Dr Christa De Brun

Dr Christa de Brún is skilled in lecturing, curriculum development, and education. She was a recipient of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning Teaching Hero Award in 2020 and nominated for the SETU Teaching Excellence Awards 2021.

Christa's teaching draws on the pedagogical potential of modern literature to foster critical consciousness in third level education and she is a certified UDL badge facilitator and Narrative 4 story exchange facilitator. Christa teaches on the following modules: Introduction to Poetry, Introduction to Fiction,  Nineteenth Century Literature, Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, Modern Drama and The Modern Novel. She is also the First Year English coordinator and has completed DCP training, unconscious bias training, active bystander intervention training and ZSA suicide training to enable her to support students' wellbeing on their learning journey. She holds a Certificate in Equality, Diversion and Inclusion (CIRDAS) and a Certificate in Online Safety and Awareness in Youth Work (NYCI).

Christa supervises dissertations in the field of Modern Literature and is an examiner for The Undergraduate Awards, the world’s leading undergraduate awards programme. She is also a placement tutor on the Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching in Further Education where she supports and mentors student teachers and evaluates their practice while on placement in further education. 

Dr Christa de Brún's research focuses on contemporary Irish writers, critical consciousness and education. She is the co-chair of the PLACE research group. An interest in, and active pursuit of, social justice, equality, and accessibility coheres researchers within PLACE as does a determination to pursue those interests through a variety of methodologies that prioritise aesthetic ways of knowing. Recent academic publications include Pastoral and Anti-Pastoral: Exploring the Representation of City and the Village in Literature (2023), A Critical Approach to Overcoming Resistance to Academic Writing and Building Confidence in Third Level Students (2023), and  a chapter forthcoming in Teresa Deevy: Critical Perspectives (2024). 

Christa is currently working on a national research project 'Diversifying the Curriculum' with funding awarded by the NTUTORR programme. The project is  designed to transform learning, teaching and assessment by focusing on transforming the student experience and developing the capabilities of all staff to address a sustainable pedagogical and learning environment with a critical focus on equality, diversity and inclusion.

In 2021, Christa was awarded funding from the National Forum for Teaching and Learning to host a seminar entitled Teaching Critical Thinking through Literature co-presented with award winning poet Annemarie Ni Churreáin. In 2022, she secured funding from the Department of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to bring 'Boxing Day' by William Keohane to SETU, a narrative account of a year of change, apprehension, and grief and a glimpse into the experience of gender transition. In 2022, Christa secured STAF funding to foster student integration on the BA English and Theatre Studies programme and in 2023, she was awarded funding through SATLE (Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement) to host a seminar on Poetry and Climate Consciousness facilitated by award winning poet John W. Sexton.

Dr Christa de Brún is also a poet. Her poetry was shortlisted for the Drawn to the Light Press Poetry Competition 2024, the Roscommon Poetry Prize at the Strokestown International Festival 2021 and the Anthology Poetry Prize 2020. She was awarded an Arts Council  Artist Bursary Award in 2023 and 2024. Christa was most recently published in Drawn to the Light Press (2024), Tyger Tyger Magazine (2024), Literature Today (2023), The Waxed Lemon (2022) and the anthologies New Voices (2024) Cathal Buí Selected Poems (2022) and  Addictions (2021). Recent poetry recitals include the  RTE All Ireland Drama Fringe Festival 2024, the Dennis O'Driscoll Poetry Festival 2023 and the Strokestown Poetry Festival May 2022.  Her most recent residency was at the Tryone Guthrie Centre in Co. Monaghan, with kind support from the Arts Council.

Dr Christa de Brún is the co-founder of the 'Soundings' Waterford Poetry Festival, a cross community collaboration between SETU and Christ Church Cathedral. The festival centres on the seminal text 'Soundings' which has passed through the hands of hundreds of thousands of students and is thus the perfect text to foster intergenerational dialogue and collaboration: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/0428/1294898-poetry-ireland/

In 2024, Christa worked with the award-winning CTEL team in SETU Waterford to create a digital badge in Critical Thinking. She was also successful in securing Poetry Ireland funding to bring Poetry Ireland poet-in-residence Anne Tannam to SETU to host a poetry workshop for students and poets in the wider community.

In 2023, Christa de Brún was one of five poets commissioned to respond to Threading the Táin, an inter-county visual arts project showcasing five tapestries created in celebration of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Funded by Creative Ireland, each tapestry depicts scenes from the ancient epic and is accompanied by a poetic response: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/0422/1293766-tain-centre-tapestry/.

In 2022, Christa was commisioned to write an ekphrastic poem in response to Vincent Devine's 'Portrait of Vicky Phelan' which was hosted by SETU as part of International Women's Day 2022: https://www.wit.ie/news/news/podcast-the-nerve-vincent-devine-painter-of-the-vicky-phelan-triptych. Christa was also commissioned in 2022 to respond to one of the pieces of artwork on display in the Waterford Gallery of Art as part of Ekphrasis 22: https://waterfordarts.com/ekphrasis-project-2022/.

