Helena Buffery

Helena Buffery is a Senior Lecturer at University College Cork (UCC), specializing in Translation Studies, Hispanic Theatre, and Catalan Studies. She joined UCC in 2010 after a career at the University of Birmingham, where she earned her PhD in 1997. As Head of Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies (SPLAS), she leads academic and administrative initiatives within the College of Arts, Celtic Studies, and Social Sciences (CACSSS).

Her research focuses on translation of canonical and minority texts, Catalan cultural identity, and the performance of exile narratives. Notable projects include organizing conferences like 'Radical Translations/Translating the Radical' (2023) and publishing works such as Historical Dictionary of the Catalans (2011) and translations of Maria-Mercè Marçal’s The Passion according to Renée Vivien (2020). She has secured significant funding, including €172,266 from the Irish Research Council for a Caroline Fellowship (2019–2021).

Buffery’s awards include the 2024 Research Supervisor of the Year and the 2019 Joan Coromines Visiting Chair. Her recent work explores intergenerational trauma in performance, transnational translation practices, and the role of memory in Iberian cultural landscapes. She actively collaborates with institutions like the Anglo-Catalan Society and the Translation Studies Network of Ireland.