Featured


Courses

SETU Waterford offers a broad range of academic programmes from levels 6 to 10 on the national framework of qualifications across Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Computing.

Courses Landing page

Study at SETU Waterford

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

Study at SETU Waterford landing Page

Students

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

Students Landing Page

Schools

SETU Waterford offers a broad range of academic programmes from levels 6 to 10 on the national framework of qualifications across Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Science and Computing.

Schools Landing Page

International

The Office for International Relations co-ordinates the admission, administration and support for international students throughout the course of their studies at SETU Waterford.

International Landing Page

Research

SETU Waterfordis recognised as the leading research performer in the institute of technology sector with research activities that are internationally benchmarked, strategic, and economically relevant. Find out about the amazing multi disciplinary research under way

Research Landing Page

About

Discover the routes into studying at SETU Waterford for school leavers, adult learners, further education students, graduates and people who have already started studies elsewhere as well as options for those interested in online courses.

About Landing Page

News

Uncover the research discoveries, student and staff achievements, human stories, community spirit, global links and external engagement news at SETU Waterford

News Landing Page

Events

From virtual events to conferences, talks, public lectures and happenings in on-campus venues SETU Waterford is a hub of activity. Stay up to date with our calendar of upcoming events.

Events Landing Page

Dr. Moira  Sweeney BA (HONS), MA, PhD

Title:

Course Leader, Higher Diploma in Television and Media Production | Portais Film Supervisor

School/ Department:

School of Humanities - Arts - Cork Road campus

Room Name/ Num:

NEMETON TV, AN RINN

Campus:

College Street campus

My Blog/Website:

Click Here to View

arrow-down

My Biography

I am a filmmaker, broadcaster, researcher and educator. My documentaries blend observational and participatory modes of storytelling and have been screened on RTÉ, BBC, TG4 and Channel 4, at the London, Rotterdam, Melbourne, Berlin, Dublin and Edinburgh film festivals and in the Yokohama Museum (2016), the Tate Modern (2017), the Lab Gallery, Dublin (2017) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington (2018). My work has been nominated for Best Documentary at Boston Irish Film Festival, the Radharc Awards, the Irish Film and Television Academy Awards and most recently for a Business to Arts Special Recognition Award for Starboard Home (RTÉ, 2019). Mná na bPíob (TG4, 2021) premiered at DOCS Ireland and is available on the TG4 Player. "What distinguishes Mná na bPíob from many other traditional documentaries is that it brings mostly unfamiliar figures to light" (Journal of Music, 2021). 

I am currently the Film Supervisor for Portalis, a SETU School of Humanities led transdisciplinary pilot project mapping the story of the first human journey between Ireland and Wales dating back to the Mesolithic period. It builds on the work of WIT's Creadan research project, led by Joy Rooney and for which I directed Creadan: A Sense of Place (2021). 

My recent research on transformations in working life in Dublin Port has been presented at Media and The City, Milan (2012), the Geographers Conference of Ireland (2014, 2016, 2018), the Royal Geographic Society International Conference, London (2016) and UCD’s Women and The Sea Symposium (2016). The research has been published in Media & The City: Urbanism, Technology and Communication (2013) and Mind the Gap: Working papers on practice based doctoral research in the creative arts and media (Bell 2016).  I was invited to contribute aspects of the research to The Geographical Turn (Kearns 2015), a forum in which geographers and artists are brought together to learn from their separate explorations of the common themes of space, place and environment. A welcome and insightful case study of my lens-based ethnographic research on Dublin’s port can be found in Research in the Creative and Media Arts: Challenging Practice (Bell 2019).

I hold a BA (Honors) in Fine Art from the University of Northumbria and an MA in Television Drama at Goldsmiths University, London where my film The Gift was awarded a Fuji Film Script Scholarship. I received a Fiosraigh Doctoral Scholarship from Technological University Dublin to research my thesis Keepers of the Port: Visualising Place and Identity in a Dublin Dock Community.

