Our Team

Children’s Advisory Team

Dr Hadjer Taibi, Children’s Advisory Team Lead. See Board members.

Dr Harry Shier, Children’s Advisory team

Harry Shier is an Irish activist, researcher, writer, facilitator and commentator on children’s rights, participation and play, who has worked internationally in community groups, NGOs and universities.
He is known for his “Pathways to Participation” model from 2001, and his work with child workers on coffee plantations in Nicaragua, Central America. He holds a PhD in children’s rights from Queen’s University Belfast. Officially retired, he is still involved in voluntary and freelance work.

As a child I loved my trike. In those days (the late 50s of the last century) it was considered safe and normal for young children to ride around the peaceful local roads unsupervised. Here I am (left) with my brother Donald in our back garden in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. You can see my dad’s hen-run in the background.

With the Child and Youth Participation team members age 12-18 years

History 

Dr Lorraine McEvoy, History Team Lead. See Board members.

Dr Mary Hatfield

Mary Hatfield is the author of Growing up in nineteenth-century Ireland: A cultural history of middle-class childhood and gender (Oxford University Press, 2019). Her research focuses on themes of class and gender during childhood and she has published in academic and public forums on the history of education, play, and childcare. Her most recent project, hosted by UCD and funded by the IRC, was on the history of paediatrics in Ireland. 

As a child I had a great love of books, a highlight of my week was going to the library to find a new series to read. I am still a great fan of children’s literature and it’s a pleasure to get to read children’s books as part of my research. 

Dr Richard McElligott

Richard is Lecturer of Modern and Irish History in the Department of Humanities at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT). Prior to taking up that role in September 2019, he served for four years as a historical researcher on the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation, overseen by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. His research expertise includes Irish social history, with a particular expertise on Irish sporting history. He has published widely in this area and some of his latest work has examined the role of sport in the history of Irish childhood in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

As a child growing up in rural North Kerry, I loved to explore the fields or trying to investigate the course of nearby rivers. The worst example was the time I was to attend an altar-boy meeting in the village Church. That meeting ended suddenly. Rather than wait for my parents to collect me, I decided it would be quicker to walk the five miles home by myself, I was only 7 at the time. It took me hours, and my mother (not having a clue where I was) was distraught. The neighbours went out driving around with herself and my father. Eventually as dusk closed in my father spotted me on the main road only a half mile from the house. That put a stop to my exploring – at least until the following weekend!

Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley

Sarah-Anne is Lecturer in History at the National University of Ireland Galway. Her research centres on the history of childhood and youth, gender and women in Ireland. Author of The Cruelty Man: Child Welfare, the NSPCC and the State in Ireland, 1889-1956 (Manchester University Press, 2013), she is President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland (WHAI), Chair of the Irish History Students Association, and Co-Director of the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour & Class (NUIG).  

I have grown up alongside my care bear teddy bear, Carbie, who was the ripe age of 39 on 25 Dec 2023.

Annika Stendebach

Annika is a doctoral researcher at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture at the University of Giessen. Her PhD project focuses on Irish youth and social change between 1958 and 1973. It might seem strange that a German student is working on such a project, but after spending her Erasmus year at the National University of Ireland Galway in 2012/2013, Annika just fell in love with Ireland and its people. She has not stopped researching Irish youth culture since.

I was quite the whirlwind as a child, always running around and playing outside. The only time my parents managed to get me to come inside and sit down, was when they read stories to me. One of my favourite books were the adventures of “Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lindgren, probably because I identified so much with her. Judging from our shared characteristics, I actually think my parents chose the wrong character from the novel as my namesake.

Dr Megan McAuley

Megan recently completed her PhD in the Department of History at Maynooth University. She was awarded the MU John and Pat Hume Scholarship, the NUI Denis Phelan Scholarship 2020 and the Offaly History/P&H Egan Scholarship to fund her doctoral studies. She also has a BA in History and Nua-Ghaeilge and an MA in Irish History. Megan’s PhD research examined rural childhood experiences in modern Ireland with a case study of County Donegal from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Her research explores themes such as institutionalisation, education, work, play, health, and death, among others, through lenses of analysis such as gender, class and language. Megan also works as a probate genealogist for Finders International. 

One day, after the Sky box was installed (the height of excitement in the early 2000s) I accidentally stumbled upon the Discovery Channel while trying to find Disney Channel. I ended up watching a documentary about Tutankhamun’s tomb and was enthralled. The next day at school, I went up to my first-class teacher and told her I knew what I wanted to be when I was a grown up… ‘an archaeologist, a-r-c-h-a-e-o-l-o-g-i-s-t’, having learned how to spell it, so she knew I was serious! Not quite my occupation now, but I have been interested in history and archaeology ever since. 

Dr Juliet Roberts

I am originally from Co Tipperary and I left Ireland in 1986 to work as a theatre nurse in London. I have been living in Luxembourg since 1999, and began studying a BA in history with the Open University in 2010, and then a Master’s in Contemporary European History at the University of Luxembourg in 2017. I completed my PhD at the same institution in 2023, where I researched medical art and facial trauma in France and England during the Great War. My interests lie in the history of medicine and surgery, World War I, and all aspects of social and community history. I have published material online and in monograph form for two projects on World War I with the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg. I am currently working part-time in a support role at a private international school in Luxembourg City.

The baby photo was probably taken sometime in late 1964, and the famous Silvercross pram later served as a means to transport various litters of kittens and puppies dressed in a selection of dolls’ clothes (though not the two species at the same time!) around the yard at the farm where I grew up.

