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,  Literature  and Society, Renaissance Poetry, 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 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. She is also a research supervisor on the Masters in Management in Education (MAME) programme where she guides students through the design, execution, and completion of their research projects. 

Dr Christa de Brún's research focuses on contemporary Irish writers, critical consciousness and education. She was nominated for the SETU Research Excellence Awards in 2025. As co-chair of the PLACE research group, she is interested in the active pursuit of social justice, equality, and accessibility alongside a determination to pursue those interests through a variety of methodologies that prioritise aesthetic ways of knowing. Christa  has recently completed a national research project 'Diversifying the Curriculum' with Dr Jenny O''Connor, 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.

Christa is currently working on a book exploring the life and work of queer 20th century Irish writer John Broderick. Broderick played an important role in shaping the modern novel but was a victim of stringent literary censorship that deprived him of the critical recognition he richly deserved in his lifetime.  This book seeks to reclaim space for the narratives of John Broderick to inhabit and inform our cultural landscape. Read her most recent publication on his work here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/81/article/974322

Recent funding awards include: 

• 2026- Awarded EU Connexus funding to attend the CAIS Conference in Canada to speak on Environmental Humanities and Sustainable Discourse.
• 2026 - Awarded EU Connexus funding alongside colleague Dr Jenny O'Connor to attend the BIP programme in the University of Valencia.
• 2025 - Awarded SATLE funding to host a seminar on Identity and Belonging, facilitated by award winning poet Gustav Parker Hibbett.
• 2024 -  Awarded NTUTORR funding to pursue the creation of a Digital Badge in Critical Thinking, a collaborative research project with instructional technologist Emmett Cullinane.
• 2024 - Awarded NTUTORR funding to complete a research project on 'Diversifying the Curriculum' with English Team colleague Dr Jenny O'Connor.
• 2023- Awarded SATLE funding to host a seminar on Poetry and Climate Consciousness facilitated by award winning poet John W. Sexton.
• 2022 -  Awarded STAF funding to foster student integration on the BA English and Theatre Studies programme.
• 2022 - Awarded funding from the SETU EDI department 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.
• 2021 -  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. 

Dr Christa de Brún is also a poet and playwright. Her poetry was shortlisted for the Roscommon New Writing Award 2025, 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, 2024 and 2025. Christa was most recently published in Fortnight Magazine (2025)  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).  Her play Smear (2025), inspired by the life of Vicky Phelan, was performed by Stagemad Theatre Company in June 2025 and the screenplay was shortlisted for the Waterford International Film Festival 2025.

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.  The SETU English and Theatre Studies team is currently collaborating with the Theatre Royal in Waterford on a project to create a civic and social space for the people of Waterford. SETU have a number of projects ongoing with the Theatre Royal. Christa is also a member of the All Ireland Drama Festival team who welcome nine finalist drama groups to the Dean Crowe Theatre in Athlone every year.

In 2024 and 2025 Christa worked with the award-winning CAP team in SETU Waterford to create a digital badge in Critical Thinking. The badge can be found on the Student Digital Backpack website: https://www.transforminglearning.ie/student-empowerment/student-digital-backpack/

In 2025, Christa secured funding through SATLE to bring award-winning poet Gustav Parker Hibbett to SETU as part of her seminar series 'Poetry and Critical Consciousness'.  In 2024, she was  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.

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/. She previously held the role of social media editor for The Ekphrastic Review. 

Christa is a reviewer for the Irish Society for Theatre Research and Children's Books Ireland, she is a peer reviewer for the AISHE journal. She is 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)
• CAIS (Canadian Association of Irish Studies)
• ISTR (Irish Society for Theatre Research)
• Poetry Ireland

• Children's Books Ireland

   

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.

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.

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.

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.

Postgraduate Certificate 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.

Postgraduate Diploma 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.