Research

 Current Research

2022-23   Film Supervisor for Portalis, a SETU School of Humanities led transdisciplinary pilot project exploring the earliest connections between Ireland and Wales. Portalis maps the story of the first human journey between Ireland and Wales dating back to the Mesolithic period. It builds on the work of WIT's Creadan research project, led by Joy Rooney and for which I directed Creadan: A Sense of Place (2021). 

2019   'Keepers of the Port: Visualising Place and Identity in a Dublin Dock Community', Doctoral Thesis, Technological Uniiversity Dublin.

2016  ‘Dublin Docks: Visualising Changing Identities, Communities and Labour Practices’, in Bell, D. (ed), Mind the Gap: Working Papers on Practice Based Doctoral Research in the Creative Arts and Media. Distillers Press, National College of Art and Design: Dublin.

2015  ‘Dublin Docks: Visualising Changing Identities, Communities and Labour Practices’ in The Geographical Turn, Kearnes, G. (ed.) [online] Available at: https://geographicalturn.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/guest-blog-3-moira-sweeney-dublin-docks-visualising-changing-identities-communities-and-labour-practices/[Accessed 10 December 2018].

2013  ‘Space and the Geographical Imagination on the Dublin Docklands’, in Giaccardi, C, Tosni, S. and  Tarantino, M. (eds), Media and The City: Urbanism, Technology and Communication, Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle upon Tyne.

2012        ‘Space and the Geographical Imagination on the Dublin Docklands'  Media & The City, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan:                                                                                      http://www.academia.edu/1428785/ECREA_Media_and_The_City_TWG_Paper     

Teaching

2016 - Present:        Course Leader, Higher Diploma in Television and Media Production,

                                  School of Humanities, SETU 

2006 - 2016:             Lecturer, Higher Diploma  in Television Production, School of  

                                  Humanities, SETU 

   

Guest Lecturer

2018                           BA Geography, Maynooth University

2016:                          MA in Social Practice and the Creative Environment (MA SPACE),          

                                    Limerick Institute of Technology

1996-99                       Performing Arts Centre, Dublin

1996                            Trinity Arts Club, Trinity College, Dublin

1990                            North Staffordshire University

                                    Birbeck University of London

                                    Trondheim Art Academy, Norway

Professional

Key Broadcast and Film Credits

2024           Laochra Gael, Ciara Gaynor

2023

2021           Mná na bPíob, Tyrone Productions for TG4                      Director

2021           Creadon: A Sense of Place, Nemeton TV and WIT           Director/Producer

2020           Longings with Lynnes Sachs                                             Writer

2020           The Tenuous We with the Still | Moving Collective            Co-director

2019           Starboard Home, Spirit Level/Southpaw for RTÉ              Director/Producer

2017           Keepers of the Port, Spirit Level, Irish Film Institute          Director/Producer

2017           Tracks and Trails, Sherwin Media for RTÉ                         Director

2016           Cleas Act, Tyrone Productions, RTÉ for TG4                     Director/Producer

2015/17      Logainm,  Nemeton for TG4                                               Director

2014           Rhythms of a Port, Spirit Level Productions                       Director/Producer

2013           Opry an Iúir, Big Mountain, BBC NI/ TG4                            Series Producer

2013           Aniar Aduaidh,  Independent Pictures, RTÉ                        Director          

2012           The Road Back, Spirit Level Productions,                           Director/Producer

2005-10      Laochra Gael, Nemeton for TG4                                         Director

2009           Teens in The Wild, Firebrand for RTÉ                                 Director

2009           Cósta Uí Catháin, Independent Picturess for TG4               Director

2008           Imeall Geal, Big Mountain for BBC                                       Series Producer

2007           Feud, Independent Pictures for RTÉ                                    Director

2006           Cártaí Poist, Adare for TG4                                                   Producer/Director

2003-06      An Tuath Nua, Independent Pics for RTÉ                              Director

2001-02      Léargas,RTÉ                                                                          Producer/Director

1999-2001  Spórtiris, RTÉ                                                                         Producer/Director