Pearce Maloney

Zsolt Frunza, Intern

My name is Zsolt Frunza I was born on the 25^th of November 2001 in Transylvania Romania. Following my parents divorce, I spent a lot of my time moving. Due to all of the travelling we ended up moving to Ireland in 2011 when I was 9 years old and have lived here ever since. Currently I live with my dogs King, Princess and Thor as well as my five other siblings.  We live in a town called Navan, where I attended both primary and secondary school.  After learning English in St Olivers Primary School, I chose to pursue History and everything it encompassed as a passion and a career.  In 2015 I started in Coláiste na Mi which was one of the secondary schools in Navan, and my favourite subject was History. One of my favourite memories was when I got my very first A grade on a biography I wrote about Christopher Columbus. At the end of Secondary School I chose to go a Dunboyne College of Further education. My time in Dunboyne was short and difficult but I enjoyed every second of it and due to my high grades I got into UCD in 2021 where I studied a joint major in History and Irish Folklore with a specialization in Archaeology. I graduated UCD with 2:1 in September of 2024 and what I realised since I left college is that my passion for history has seeped into other parts of my life like gaming. One of my most played games is the Assassins Creed franchise, which is known for its historical landmarks and locations.

One of the most bizarre situations I have ever been in was when I was thirteen and just started secondary school. It was the first time I met my Irish teacher and he wanted us to introduce ourselves and tell him where we are from. When it was my turn, I told him that I moved to Ireland from Transylvania in 2011. After I finished introducing myself he went quiet for a minute and asked me if I was being serious, when I told him I was, he asked me if I ever went to the castle or as he put it ‘Hotel Transylvania’. I was taken aback for a second because I couldn’t believe that he was getting this angry about what I said.  After I explained that the castle does exist and Vlad Dracul was a real person, he raised his voice and asked me where Transylvania was, and if it really existed. He ended up kicking me out of his class because I couldn’t answer his question.
It has been nearly ten years since this happened and it is still one of the most bizarre situations I have been in. What adult snaps at a child on their first day of school over such a simple question like where are you from? Now was this a catalyst for my passion of myth and history? From a certain point of view you could argue that yes it was. Did my lack of understanding around Transylvanian myths back then caused me to pursue a major in folklore? I don’t know, but it is something to consider.

Collections

Brenda Keneghan, Collections Conservation Advisor

Brenda Keneghan retired from the Victoria and Albert Museum where she was the specialist in plastics in the conservation Department for 27 years. She has undertaken many surveys of plastics in collections both in the V&A and advised other collections such as English Heritage and the National Trust.  She is a committee member of the Plastics Historical Society and is editor of their journal Plastiquarian.

Jonathan Harte, Collections/Heritage Documentation Advisor

Jonathan is a dedicated individual with a deep-rooted passion for history and the preservation of cultural and natural heritage. His journey in heritage conservation began with his pursuit of a Master’s degree in World Heritage Management and Conservation at University College Dublin (UCD). During his time at UCD, Jonathan delved into various aspects of heritage management, including the principles of interpretation, conservation, sustainable development, and community engagement.

Currently, Jonathan is applying his expertise in event management as part of the team working on the commemorative event for the National Famine Way’s expansion to Liverpool and Canada with the Strokestown Famine Museum and the Irish Heritage Trust. Through this role, he is actively involved in promoting the preservation and celebration of Ireland’s rich cultural heritage, particularly concerning the historical significance of the Strokestown Tennants from 1847 who embarked on this journey during the Great Famine.

Jonathan contributes his skills to the Museum of Childhood Ireland, as he considers it a vital platform for promoting the preservation and celebration of Ireland’s rich cultural heritage, especially concerning the historical – contemporary relevance of childhood.

In this photo I was six, and was exploring the Irish National Stud and Gardens in Kildare for the first time. Since I was young, I have always been fascinated by history and nature and had an interest in archaeology and historical areas. This inquisitive mind led me to pursue history and human geography as my undergraduate studies, which ultimately led me full circle to heritage conservation as my current field of work.

Children’s Rights 

Gráinne Cumbers, Child Rights Team Lead. See Board members.

Clare Daly, Child Protection and Law

Clare practices primarily in the Child Care Team in CKT. Clare has over 14 years of broad and varied experience in legal practice, specialising in child protection, data protection including the data rights of children; litigation, personal injuries, mental health law, education law, family law and has advocated in the District, Circuit and High Courts. For over 10 years she advised a statutory body charged with investigating breaches of children’s rights. Clare has considerable experience providing advices to organisations on their child protection obligations and has advised statutory bodies, insurance companies, sporting & religious bodies, charities, universities, schools and numerous organisations working with children.

Clare is a regular lecturer in the Law Society Professional Practice Course on Advanced Family Law and in the Diploma and Certificate programmes, in the areas of child protection and data protection law. She has published articles in the Irish Journal of Family Law, Irish Educational Studies Journal, local print and news media, and was quoted in the Sunday Times Ireland and RTE online. She has presented at conferences in UCC, UCG, Legal Island, and various conferences including the IPB Conference on Managing the Risk of a Criminal Investigation . Clare co-authored “Adoption law and practice under the Revised European Convention on the Adoption of Children” (2013).