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

Christa de Brún is committed to developing her professional practice and has undertaken a number of professionally accredited courses to consolidate her teaching and learning skills, management skills and support the health and wellbeing of students and staff. These include:

• Aurora Leadership Programme (Ongoing)
• Certificate in Project Management (DCM Learning)
• Certificate in EDI Origins and Contexts (CIRDAS)
• Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion (Legal Island Corporate Services)
• Facilitator Certificate in Universal Design for Learning (TL National Forum)
• Inclusion and Equity for Workers with Disabilities (LinkedIn Learning)
• Race Equality Training (Dr Ebun Joseph/SETU)
• Intercultural Awareness Training (Yellow Flag)
• Children First (HSE)
• LGBT Awareness and Inclusion Training (HSE)
• Supporting the Health of LGBTI+Young People (Jigsaw)
• Rainbow Badge (SETU)
• LGBTQ+ Ally training (ShoutOut)
• Flipping the Classroom (LinkedIn Learning)
• Learning how to Increase Learner Engagement (LinkedIn Learning)
• Certificate in Management of Occupational Stress and Wellbeing (SETU)
• Certificate in Online Safety and Awareness in Youth Work (NYCI)
• Health and Safety at Work (QQI Level 5)
• Designated Contact Person Training (Consensus Mediation)
• Unconscious Bias Training (SETU)
• Active Consent Training (SETU)
• Bystander Intervention Training (SETU)
• Suicide Awareness Training (ZSA)

Christa de Brún has also undertaken a number of CPD courses in the field of English Literature and drama, including: 

• Specialist Certificate in Teaching Academic English (TEFL Ireland)
• Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (CELTA)
• Certificate in Playwriting (Lir)
• Advanced Poetry Workshops (Gallery Press)
• Reading James Joyce: Life, Place, Fiction (University of York)
• Shakespeare; Print and Performance (King's College London)
• Jane Austen: Myth, Reality and Global Celebrity (University of Southampton)
• William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place (University of Lancaster)

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

De Brun, Christa and Cullinane, Emmett (2026) 'Digital Badge in Critical Thinking: A Collaborative Approach',  Irish Journal of Academic Practice, 14(1), available: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijap/vol14/iss1/3

De Brún, C. (2026) 'A UDL Approach to Curriculum Design and Assessment using Fink's Model of Course Design for Significant Learning', All Ireland Journal of Higher Education, 18(1), available: https://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view

De Brún, C and O'Connor, J. (2026) 'Diversifying the Curriculum: A Framework for Change through Staff-Student Collaboration', TILTHE, 1(48), available: https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss48/

De Brún, C. and O'Connor, J. (2026) The Shakespeare Review -Macbeth, available: https://www.setu.ie/study/teachers-hub/study-resources-shakespeare

De Brún, C. (2025) 'John Broderick, The Pilgrimage and Censorship', New Hibernia Review, 29(3), available: https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/141

De Brún, C. (2025) 'The Liminal Space of Widowhood in Teresa Deevy's  Wife to James Whelan (1937)’ in Kealy, U. and McCarthy, K. , eds.,  Active Speech: Critical Perspectives on Teresa Deevy, available: https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0432.10

De Brún, C. and O'Connor, J. (2025) The Shakespeare Review -King Lear, available: https://www.setu.ie/study/teachers-hub/study-resources-shakespeare

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. and O'Connor, J. (2024) The Shakespeare Review -Hamlet, available: https://www.setu.ie/study/teachers-hub/study-resources-shakespeare

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 O'Connor, J. (2022) The Shakespeare Review -Othello, available: https://www.setu.ie/study/teachers-hub/study-resources-shakespeare

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. (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. (2026) 'Church, State and Censorship in the Writings of John Broderick', Canadian Association of Irish Studies Annual Conference, June 14-17, Québec, Canada. 

De Brún, C and O'Connor, J. (2025) 'Diversifying the Curriculum: A Framework for Change', International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, Seville, November 10-12 [Online]. 

De Brún, C. and Cullinane, E. (2025) 'Digital Badge in Critical Thinking: A Collaborative Approach',                 International Conference on Society, Culture, and Technology (ICSCT 2025), Erasmus University of Rotterdam, June 12. 

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/

REVIEWS

Literary and Theatre Reviews

De Brún, C. (2026) ‘Land, Pride and Possession: Revisiting J. B. Keane’s The Field',  An Chluas: Irish Society for Theatre Research, available: https://istr.ie/an-chluas-the-ear/

De Brún, C. (2023) ‘Bright Day, Bleak World: Performing Beckett's Happy Days’, Drama League of Ireland Magazine, March 2023.

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 Tóibín’, The WIT Review, available: https://issuu.com/waterfordit/docs/witlibraries_newsletter-spring2014.

Children’s Books Ireland – Book Reviews

De Brún, C. (2026) 'The Other Boy', Children’s Books Ireland, April 2026.

De Brún, C. (2026) ‘Indie in Disguise’, Children’s Books Ireland, January 2026.