1996-99      Cúrsaí Ealaíne, RTÉ                                                               Producer/Director

1994           Coming Home, Spirit Level for Channel Four                         Producer/Director

1990           Imaginary, Spirit Level, ZDF TV                                              Producer/Director

 

Distinctions, Awards, Commissions 

2021           Mná na bPíob, HD Dcumentary Film, Premiere, Docs Ireland

2019           Starboard Home, HD Documentary Film, Premiere, TradFest

                   Business to Arts Judges’ Special Recognition Award for Portfolio of Investment:

2018           Keepers of the Port, Nominee Best Documentary Kerry Film Festival

2018           Dublin Port Company Commission for Starboard Home, Documentary Film

2012-14      Fiosraigh PhD Scholarship: Dublin Institute of Technology

2012            Dublin City Council/Tall Ships Dublin 2012:

                    Commission for Audio Visual Installation Stevedoring Stories

2008            Crann Beatha, Solo Touring Photographic Exhibition 

                    Tree Council Of Ireland and OPW

2009            Teens in the Wild:Nomination for TV Now Awards

2004             Laochra Gael: Shortlist Best Documentary - Boston Irish Film Festival,

                     Nomination for Irish Film and Television -Best Sports Documentary

2004             Léargas, Na Caitlicigh is Fearr: Radharc Best Documentary Nominee

2003             Léargas: Irish Film & TV Academy, Best Documentary Nomination

2000             Cúrsaí Ealaíne: Irish Film & TV Academy, Best Documentary Nominee

2005             TG4 Commission for Oirialla                           

2000             Arts Council of Ireland/Tinahely Courthouse Centre:

                      Solo Photographic Show - Gold and Blue

2000              Wicklow County Council Arts Fund:

                      Photographic Series – Communion

1996              Arts Council of Ireland/ Arts Council of Northern Ireland:                                                            

                       Tyrone Guthrie Centre – Artist Residency

1995               Banff Centre For the Arts, Canada:

                       Re-Telling Tales-Artist Residency

1995                Fuji Film Production Award for The Gift

1994                Channel Four Artist Film Commission - Coming Home  

1991                North West Arts (England): West Africa

1990                Arts Council Of England: Artist Film Award -Coming Home

1990                Trondheim College of Art, Norway- Artist Residency

1990                British Council Travel Awards: Philippines, Brazil, Norway, USA,  

                        France, Switzerland, Norway

1990                Imaginary: Cork Film Festival – Certificate of Merit 

1989                Imaginary: Retina Film Forum, Hungary - Honorary Screening 

1989                British Council Travel Award: Hungary

1988                British Council Travel Award: Yugoslavia                        

1987                British Council Travel Award: Hungary

1988                Arts Council Of England: Artist Film Award for Imaginary

1987                Arts Council Of England: Artist Film Award for Message from Budapest

 

Solo Photographic, Film Exhibitions and Installations

2017               Keepers of the Port, port | river | city series, Irish Film Institute

                        https://vimeo.com/292588093

2014                Rhythms of a Port, Film Installation, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin

                        PhotoIreland 2014 and Riverfest

                        http://2014.photoireland.org/program/moira-sweeney/

                        http://www.irishtimes.com/news/video?vid=1.1851488

2012                Stevedoring Stories, Film Installation,Georges Dock, Dublin

                        Tall Ships Races 2012 and Photo Ireland 2012.   