Dr Gabriela Martinez-Sainz, Children’s Rights Alliance liaison

Gabriela Martinez Sainz is an Ad Astra Fellow and Assistant Professor in Education at University College Dublin researching and teaching on children’s rights, global citizenship and education for sustainable development. Her overarching research interest is understanding how key elements essential for global, plural and sustainable societies –such as sustainability, human rights and citizenship– are taught and learnt. Her latest research focuses on the teaching and learning processes of the target 4.7 of the SDGs in digital spaces to better understand the role technologies can play in education. At UCD, Gabriela is co-convener of the Rights Education Network (REN) with colleagues in the School of Education, School of Law and School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice and Director of the Voice, Agency and Rights in Education (VARiE) research group in the School of Education. Gabriela is also co-founder of Child Rights Chat, a multinational project aiming at the creation of digital spaces for learning about children’s rights, their legal instruments and the challenges for their protection and promotion in practice. She holds a PhD in Education and a Master’s Degree in Educational Research from the University of Cambridge where she conducted research on human rights education, reflective practice and professional knowledge. As a researcher, she has been affiliated to the Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education of Dublin City University, the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning CEBRAP, the Centre for Governance and Human Rights of the University of Cambridge, and also the Center for Socio-legal Studies of the University of Oxford. She has worked as an educational consultant for international organizations including UNICEF and Child Rights Connect, on projects related to human rights and peace education, professional development, child participation and school conviviality. She is also the author of textbooks and educational materials on issues of citizenship, democracy and human rights for schools. Gabriela is an intersectional feminist, an advocate of children and young people’s rights and supporter of a radical education.

Dr Rowan Oberman

Dr. Rowan Oberman is Assistant Professor of Global Citizenship Education at the Institute of Education at DCU and teaches on a range of under-graduate and postgraduate programmes including initial teacher education courses and the DCU Masters in Climate Change. She is Co-Director of the DCU Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education. Her  research is in the areas of: climate change education, picturebooks, children rights and creative writing. Her doctoral study explored how picturebook reading and writing support inquiry-based climate change education and examines children’s emotional responses to learning and reading about climate change. She has developed numerous curriculum resources and has written two picturebooks. For example, she acted as curriculum specialist in the development of a national curriculum in climate change and disaster risk reduction for St Vincent and the Grenadines and she co-authored a children’s rights education resource published by the  Ombudsman for Children’s Office. She was also a member of the project team which ran the Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss.  She is a qualified Barrister.

When I was in my first year of primary school my baby doll, Sarah, was the baby in our class play. At break time, there was a bit of an accident involving a football, Sarah Jane and me. Sarah’s arm came off and I broke my collarbone. Luckily everything was mended enough in time for the play’s performance. Everyone wrote lovely messages and drew smiley faces on my plaster bandages.

Education 

Dr Eemer Eivers, Education Team Lead. See Board members.

Dr Mira Dobutowitsch

Mira Dobutowitsch has a background in psychology and education. She completed her PhD in 2019. This Irish Research Council funded project was a mixed-methods investigation of associations between children’s screen time use and wellbeing, and parents’ strategies for navigating their children’s engagement with digital devices. Mira has worked as an independent researcher, consultant, and data analyst on a number of projects.

Dr Suzanne O’Keeffe

Suzanne lectures in sociology of education and social, personal and health education (SPHE) in the Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education at Maynooth University. Suzanne has 10 years teaching experience in a primary school classroom. Her research interests include children and childhood, education, gender and masculinities.

“This is me at 4 years of age visiting my grand-aunt in Limerick city. I think I was told to “mind” the toddler on the chair and smile for the photo!”

Dr Rita Melia

Dr Rita Melia is a lecturer in early childhood education and care at Atlantic Technological University Galway and Mayo campuses. Rita has worked in Early Childhood Education and Care, in practice, research and policy for over thirty years. As an owner /manager of a creche and preschool and as the Reggio Children International representative for Ireland, Rita has been influenced by Loris Malaguzzi theory of the Hundred Languages. Rita was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard Graduate School of Education under the sponsorship of Professor Howard Gardner (Multiple Intelligences) and Professor Benjamin Mardell (The Pedagogy of Play). As a practitioner, educator and researcher Rita believes in the importance of supporting and enhancing young children’s 21st century skills, of curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, communication through the arts as a right not merely a need. Rita has a variety of national and international experiences which have resulted in her developing relationships and networks which support her in her many areas of interest in Early Childhood Education and Care. Rita`s PhD research is titled ‘My self-image and your interactions’: The influence of the preschool educator’s image of the child as a learner on children’s wellbeing and involvement (nuigalway.ie) Mol an Óige agus tiocfaidh sí (praise the young and they will flourish).

Dr Regina Murphy

Dr Regina Murphy is Associate Professor at the School of Arts Education and Movement at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. As a teacher educator at undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels, Regina is concerned with the interplay between teacher subjectivity, inquiry and critical reflection, and its expression through a range of subject matter and creative forms. Recent research has encompassed the evaluation of Creative Schools (2018-2022), the flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland programme, commissioned by the Arts Council. Her research also addresses socially inclusive contexts for music education, musical play, and critical reflection through e/portfolios. Throughout her practice and research endeavours, Regina seeks to explore transformational and empowering experiences that foster student and teacher agency towards informed, inspired, creative and inclusive perspectives. 

With older sisters and younger brothers, life was always full of playful learning, sprinkled with mischief and adventure, music lessons, shows, chores and imagining possibilities for what we’d do once school was finished

Emma Farragher

Emma Farragher is a primary school teacher and teacher fellow at DCU Institute of Education. She is a passionate advocate for the arts and has a keen interest in children’s literature.