In 2022, Christa worked with the Alzheimers Society of Ireland  to develop a literary hub for people living with dementia. Research has proven that creative arts therapy can  engage attention, provide pleasure and may improve symptoms associated with dementia such as anxiety and apathy. Created pieces of art can also be helpful in gaining an understanding as to how the person with dementia is feeling, allowing people with dementia an outlet that they may not otherwise have. Participatory arts can help support relationships between the person with dementia and their carer. It can also foster a better sense of community.The poetry and story spaces feature some of Ireland's leading poets and writers reading from their work, including Claire Keegan, Annemarie Ni Churreáin, Joseph O'Connor, Catherine Anne Cullen, Anne Tannam, Mary O'Donnell and Enda Wyley.

Dr Christa de Brún has developed  a number of links with industry and the wider community. As part of the SETU English and Theatre Studies team, Christa has collaborated with Waterford Libraries to foster connections with the wider community. In 2021, she  participated in the creation and delivery of a series of lunchtime lectures for a community audience She also acted as principal judge for the Waterford Region in the Europe Direct Soapbox Competition 2021. Christa is a reviewer for Children's Books Ireland and the AISHE journal. She is also a social media editor for The Ekphrastic Review.

The SETU English and Theatre Studies team is currently collaborating with the Theatre Royal on a project to to create a civic and social space for the people of Waterford. SETU have a number of projects ongoing with the Theatre Royal. In 2021, Christa co-ordinated the development of a series of Shakespeare study guides for second level students which feature critical essays from the Department of English and Theatre Studies in collaboration with the Theatre Royal. She has edited four Study Guides for the Leaving Certificate covering all the Shakespearean plays currently on the curriculum:  https://educationmatters.ie/shakespeare-study-guides-leaving-cert/.

Christa is also a member of the following organisations:

• IASIL (International Association for the study of Irish Literatures)
• ESAI (Educational Studies Association of Ireland)
• AISHE (All Ireland Society for Higher Education)
• Poetry Ireland 
• Childrens Books Ireland

2010-2015 PhD Literature and Education, National University of Ireland, Maynooth

This research explores the pedagogical use of modern literature in fostering critical thinking and facilitating critical consciousness in third level education. This thesis re-appropriates literature as a disruptive force, breaking up our fictions about the world we live in and showing us new possibilities for the future. The overall aim is to provide students with an empowering education. Through empowering education, a democratic discourse can be developed to ease student-teacher alienation and promote a critical learning process that develops critical scholars and critical citizens both of which contribute to a fuller potential of humanity.

2001-2002 MPhil Anglo Irish Literature, Trinity College Dublin

This course focuses on the multiple contexts in which Irish writing in English has developed from the late sixteenth century through to the present. It also considers the literary history and reception of Irish writing, covering the main critical narratives and debates of the Irish literary field, addressing questions of gender, sexuality, class and race.

1999-2000 MA Contemporary European Philosophy, University College Dublin

This programme of study provides students with advanced training in the history of philosophy and in central areas of current philosophical inquiry. The course focuses on the central ideas and key texts in contemporary European Philosophy including Twentieth Century Phenomenology, German Idealism and Critical Theory.

1995-1998 BA (Honours) Philosophy and English, University College Dublin

UCD Arts & Humanities is Ireland’s leading centre for research, creative practice and innovation and offers a first-class education in a broad spectrum of disciplines. This BA programme entailed a double major in English Literature and Philosophy with a minor in Psychology.

2021-2023 Pg Cert in Technology-Enhanced Learning, South East Technological University

The Certificate in Technology-Enhanced Learning is a Level 9 award for Education and Training professionals and develops knowledge, practical skills and confidence in designing and creating content for the delivery of blended and online programmes. Core modules include Blended Learning, Curriculum Development and Assessment, and Content and Interaction for Teaching and Learning Online.

2005-2007 Pg Dip in Applied Learning and Teaching, South East Technological University

The Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Learning and Teaching is a professional teaching qualification and is accredited by the Teaching Council of Ireland. The programme provides participants with the knowledge, skills and competences required to teach in a third level setting.

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

De Brún, C. (2024) 'The Emergence of a Queer Irish Literature', RTE Brainstorm, available: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0626/1456795-john-broderick-athlone-writer-censorship-the-pilgrimage/

De Brún, C. (2023) 'The Anti-Pastoral in Donal Ryan's The Spinning Heart', in Kochar, S., ed., Pastoral and Anti-Pastoral: Exploring the Representation of City and the Village in Literature, New York: Columbia University Press.

De Brún, C. (2023) 'A Critical Approach to Overcoming Resistance to Academic Writing and Building Confidence in Third Level Students'; All Ireland Journal of Higher Education, 15(2), available:https://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Bringing Students to Gathertown: An Online Platform for Language Learning', The University Grapevine, 1(6), available: https://www.theuniversitygrapevine.com/

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Women, War and the Poetics of Grief' in Chakraborty, A., ed., Revisiting Modernism: Texts and Contexts, Washington: Lexington Books.

