick
2020 → 2022
External Examiner, Munster Technological University
2017 → 2020
MEd Supervisor, Trinity College Dublin
2011 → 2012
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
Kealy, Una (Recipient) & Mc Carthy, Kate (Recipient), 13 Jun 2016
Prize: Honorary award
Una Kealy (Speaker) & Kate Mc Carthy (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Jennifer C. O'Mahoney (Speaker) & Kate Mc Carthy (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Una Kealy (Member of programme committee), Kate Mc Carthy (Member of programme committee), Jenny O'Connor (Member of programme committee), Alvean Jones (Member of programme committee), Amanda Coogan (Member of programme committee) & Lianne Quigley (Member of programme committee)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participating in a conference, workshop, ...
Kate Mc Carthy (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Una Kealy (Organiser) & Kate Mc Carthy (Organiser)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
Una Kealy, Kate Mc Carthy, Jenny O'Connor, Christa De Brun, Richard Hayes & Robert O'Connor
01/05/2015
1 Media contribution
Press/Media