As a child, I loved to imitate my mother (and embrace my creative side by using her make-up … on the walls)

Children’s Literature & Media

Sam Hayes, Literature and Media

Sam studied English and Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin before specialising in children’s media through studying in the Children’s Literature, Media and Culture Erasmus Mundus program. Their research interests concern how literature can facilitate discussions of social issues, as seen in the instagram ‘The Anti-Empire Book Club’, which curated media appropriate for children and teens that could be read in response to discourses of colonialism, or their masters dissertation that focused on developing a framework to link video games, to discussions regarding the climate crisis. They volunteered as part of the 2022 Gdansk edition of Kino W Trampkach (a children’s film festival).

As an older child and young teen Sam always loved telling stories. They loved recording ‘movies’ on a video camera with their friends. That intersection of play and storytelling has always appealed to them and they hope to bring this to their work with the museum.

Dr Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak

Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak is an Associate Professor of Literature at the Institute of English Studies, University of Wrocław, Poland. She is the co-founder of the Center for Young People’s Literature and Culture and the Center for Research on Children’s and Young Adult Literature at the University of Wrocław. Her interests include child-led research, posthumanism, and new materialism. She published Yes to Solidarity, No to Oppression: Radical Fantasy Fiction and Its Young Readers (2016). She is the co-editor (with Irena Barbara Kalla) of Rulers of Literary Playgrounds Politics of Intergenerational Play in Children’s Literature (2021) and Children’s Literature and Intergenerational Relationships Encounters of the Playful Kind (2021), (with Zoe Jaques) Intergenerational Solidarity in Children’s Literature and Film (2021), and (with Macarena García-González) Children’s Cultures after Childhood (2023). She is Fulbright fellow (Rutgers University), Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow (Anglia Ruskin University), and a grantee of the Polish Foundation for Science and the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. In the years 2017-2021, she served on the board of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature. She is the University of Wrocław co-ordinator of the Erasmus Mundus International Master: Children’s Literature, Media, & Culture.  

One of the most vivid memories of Justyna’s childhood, spent in communist Poland, is the sight of the pink wall of Barbie doll boxes at a Mattel shop she visited in the mid 1980s, when staying with her friends in Belgium.  Barbie dolls were some of the most coveted toys among Polish children in that period.    

Gabriela Portillo Menéndez

Gabriela is a PhD candidate at Mary Immaculate College (Ireland). Her thesis looks at the intersection between psychology, early childhood and literacy and the role cultural institutions, such as museum and libraries, play in children’s socio-emotional development.
She graduated from the international masters Erasmus Mundus in Children’s literature, media and culture, where she was lucky to learn about child culture in countries such as Scotland, Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands. Additionally, she freelances for several children’s literature publishing houses in her home country, Spain, and collaborates with the YA magazine El Templo de las Mil Puertas.

“Whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was crystal clear: a ballerina. And librarian. As early as age 3, my mom used to take my sisters and me to the children’s section in the library, and we would play and read together —which, at that stage, were indistinguishable to me. If visitors came home, I would climb into their lap and ask them to read for me. My favourite book was rather long, so most people tried to skip through some paragraphs, but I always noticed and demanded to be read precisely what the text said. All my relatives sighed in relief when I learned to read by myself, and I don’t blame them.”

Claudia Zucca

Claudia Zucca is from Italian, Irish and English extraction, born in South Africa. She completed her Ph.D. at Trinity College Dublin in Comparative Literature, her MA at Sussex University in Creative Writing and her BA (hons) at The Open University,
UK. She is an Adjunct English Professor at the University of Cagliari; a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities in Primary Education and a Professor of English in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science.
She is an external member of the board of examiners at the University of Madras, Chepauk, Chennai- 600 005. She is also a member on the Advisory Board (IAB) for Horizon Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences Research (JHSSR) since 2022-2025, and a member of the American Comparative Literary Association (ACLA) since 2020.
Her research is interdisciplinary, combining studies in the fields of literary criticism, literary multilingualism, translingualism and linguistics. She has participated in various international conferences and workshops. She discusses literatures in contact, digital platforms and art, and women’s contemporary writing. She also has a keen interest in the discussions of the body in multiple contexts. She has published articles on the origins of translingualism, the emergence of the translingual and literatures in contact. She has also published a chapter in feminist studies for Demeter Press and a chapter on the Apartheid Stigma, the body and imprisonment. She is currently researching gender-based violence.

“Have you ever heard the crickets in the veld, you would think they were chirping in your head, their courtship song of love, or smelt petrichor, the earthy smell of the dry grass after the summer rains, or felt the great Arican sun beating soft skin. Because I have. This was my childhood. I knew the veld, the sound of the crickets, the smells of the veld after the rains, the sellers on the streets, chewing mangoes in the dry sun, saying, “dis baia lekker man!”, the African drum and the rhythms, beating to the pounding of my heart. I knew the suburbs, the beautiful lined Jacaranda streets in Johannesburg. I saw myself as being part of the landscape,
the sounds and the smells. It was my first true home. I saw through the eyes of the child. Life was cruel, but it was also painstakingly beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Africa was more than my imagination. It was something that grew inside of me, my home, my love, my place. Yet, no matter how far I have travelled, the apartheid stigma sticks to me. How do I explain what it meant to grow up in segregation, forced to see a little and not enough, to hear a bit and not all, where the heart knows what the eyes cannot see and the ears cannot hear? For I did not know what the townships were like, and I did not know any of the other children growing up on the other side of the fences. We were all children of Apartheid, separated from one another, not by choice, but by force. We lived on separate sides of the fences. I grew up with fear of the unknown and a deep longing to understand that which we were denied: the other African children’s voices, which now echo in my dreams, in the gaps of my narrative, and in the suburbs and jacaranda lined streets, to which they had no access, then. I honour my painful childhood. I was born and raised in violence. Yet, this beloved country made me who I am. I was born a South African, and there was no right side of the fence.” A South African Childhood.