De Brún, C. (2025) ‘Escape from Amritsar’, Children’s Books Ireland, September 2025, available: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/escape-amritsar

De Brún, C. (2025) ‘Recycling Day’, Children’s Books Ireland, July 2025, available: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/recycling-day

De Brún, C. (2025) ‘The Endless Sea’, Children’s Books Ireland, March 2025, available: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/endless-sea

De Brún, C. (2025) ‘Paloma Flies Away’, Children’s Books Ireland, February 2025, available :https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/paloma-flies-away

De Brún, C. (2024) ‘Ballet Besties’, Children’s Books Ireland, September 2024, available: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/ballet-besties-yaras-chance-dance

De Brún, C. (2024) ‘Drowning in My Bedroom’, Children’s Books Ireland, January 2024, available: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/drowning-my-bedroom

De Brún, C. (2023) ‘Little Book, Big Idea’, Children’s Books Ireland, September 2023, available: https://childrensbooksireland.ie/our-recommendations/little-book-big-idea-what-money

Peer Review Activity

Reviewer, Estudios Irlandeses, 2026- Present.

Reviewer, All Ireland Society for Higher Education Journal, 2023 - Present.

CREATIVE  PUBLICATIONS

De Brún, C. (2026) 'Flight Path', Swaledale Anthology, available: https://www.swalefest.org/

De Brún, C. (2025) 'The Wrath of Queen Medb', Quare Éire: An Anthology of Neo-Mythmaking, available: https://quareeire.wordpress.com

De Brún, C. (2025) 'Bird's Nest Soup', Roscommon New Writers, available: https://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/services/community/arts-office/literature.html  [Runner up in the Roscommon New Writing Awards 2025].

De Brún, C. (2025) 'Smear', Stagemad Theatre Company, Waterford.

De Brún, C. (2025) 'Solstice', Fortnight Magazine, available: https://fortnightmagazine.org/

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Dreamstory', Drawn to the Light Press, available: https://drawntothelightpress.com [Shortlisted for DLP 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.

SELECTED PROJECTS

De Brún C. and O'Connor J. (2026) EU Connexus European Project Proposal Development (BIP): Completed specialised training in developing and implementing competitive European project proposals, including consortium building, work package design, budgeting, and impact/dissemination strategies (Erasmus+ and Horizon case studies).

De Brún, C. and Dowling, F. (2026) From Page to Picture: Visual Interpretation in Children's Poetry: This project explores how visual language enhances literary narrative in children’s publishing. Led by course leader Dr Fiona Dowling, Year 3 BA Design students are developing original illustrations for my childrens' poetry collection, The Sky is Full of Stars, as part of their final major project assessment, responding to the poems’ themes, imagery, and tone. This collaboration provides students with a live creative brief, supporting professional practice, visual storytelling, and interpretative design. The project foregrounds cross-disciplinary exchange, authorship, and the relationship between text and image in contemporary children’s literature.

De Brún, C. and Cullinane, E. (2025) Creating a Digital Badge in Critical Thinking:  This research project is a collaborative partnership between Dr Christa de Brún, SME (subject matter expert) and Emmett Cullinane, CAP learning technologist,  as part of an NTUTORR project initiative. This course introduces critical thinking skills, guiding students in analysing arguments, evaluating sources, and making informed decisions. It also integrates AI literacy to enable learners to navigate digital information responsibly. The course is now available as a digital badge for students to complete as part of the NTUTORR student digital backpack: https://www.transforminglearning.ie/student-empowerment/student-digital-backpack/

De Brún, C. and O'Connor, J. (2024) Diversifying the Curriculum: This research project is co-led by Dr Christa de Brún and Dr Jenny O'Connor, SETU as part of an NTUTORR project initiative. This project focuses on being more accurate, more inclusive, and more interculturally responsive in our approach to teaching and learning. It is not about forcing one ideological perspective on students but rather about telling both sides of the story and acknowledging the danger of the single story (Adichie 2009). It is not about the token inclusion of BAME writers, but an underlying transformation from a culture of denial and exclusion to a consideration of different traditions of knowledge. To diversify our curriculum is to challenge power relations and call for deeper thinking about the content of our courses and how we teach them.

De Brún, C. and Wylie, N. (2024) Bringing Students to Gathertown: This research project consolidated SETU learnings from the pandemic by integrating Gathertown in SETU modules where student online interaction takes place to facilitate digital transformation in an inclusive education context. Developed with the support of NTUTORR, the project involved a broad audience, encompassing students and staff from the fields of Education, Humanities and Computing in a collaborative environment, where the opportunity to participate and influence enhanced the ability of all partners to navigate decision-making processes and develop a sense of responsibility.