                         http://2012.photoireland.org/program/stevedoring-stories/

                         http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0823/1224322748689.html

2008                 Crann Beatha Photographic Series:

                         Airfield Trust, Dundrum; Enfo, Dublin; Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin 

                        JFK Arboretum, Wexford; Leixlip Library, Co Kildare

2000                Gold and Blue  Photographic Series:

                        Signal Arts Centre, Bray; Ardowen Centre, Enniskillen; Clotworthy Art Centre,

                        Antrim; Tinahely Courthouse Centre, Co Wicklow

1999                Lúnasa Photographic Series: Brownes, Sandymount; Escape, Bray

                        Bray Arts Club, Bray

1995                Film Retrospective: Banff Centre For the Arts, Canada

1988                Film Retrospective: Zagreb Center Za Film and Belgrade Studenski Center

1985                Moira Sweeney Films: Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle Upon Tyne

 

Public Collections 

                            Maynooth University, Geography Department

                            University College Dublin, Scholl of English, Drama and Film

                            Arsenal Cinema , Berlin

                            Yokohama Museum, Japan

                            Institute of Contemporary Art, London

                            San Francisco Canyon

                            Photographs held in private collections in England, Ireland, France, USA

 

Published Photographs

2003-2004                   Stinging Fly, Feasta, the sHop 

2000-2002                   Freacneac Mearcair & Scuais 

1984-85                       Undercut,  Iron


Education

2018           PhD in Cultural Theory & Social Documentary Practice, Dublin Institute of 

                    Technology

1995            MA TV Drama, Upper Second Class Honors Goldsmiths University of London

1986            BA Honors Fine Art, Northumbria University

Conferences and Festivals

2023             Urban Legacies and Futures, Sociology Conference of Ireland       

2021             Mná na bPíob, Docs Ireland, Belfast

2021             Creadan: A Sense of Place as part of Creadan - a new understanding of Ireland's       Ancient South East

2019             Starboard Home, TradFest, Iirsh Film Institute 

2018             Keepers of the Port, The Lab Gallery, Dublin

2018              Art and Geography, Geographers Conference of Ireland, Maynooth University

2016             Nexus Thinking, Royal Geographic Society International Conference, London

2015              Women and The Sea, Dun Laoghaire Maritime Museum: https://soundcloud.com/ucd-humanities/panel-5-arts-of-the-sea-women-and-the-sea?in=ucd-humanities/sets/latest-podcasts

2015              Art and Geography, Geographers Conference of Ireland, Queens University

2013             Stevedoring Stories: A Contemporary Symphonic Experience: 

                      MeCCSA, University of Ulster, Derry 

2013              Art and Geography, Geographers Conference of Ireland, Galway University

2012              Space and the Geographical Imagination on Dublin’s Docklands

                      Media & The City, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan:           

                       http://www.academia.edu/1428785/ECREA_Media_and_The_City_TWG_Paper

2004                Boston Irish Film Festival

2003                First Wicklow Open, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray

2002                Christmas Crackers - Signal Art Gallery, Bray

                        ART+action,  Rubicon Gallery, Dublin

2000                Glendalough Visitors Centre, Bray Arts Club

1996                L’Alternativa, Barcelona 

1994                Galway Film Festival; British Short Film Festival

1990-92           ICA, London; Yokohama Museum, Japan; Berlin Film Festival, Manila Super

                         8 Film Festival;  Melbourne Film Festival; Bonn Experi; San Francisco Art

                         Institute Cinematheque; Hallwalls Art Centre, Buffalo; Millennium, New

                         York; Tokyo Image Forum; Lightcone Paris; Viper, Lucerne; Osnabruck;

                         Edinburgh Film Festival; Paris Rencontres

1989                International Experimental Film Congress, Toronto

                        World Tour: Erotic Films by Young European Women

1988                Oberhausen Film Festival;  British Art Show, Vienna

                        Madrid Experimental Film Festival          

1987                London Film Festival;  British Avant Garde- Musarnak Museum, Budapest

1986                Light Years, London Filmmakers Coop

                        Off The Map, Chisenhale Gallery, London

                        Feminale, Germany,   Tokyo Image Forum, Japan

1985                 Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, York College of Art Foyer Gallery,

                         Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic

1984                 Sheffield Expanded Media Show;  Leicester Super 8 Festival; 

                         The Basement, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Publications

List of Publications  

2023   'Early Irish settlement on the Waterford Estuary: Visualising our past, informing our future' in Hayes, R., Flynn, S. (eds), Urban Planning for the City of the Future,  Emerald Publishing Limited

2019   'Keepers of the Port: Visualising Place and Identity in a Dublin Dock Community', Technological University Dublin.