Dr Supriya Baijal

Supriya Baijal is a scholar, poet, and creative polymath, deeply immersed in the fields of children’s literature and digital humanities. She has a PhD in Children’s Literature and her scholarly pursuit continues at Trinity College Dublin, where she is enriching her understanding of digital humanities within the M.Phil. program, aiming to bridge technology and literary studies.

An avid theater enthusiast, Supriya has directed and participated in numerous productions, reinterpreting narratives to engage diverse audiences. Her engagement with the arts extends into poetry, where she articulates her deep connection to nature and the human experience. Her artistic expressions also extend to music and dance; she plays the synthesizer and enjoys singing and dancing.

This photo from an Inter-State Athletics Event captures Supriya and her athlethics medals. From a young age, Supriya was drawn to the enchanting world of stories. Her first memorable encounter with literature occurred during visits to the Aurobindo Ashram Children’s Library in Kolkata, where her mother introduced her to “The Book of Dragons” by Edith Nesbit. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for children’s literature.

Dr Sorcha De Brun, Irish language

Sorcha de Brún, lectures in Modern Irish in the University of Limerick, Ireland where she is also Director of European Studies. She received her PhD from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, in 2016 and has published extensively on twentieth and twenty-first century Irish language prose and literary translation. She has published poems and short stories in various anthologies, and a selection of her poetry and stories for children is on the Séideán Sí Primary Curriculum, published by An Gúm. A recipient of the John and Pat Hume Scholarship Award, Duais Foras na Gaeilge (Foras na Gaeilge Award) Duais Ghearrscéalaíochta Mháirtín Uí Chadhain (Máirtín Ó Cadhain Short Story Award) and Oireachtas na Gaeilge literary awards, Sorcha has translated and published a selection of poems by nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century German poets to Irish as part of the Dánnerstag Irish-German poetry project, of which she is co-director. She is also a co-editor of EuropeNow Campus journal and a member of the Royal Irish Academy Committee on Irish language and Celtic Studies (Coiste Léann na Gaeilge agus an Léinn Cheiltigh). Sorcha is currently working on her monograph on masculinities in Irish language prose writing. 

Dheineas staidéar ar an bpianó i gCeol-Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, mar aon leis an gcuid eile de mo mhuintir: mo dheartháireacha agus mo mháthair romham, ise mar chuid den ghrúpa amhránaíochta ar ar tugadh ‘The Thirteens.’ Bhíos ann mar pháiste, mar dhéagóir, agus go dtí go rabhas im bhean óg agus mé aon bhlian is fiche d’aois. Tobar mór inspioráide mo shaoil, ionad súgartha dom a bhí san Acadamh. Tá sé fós ar chúl mo chinn agam, agus é mar fhoinse don tsuim atá agam sa cheol agus sa litríocht. Mhúnlaigh an taithí a bhí agam ansin ó bhonn mé. B’ann a fuaireas amach gur féidir leis an saol a bheith diamhair, doléite, mistéireach. Na heachtraí a bhí agam ann, thuigeas as an nua a raibh de cheol agus de litríocht sa bheatha. Chuas ar seachrán agus mé ag seinnt ceoil agus bhailíos liom go háiteanna im shamhlaíocht ag cumadh scéalta a bhí bunaithe ar chumadóireacht leithéidí John Field, Mendelssohn, Tschaikowsky. An drámaíocht, an rómánsaíocht agus an briseadh croí, bhaineadar de bhonn m’óige mé amhail is gur ag dul trí stoirmeacha a bhíos. ..

When I was a child, I studied piano music in the Royal Irish Academy of Music with the rest of my family. I was there as a child, as a teenager, and until I was a young woman of twenty one years of age. The ‘Academy’ was my imaginative and cultural playground. It has remained a major source for my lifelong interest in music and literature. My experiences there shaped me in a fundamental way, and my explorations, both musically and otherwise, introduced me to all things musical and dramatic, poetic and literary, crumbling and mysterious. I lost myself in pieces of music, imagining narratives and constructing stories based on compositions by John Field, Mendelssohn, Tschaikowsky. Drama, romance but also heartbreak took my childhood self by storm. ..

Snapshots of our Childhood

Engagement

Chloe Browne

Chloe Browne is an arts writer and curatorial assistant from Ireland. Currently working in the contemporary art sector, she holds a dual undergraduate degree in Art History and Italian from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s in Art History and Curatorial Practice from the University of Edinburgh. Guided by a keen interest in social history as told through the medium of art, Chloe’s work explores how objects, literature, and artistic media can inform a study of societies past and present. Passionate about public engagement with culture and the arts at all levels, she is delighted to be working in the realm of community engagement at the Museum to encourage a connection with the subject of childhood across Ireland and further afield.

“There was nothing I loved more than a playground as a kid, especially swings. I think I drove my whole family demented. I may have only had ten words in my vocabulary but one was definitely “push.” I also used to spend a lot of time with my granny and other adults when I was young, as I was the first grandchild. As such, I didn’t really understand the concept of adults versus children so I just presumed all my granny’s friends were my best friends too. I was absolutely disgusted one day when we went on a day trip together and the three sixty year old women tried to explain to me that they couldn’t go down the children’s slide at the Zoo.”

Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi is a dynamic, instinct-led, curiosity-driven arts and culture practitioner.  In her artistic practice, particularly as a commissioned poet on the Poetry as Commemoration project run by the Irish Poetry Reading Archive under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 programme, she is highly experienced in engaging creatively with primary source materials held in local archives and digital repositories.  She is passionate about the possibilities of material history as a portal for reflecting on historical events and building imagined futures.

She has supported and led content marketing, brand communications, and arts education activities on a strategic and operational level, and is delighted to apply her professional experience in collections management, visitor engagement, curation, negotiation, research and strategic thinking on policy and planning in a museum environment for the MoCI.

Graduating with an honours BA in English and Philosophy in 2018, she pursued an MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at UCD in 2019. In 2021, she completed a professional certificate in Cultural Event Management from IADT. As a creative writing tutor she previously led MCI Child and Youth online poetry workshops, facilitating sustained arts engagement for young people aged 4- 18.

She is excited to be able to continue to develop her confidence and competency to lead and influence change in the Irish museum sector. In the Collections Team, Enyi-Amadi is committed to reinforcing the MCI mission to deepen public understanding of the diverse experiences of children and childhood in Ireland. She aims to deliver an effective strategy to guide meaningful actions addressing the gaps in Child and Youth Voices and Rights. She is on the Editorial Board of Unapologetic magazine, amplifying under-represented voices in Ireland and on the advisory board of CIACLA, promoting a modern representation of contemporary Irish arts.

The photo is of me graduating from Nursery school in 2002, aged 4, at Estolub Nursery & Primary in Lagos, Nigeria. I started attending the nursery school at age 11 months because I would erupt in floods of tears whenever my mum would bring me with her to drop off my sister. I didn’t want to leave my sister, so my mum was encouraged to enrol me at the same school despite my tender age.

Lauren Kavanagh, Intern, Projects ( Research, Curation of Exhibitions) from July 2024

Lauren recently completed an undergraduate degree in English and Film Studies in UCD. With a particular focus on film history, she has a keen interest in the preservation of media/objects and the telling of their accompanying personal stories. She also also has always had a love for vintage toys, dolls and stuffed animals in particular.

As a child when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always told them, “a clown”. I was enamoured by their colourful outfits and makeup, and have had a love for performing on stage and making people laugh ever since. This photo was taken when I was around four years old in London, shortly before moving to Dublin. I have always loved expressing myself through fashion, the wings I’m wearing in the photo were a staple of my wardrobe!

Danielle Ford, Research

I was born and raised in Kent, England alongside my twin sister. My favourite subject at school was English, until I did A-Levels and decided to pursue History and International Relations at university. I studied at King’s College London, spending two years living in Waterloo and enjoying the fast-paced city life. I also spent a semester at the University of Sydney, where I admittedly spent more time on the beach than in the classroom! I am now living in Belfast as a postgraduate student in Public History at Queen’s University, aiming to eventually become an academic. 

From the age of about nine, I developed a love for rubber ducks. I cannot remember why – I think I just liked their bright colours – but when I started secondary school I thought a cool way to stand out would be to begin collecting rubber ducks. Any pocket money I got went on ducks I could find in charity shops. I would borrow my dad’s debit card to order ducks online too. On holiday I would drag my family into souvenir shops so I could get ducks. Soon enough friends and family got in on the game and started gifting me ducks. This hobby has continued into adulthood of writing, I now have over 500 rubber ducks!

Diana Nadira Puthusseri, Research

Growing up in the culturally vibrant North Malabar of Kerala, India, Diana Nadira’s love for literature blossomed at an early age. From her grandmother’s folktales to the translations of world classics, she treasured every story that crossed her path, often spinning her own tales along the way. Much like Anne of Green Gables, she dreamt of living a thousand lives through her books and believed in the boundless scope of imagination. Today, Diana is an English language educator and children’s fiction writer with a master’s degree in English Literature from Pondicherry University. Her work revolves around children’s literature, with research interests in childhood studies and folklore. As a former cultural exchange student in the U.S., Diana’s studies have led her to explore diaspora and childhood in the context of evolving global dynamics and periods of conflict. She’s thrilled to be part of the Museum of Childhood Ireland team, bringing a fresh perspective to documenting childhood experiences in contemporary ways.

This photo is from my kindergarten dance performance—my very first! I was all dolled up and excited, confidently looking at the camera and smiling seconds before stepping on stage. I remember even the tiniest details: the colourful costume, traditional makeup, pearl chains, glass bangles, and silver anklets. I played the role of Kurathi, the lead female in “Kuravanum Kurathiyum”, a beloved folk dance from southern India. According to legend, Kuravan and Kurathi were a tribal couple turned into hills by Lord Rama after a curse. Statues of these mythical characters can still be found in the Idukki district of Kerala.

Jessica Sharkey, Achill liaison for MCI

Jessica Sharkey is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin in the History of Art Department Her research interests are currently focused on the American artist and teacher Robert Henri (1865-1929 )and the children of Achill Island, who sat for portraits for him in 1913, and in the 1920s. In particular, Jessica is interested in portraiture, the artistic process, handling and the human experience. As an Undergraduate at TCD, Jessica curated with a group of Young Curators an exhibition called ‘Boring Art?’ at the National Gallery of Ireland in October 2021- January 2022. Jessica worked in the Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery in Cozad, Nebraska during the Summer of 2023, and as a remote curator in 2024. Her duties involved curating exhibitions, connoisseurship, archiving and providing public lectures and tours. Jessica is an illustrator and has attended the RHA School for training, and has had works published in a variety of publications, including Icarus, TCD Misc magazine, University Times, and Tn2. She has been involved with museumofchildhood.ie since March 2023, when at the Festival of Robert Henri and the Children of Achill, she saw the important work being undertaken by the Museum of Childhood Ireland in researching and telling the story of the children in the paintings.  This sparked her research, and she ultimately hopes to contribute too to the story of the sitters of his portraits on the island. 

I have fond childhood memories of playing dress-up, making potions in the back garden and chasing fairies around trees. I used to make love potions with the rose petals, I can still remember the smell and texture of them all mashed up together in a plant pot, I thought that the pink ones would be more powerful than the yellow ones, and I remember pricking myself with thorns so often that I developed a scheme to snap them off along the stem without hurting myself. There were plenty of roses growing at the time, up the wall of the house, so I didn’t get in any trouble, just making potions for fun.  And yes, those high heels on the wrong feet, and yes they aren’t even a matching pair. 

Alena Wiebe, Children’s Resources

Born in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Alena has always had a passion for all things history. She is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree at UCD in Archaeology and Celtic Civilization. She has worked with kids for much of her life, and hopes to share her passion for history with them. She loves all things outdoors, especially going on small adventures around Ireland. She hopes to contribute to the Museum of Childhood and its community in any way she can, while deepening her understanding of Irish history, culture, and the history of childhood.

“When I was a kid was that I used to tell people that when I grew up, I wanted to be Wonder Woman because I loved the show from the 1970s. I also used to have this small red, plastic table that I would eat snacks at while watching television. from. My mom tells me that I would pick that table up over my head and walk around the house telling my parents and much older brothers that I was in fact Wonder Woman. I got a Wonder Woman costume for Christmas one year, and it was my prized possession for quite a while.”

Shanika Winters, Art, craft, play facilitator

I was born in Sri Lanka and then moved to the UK just as I was about to turn 2 years old.  I grew up moving around the UK having lived in Newcastle, Aberdeen, Lancashire and then Cambridgeshire. As a young child I wanted to be an Artist, then a hairdresser and finally a vet.  I am lucky in that I am fulfilling my childhood wishes. I trained to be a veterinary surgeon at Cambridge university and practiced for 17 years. I had the pleasure of teaching and training veterinary nurses. I was soon bitten by the teaching bug. After starting my own family I started volunteering in preschools, with young adults and also at primary schools.  I loved helping other to learn, from sign language, English, Maths, Crafts, Pottery through to gardening. My family relocated to County Louth Ireland in 2017, once moving to Ireland I studied to become an early childhood practitioner as well as a special needs assistant.  I have mostly worked on a voluntary basis. My main focus is raising my family, looking after my animals and making the most from our garden.  I am though at heart and always have been an artist/craftsperson. I use my spare time to be creative and help others learn new creative skills.

“This is a photo of me aged 4 just before I started school In Scotland. Where my life long love of learning began.” 

Sinead Lynch, Art, craft, play facilitator

Sinead Lynch is a puppeteer and textile artist from Co Wexford. Prior to taking the dive into puppetry, she was an award-winning costume maker and performer, ran arts workshops for children and worked on the board of several fan conventions in Ireland and abroad. Currently she is the secretary for Irish Unima, the organisation for the promotion of puppetry, and is facilitating a puppet festival in the summer at the Lexicon in Dun Laoghaire.

“I’m a very sentimental person, I used to get upset if anyone kicked my teddies around or I accidentally left them outside because I was worried they’d be hurt or cold. When I was very young, definitely pre-school age, I was outside in my grandparent’s back garden with their dog, a gorgeous collie that looked straight out of the ‘Lassie’ films. I don’t know exactly what happened but the dog attacked me. Probably it was a warning nip because I didn’t get badly hurt but the dog was the same size as me so naturally it was a bit scary! You would have expected any child to be scared of dogs after that, but I got it into my little head that I’d done something wrong to make the dog angry, and I was determined to make the dog my friend. So every day after school I stopped by my grandparent’s house and gave the dog what was left in my lunchbox. I kept this up for years, and I never saw the dog actually eat the scraps, but maybe she was just happy for the company because it worked! By the time I was able to walk her on a lead, she was still nearly as tall as I was.”

Léa Blanchard, Cultural Policy and Arts Management

Léa is an aspiring writer and a textile artist with a deep rooted interest in all aspects of culture; the thing that brings people together, makes space for sharing and learning, for expressing and exploring. Born to a French father and an Irish mother in Toulouse, France, and raised all over different boroughs of Dublin, Léa has had a life-long affinity towards cultural exchange, language, and the differences between people that can only enrich our environments. Alumna of IADT with an honours degree in Visual Arts and a Diploma from UCD in Cultural Policy and Arts Management, Léa has worked in a variety of cultural contexts that allowed her to support artist and public alike to navigate the cultural sector through social engagement and collaboration. She has worked for Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts in research and project coordination capacity, and is currently working freelance in order to fulfill her desire to publish a research paper on the language of the art world and its responsibility to engage with the general public in a more engaging and accessible manner.
Léa volunteers with vulnerable children and adults at Lakers recreational centre in Bray, has started a writing group, and is a theatre kid through-and-through.