De Brún, C. and Kealy, U. (2021) 'English and Theatre Studies in the South East', Drama League of Ireland Magazine, May 2021.

De Brún, C. (2020) WIT Shakespeare Study Guides, available: https://www.wit.ie/news/news/study-guides-hamlet-for-leaving-cert-students

De Brún, C. (2019) 'Teaching Critical Thinking and Critical Consciousness through Literature in Third Level Education', All Ireland Journal of Higher Education, 11(3), available: https://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/393

ACADEMIC CONFERENCES

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Creating the Theatrical Text with AI', Ed Tech Conference, South East Technological University, June 18.

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Portrait of a Playwright', RTE All Ireland Drama Festival [Keynote Address], Athlone, April 29. 

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Using Gathertown to Facilitate Peer Triad Engagement', WWETB Symposium, Wexford, April 26.

De Brún, C and O'Connor, J. (2024) 'Diversifying the Curriculum', NTUTORR Conference, Croke Park, Dublin, April 17.

De Brún, C. (2023) 'Gathertown: Dynamic Education in a Changing Teaching and Learning Environment', Digital Education Conference, South East Technological University, December 12. 

De Brún, C. (2023) 'Addressing Inequity in Academic Structures of Writing', Equitas Conference, South East Technological University, May 23. 

De Brún, C. and O'Connor, J. (2023) 'The Táin: A Multimodal Response', PLACE Seminar Series, South East Technological University, February 8.

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Strange Flowers, Unblemished Whiteness and the Pain of Difference', Intersectional Irelands (IASIL Conference), University of Limerick, June 25-30. 

De Brún, C. (2021) 'The Liminal Space of Widowhood in the Plays of Teresa Deevy', Active Speech:Sharing Scholarship on Teresa Deevy, available: https://activespeech2021.org/dramaturgy-genre-theory/2/

CREATIVE  PUBLICATIONS

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Solstice', Fortnight Magazine, available: https://fortnightmagazine.org/

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Dreamstory', Drawn to the Light Press, available: https://drawntothelightpress.com [Shortlisted for Hold Fast to Dreams Poetry Competition 2024].

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Fruit Bowl', Tyger Tyger Magazine, available: https://tygertyger.net/

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Alice meets Handala in Wonderland', Dissident Voice, available: https://dissidentvoice.org/2024/08/alice-meets-handala-in-wonderland/

De Brún, C. (2024) 'The Wrath of Queen Medb', New Roscommon Anthology of Writing 2019-2024, Roscommon: Creative Ireland Publications.

De Brún, C. (2023) 'Petrichor', Autumn Leaves, available:  https://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/services/community/arts-office/autumn-leaves-pdf.pdf

De Brún, C. (2023) 'Ixion's Wheel', Literature Today, available:  http://literaturetodayjournal.blogspot.com/

De Brún, C. (2023) 'The Wrath of Queen Medb', Threading the Táin, Dublin: Creative Ireland Publications.

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Triptych in Blue', The Ekphrastic Review, available: https://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrastic-journal/ triptych-in-blue-by-christa-de-brun.

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Crossword', The Waxed Lemon, 1 (4), 11 [Shortlisted for Anthology Poetry Prize 2020].

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Month's Mind', Drawn to the Light Press, 3(5), available: https://drawntothelightpress.com/

De Brún, C. (2021) 'The Battle of Perseus', Addictions Anthology, available: https://forestreetpress.com/publications [Shortlisted for Roscommon Poetry Prize at the International Strokestown Poetry Festival 2021].

De Brún, C. (2021) 'The  Flying Lovers', The Ekphrastic Review, available: https://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrastic-journal/the-flying-lovers-by-christa-de-brun.

De Brún, C. (2021) 'The Old Man and the Stars', The New Word Order, available: https://newwordorder.ucd.ie/the-old-man-and-the-stars/.

De Brún, C. (2021) 'Atlas' Cathal Bui Selected Poems, available: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cathal-Bui-2001-Selected-Stories/dp/0954028201.

REVIEWS

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Ballet Besties', Children's Books Ireland, September 2024.

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Drowning in my Bedroom', Children's Books Ireland, January 2024.

De Brún, C. (2023) 'Little Book, Big Idea', Children's Books Ireland, September 2023.

De Brún, C. (2023) 'Happy Days', Drama League of Ireland Magazine, March 2023.

De Brún, C. (2023) Reviewer, All Ireland Society for Higher Education,  available: https://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Unwrapping Ulysses: A Reader’s Odyssey by Dan Mulhall', ReJoyce Bloomsday, June 2022.

De Brún, C. (2014) 'The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin', The WIT Review, available: https://issuu.com/waterfordit/docs/witlibraries_newsletter-spring2014