De Brún, C. and Walsh Kiely, H. (2023) Changing Worlds: This research project focused on community and cultural engagement using ekphrastic poetry to engage with dynamic representations of Irish culture. This project draws on the research of Dr Helena Walsh Kiely into Saudi culture and the research of Dr Christa de Brún into the role of poetry in facilitating critical consciousness. In 2023,  they created and delivered a series of ekphrastic workshops entitled ‘Changing Worlds’ and invited students across the South East to respond to the photographs through the medium of poetry. The responses highlighted the generative nature of ekphrasis and the power of poetry to hold space that fosters critical thinking and critical consciousness as we navigate social change in contemporary Ireland.

De Brun, C.,  Farry, M., Noonan, J., Geoghan, M., and Gorman, J. (2023) Threading the Táín: This project was the outcome of a strategic collaboration among five county councils across Ireland. The project was funded by Creative Ireland, adn produced by An Táin Arts Centre, Co. Louth. The five intricate tapestries depicting scenes from the great Irish epic, Táin Bó Cúailnge, were exhibited at An Táin Arts Centre in 2023. Each tapestry depicts scenes from the revered ancient epic that relate to the five counties mentioned in the Táin – Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Meath and Louth. When displayed together, the five tapestries portray the overall story of the Táin, while each piece also stands alone as an individual artwork. Christa de Brún was one of five poets commissioned by Creative Ireland to create a poetic response to the tapestries and represented the tapestry of Roscommon.

De Brún, C. and O'Leary, C. (2022) National Alzheimers Society Literary Hub: In 2022, Dr Christa de Brún collaborated with community engagement manager Cathryn O'Leary of The Alzheimer Society of Ireland to develop a literary hub for those living with dementia.This online space features some of Ireland's leading writers and poets reading from their work, including Claire Keegan, Danielle McLaughlin, Joseph O'Connor, Annemarie Ni Churreáin, Anne Tannam, Arthur Broomfield, Anne McDonald, Eileen Casey and many more.

MEDIA

De Brún, C. and O'Connor, J. (2025) 'Theatre and Critical Consciousness' with Christa de Brun, Jenny O'Connor and Keith Dunphy', The Nerve, available: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/ep-82-dyslexia-and-finding-a-love-of/id1287423717?i=1000737791273

De Brún, C. (2025) 'Interview with Damien Tiernan', Déise Today, WLR FM, available: https://www.wlrfm.com/listenback?date=03-06-2025

De Brún, C and O'Connor, J. (2025) 'Poetry and Critical Consciousness with Christa de Brún, Jenny O'Connor and Gustav Parker Hibbett', The Nerve, available: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-nerve-an-english-and-arts-podcast/id1287423717

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Celebrating 100 Years of John Broderick', The Arts Council, available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV7k_F9KQHM&ab_channel=TheArtsCouncil%2FAnChomhairleEala%C3%ADon

De Brún, C. (2024) 'Race and Critical Consciousness with Christa de Brún and Ebun Joseph', The Nerve, available: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/ep-66-how-to-talk-about-race-with-dr-ebun-joseph/id1287423717?i=1000647928198

De Brún, C. (2024) 'The History of Book Banning in Ireland', The Arts Council, Saturday 9 November, Athlone Library. 

De Brún, C. (2023) 'From Class War to Cold War - Orwell and Critical Consciousness with Christa de Brún and Martin Tyrell', The Nerve, available: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/ep-61-orwell-scholar-martin-tyrrell/id1287423717?i=1000632676512

De Brún, C. (2022) 'Boxing Day' - Gender  and Critical Consciousness with Christa de Brún and William Keohane', The Nerve, available: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/ep-52-william-keohane-and-dr-christa-de-br%C3%BAn/id1287423717?i=1000585761045

De Brún, C. (2021) 'The Spinning Heart and the Irish Psyche', Irish Government Keep Well Campaign, available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdFJ6Rub_XI&ab_channel=WaterfordLibraries

De Brún, C. (2021) 'Poetry and Critical Consciousness with Christa de Brún and Annemarie Ni Churreáin', The Nerve, available: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/ep-43-annemarie-n%C3%AD-chuire%C3%A1inn-and-dr-christa-de-br%C3%BAn/id1287423717?i=1000542935073

De Brún, C. (2021) 'Waterford Europe Direct Soapbox Competition 2021', Europe Direct, available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvqqwdMMOU