Mary O'Neill

Dr. Mary O'Neill serves as Associate Head (Education) and Programme Leader for Fine Art at De Montfort University's School of Arts, Design and Architecture within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities. Holding an AHRC-funded PhD in Ephemeral Art: Mourning and Loss from Loughborough University (2007), she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy with extensive leadership in art education and research.

Her academic journey includes significant professional development through prestigious awards including the AHRC Doctoral Award (2003) and Higher Education Academy Teaching Fellowship (2008). Her educational background culminated in a PhD focused on the intersection of ephemeral art and concepts of mortality, establishing the foundation for her ongoing research trajectory.

Dr. O'Neill's research is fundamentally interdisciplinary, exploring how contemporary artworks engage with significant cultural issues. Initially focused on ephemeral art and concepts of mortality and immortality, her work has evolved to investigate intangible culture, particularly the lost skills embodied in museum objects. Her current project, 'Re-creative Practice: Learning from the Past,' examines how historical objects can inform contemporary artistic practice. She identifies key research areas including Ephemeral Practice, Collaborative Practice, Art and Society, Art Activism, Science Art, and Re-creative Practice. Her work bridges theoretical and practical approaches, connecting art practice with broader social, ethical, and cultural concerns through both academic texts and creative fiction.

Analysis of her publication record reveals consistent engagement with themes of memory, loss, and artistic practice, with recent work showing increasing focus on art education methodologies, collaborative approaches, and the application of historical craft knowledge to contemporary practice. She has produced significant interdisciplinary work connecting art with healthcare, social policy, and cultural heritage, demonstrating the expanding scope of her research interests.

Dr. O'Neill has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout her distinguished career:

• 2023 HEIF Award for the Artefacts Live project
• 2022 Academic Innovation Project Award
• 2015 Writer in Residence at Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Glasgow
• 2014 and 2012 Artist in Residence positions at Gray Zone and Grace Exhibition Center
• 2008 Higher Education Academy Teaching Fellowship
• 2003 AHRC Doctoral Award

Her career has been marked by prestigious international residencies including at Banff Centre for Media and Visual Arts (1997), Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium (1990), and House of Creativity, Chelyuskinskii, Moscow (1989).

As an educator and mentor, Dr. O'Neill supervises PhD students including Rebecca Walker (researching 'Henry Moore: The Shape of Trauma') and Talvir Kaur. She has presented on collaborative teaching approaches internationally, notably 'A year of living dangerously: Collaborating with undergraduate students' at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore (2010). Her leadership extends to directing the 'Artefacts Live' project (2022-2023), a HEIF-funded collaboration between DMU and The Museum of Leathercraft, Northampton, which resulted in the documentary 'The Museum of Leathercraft – Ordinary Objects: Extraordinary Stories' produced with filmmaker Nik Trzcinowicz.

Dr. O'Neill leads the Practice Based Research group within the Institute of Art and Design. She actively contributes to academic discourse through international conference presentations, recently speaking at 'Psychogeography, How did we get here?' panel at Leicester Gallery (2024) and 'Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Derelict. The Things We Have Lost' at the Narratives of Water conference in Torino (2024). Her teaching encompasses Fine Art Studio Practice, Critical Theory, Art History, and Professional Practice across multiple undergraduate and postgraduate courses.