Kate McCarthy

Kate McCarthy is a Lecturer in Drama at SETU (Waterford Institute of Technology), specializing in theatre studies, gender studies, and arts education. She holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin and teaches undergraduate modules in Theatre Studies and Visual Art. Her research focuses on radical contemporary performance practices, the work of female playwrights like Teresa Deevy, and Waterford’s Magdalene Laundry and Industrial School history.

Education: PhD in Theatre Studies (Trinity College Dublin, 2019); MA in Drama and Theatre Studies (University College Cork, 2005); BA in Drama, Theatre, and English (University College Cork, 2004).

Research Interests:

• Arts-based methodologies
• Gendered narratives in performance
• Community engagement projects
• Historical memory and transitional justice
• Practice-led research

Key Projects:

• Lyrical Bodies (funded by SETU’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Fund, investigating Teresa Deevy’s ballet Possession)
• The Waterford Memories Project (oral histories of the Magdalene Laundry)
• Generation Climate Change (youth-focused climate pedagogy with Curious State Theatre)

Awards: 2021 WIT Early Career Researcher Award, 2021 National Forum Teaching Hero Award, and 2016 Teaching Excellence Award (SETU).

External Roles: External Examiner at University College Cork, University of Limerick, and Munster Technological University; Policy and Advocacy Member of the Irish Society for Theatre Research (2023–2026).