“I see little Léa, six years old and sitting on the stairs of her Home, holding her teddy bear tight with thumb firmly affixed between her teeth. Overlooking the living room, the familiar furniture is gone, and there’s a distinct smell of cleaning product mingling with that funny hot musky smell the vacuum cleaner blew when in use. I lean my little head against the wall, remembering when mum had painted it herself, and there in front of me are the hand prints squished into the long-dried pinkish paint; Mum, Dad, Me, and the tiniest one being my baby brothers’. This house had so far been my whole world. I don’t understand why we’re leaving, the grown-ups just started packing things up as far as I can tell. I don’t understand terms like “forever” or the true implication of “goodbye,” but I do feel a sadness overwhelm
me. This staircase feels important to me; It represents distinct transitions between place and time, between bedroom and living room, bed time and breakfast time, needing to run up to pee and needing to run down to greet someone at the door; on these stairs I transitioned from crawling up them like a baby to jumping down them like a big girl. I didn’t yet understand the concept of a ‘first’ Home, because so far it had been my ‘only’ Home. But over the next twenty-plus years, it will be twenty-plus Homes ago. I’m all grown up now, and I see little Léa on that staircase, with her big blue eyes welling up with confusion and sadness. I realise now what a strong little girl she is, cause while in that moment her sense of ‘Home’ was being lost, she would forever-more have an enormous capacity of making Home wherever she is.”

Sonia Sartor, Dante to Joyce project – Italy

I was born in the small town of Feltre, northern Italy. I graduated in history from Trento university and my research interests are currently focused on children’s literature. I lived in Ireland for one year and worked as an au pair with two lovely children, and today, I’m an english language educator in a bilingual school and a history educator for the First World War memorial in Montebelluna. I am thrilled to work as I do with children, and help give them new tools for navigating through life.

As a child I used to spend most of my time with my grandparents: I considered myself extremely lucky to still have them in my life. The picture above was taken in their house when I was three years old.  

G. M. Ausilia Venturella, Dante to Joyce project – Sicily

I was born in Switzerland, where I spent my early childhood and now I live in
Italy, precisely in Agrigento in Sicily. My degrees are in classical Studies and degree in Law. I’m married, with two children: Giulia and Antonio.
I practiced as a freelance lawyer and have taught at all school levels. I
currently teach at the Tortorelle kindergarten school, IC Quasimodo in
Agrigento. I deal with children’s literature, and teaching art workshops for
children at the Fam Gallery in Agrigento.

At the age of four, I was often in hospital for health problems. One day to
bring back my mother, who had been sent away by the nurse, I bit myself saying
that the nurse had bitten me! In short, I was a little pest, afraid of being alone in the hospital…luckily I had lots of books to keep me company and colours for drawing.

Strategy Team

Sorcha Kavanagh, Strategy Team Lead. See Board members.

Ruthanne Baxter

A native of County Fermanagh, Ruthanne Baxter, started her heritage career, over twenty years ago, as a Tour Guide for the National Trust properties, Florence Court House and Castlecoole. Ruthanne is currently Civic Engagement Manager for the University of Edinburgh Heritage Collections and creator of Prescribe Culture, a heritage-based non-clinical initiative for health, social care and wellbeing, which won the Tech4Good Arts & Culture Award 2021. Prior to taking up her role at the University, she was Commercial and Visitor Services Manager for Edinburgh Museums & Galleries, City of Edinburgh Council.

Ruthanne has strong experience in heritage tourism and business development and has provided the ‘Business of Heritage’ training for remote and rurally located organisations on behalf of Museums Galleries Scotland. 

More recently, Ruthanne has been pioneering non-clinical heritage-based health initiatives and is a Co-Investigator on heritage health research projects such as, Prescribe Heritage Highland, in partnership with the University of Highland and Islands School of Rural Health, and the TOUS study with Nuffield Dept. of Primary Health Care Sciences at Oxford University. She is Chair of the Social Prescribing on Campus International Network, SPOC Global, has co-authored a Student Mental Health Literacy course, with Prof Anne Duffy, at Queen’s University, Canada, and provides consultancy on developing heritage-based early interventions and social prescribing nationally and internationally. 

I had the joy and privilege of being brought up in a multigenerational household. My Granda Aiken was very fond of Ceili music and, in the evenings when he would return from ‘ceilis’ with his friends, he’d put RTE radio on and enjoy the traditional music programme. We had a piano in the living room and I would try and play by ear, some of the tunes I had heard, so Granda instructed I should have piano lessons. My 5th birthday present was starting piano, I ended up studying music at university, running my own School of Piano and still play the organ and piano in my local church. At the age of 5, Ruthanne had the excitement of being a flower girl for her wonderful neighbour, Barbara. The highlight of the day for her was getting to waltz, for the first time, on her father’s feet.

Vacancies

Marketing Team

We are currently recruiting for a Social Media volunteer/s. If you can help please do get in contact with us at info@museumofchildhood.ie

Website

We are currently recruiting for a volunteer website graphic designer and administrator. Please contact info@museumofchildhood.ie