2016  ‘Dublin Docks: Visualising Changing Identities, Communities and Labour Practices’, in Bell, D. (ed), Mind the Gap: Working Papers on Practice Based Doctoral Research in the Creative Arts and Media. Distillers Press, National College of Art and Design: Dublin.

2015  ‘Dublin Docks: Visualising Changing Identities, Communities and Labour Practices’ in The Geographical Turn, Kearnes, G. (ed.) [online] Available at: https://geographicalturn.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/guest-blog-3-moira-sweeney-dublin-docks-visualising-changing-identities-communities-and-labour-practices/[Accessed 10 December 2018].

2013  ‘Space and the Geographical Imagination on the Dublin Docklands’, in Giaccardi, C, Tosni, S. and  Tarantino, M. (eds), Media and The City: Urbanism, Technology and Communication, Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle upon Tyne.

2012        ‘Space and the Geographical Imagination on the Dublin Docklands'  Media & The City, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan:                                                                                      http://www.academia.edu/1428785/ECREA_Media_and_The_City_TWG_Paper        

2007       ‘A Tribute to Michael Davitt', Cork Literary Review, Vol. XII                                    

2005      ‘From Lahas to Riverstown', the sHop, Issue 19                                                     

 2002   ‘Shirin Neshat at IMMA', Bray Arts Journal, Jan 2002                                             

1990 – 2000  ‘Three Poems', Cúirt Literary Journal,

1996   ‘Light Years Ahead - Contemporary Avant Garde Film', The Film and Video Umbrella,

Arts Council/BFI, Autumn

1990   ‘Signs of the Times - Contemporary British Film & Video Art', Undercut, Issue 19, Autumn, pp. 36-40  

1990  ‘Signs of the Times - Contemporary British Film & Video Art ICA Biennial of British Film and Video Art 

1990 ‘Towards a New Erotica: Cross Currents in Culture', Variant, Issue 7, p.50, 1990            

1987  ‘An Eye for Ireland’ Independent Irish Film & Media, Jan, Issue 73, pp 20 1988

 

Selected Reviews

Bell, B. (2019)  Case study of research approach: 'Artistic Reseach and the human Sciences: staging Anthropology' In Creative and Media Arts: Challenging Practicer (Desmond Bell, 2019)

Bell, D. (2019) ‘Lens-based ethnography: documenting Dublin’s docklands (case study)’ in Research in the Creative and Media Arts: Challenging Practice, Routledge: Abingdon, England.

Tipton, G. (2012) Life on the Water in The Irish Times, [online]. Available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/life-on-the-water-1.541880

2009                            Teens in the Wild, Irish Times, Irish Independent

2006                            Cartaí Poist, Foinnse

2003                            An Tuath Nua,  Irish Times

2003/2004                   Laochra Gael, Irish Times, Foinnse

2002                            ‘Sé Seo m’Oileán,  Irish Times, Foinnse, Sunday Times, 

                                    Sunday Independent 

2002                            I  Dream of Jeannie,  Sunday Tribune

2001                            An Fhírinne Faoi Cheilt,  Sunday Times  

2000                            Lúnasa Photographic Exhibition, RTÉ Guide

1999                            Cúrsaí Ealaíne,  RTÉ , Sunday Business Post

1998                            Safe Harvest,   RTÉ, Sunday Tribune

1997                            Dorothy Cross on Cúrsaí Ealaíne, Sunday Business Post

1994                            Coming Home,  Time Out, The Guardian, Film Ireland

1990                            Imaginary, San Francisco Bay Reader, Variant, Village Voice, City Limits,

                                    Performance, Undercut, Art Monthly, Time Out, ICA Biennial

1987-90                       Hide and Seek, Art Monthly, Independent Media, Rote, Kusse, Paris Rencontres

1990                            Looking For the Moon, Paris Rencontres, San Francisco Bay Reader