Ailbhe Greaney

Overview

Originally from Galway, Ailbhe is one of the founding members of Ulster University’s BA (2007)/MFA (Campus 2010/ E-Learning 2015) and PhD Photography Programme. She has successfully led both the BA and MFA Degree Programmes as Course Director, as well as two Revalidations at BA and MFA level. Working within the world-leading (REF 2014) Photography discipline, her individual research was submitted to REF 2021 as Internationally Excellent. She is currently Research Environment Coordinator: Research Leadership Team Art & Design Unit of Assessment.

A BA (Hons) Communications Graduate from Dublin City University, Ailbhe also holds an MFA with Distinction from the School of Visual Arts, New York.

She is the recipient of the following awards:

• Fulbright Award 2000-2003
• Aaron Siskind Memorial Award 2000-2003
• School of Visual Arts (SVA) MFA Chairman's Award 2000-2003
• Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary 2006
• Arts Council Travel Award 2012
• Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) Paris Residency Award 2014
• Society for Photographic Education (SPE) International Conference Grant Award 2017 (with her paper ranking highest out of 247 proposals received by a 10-member peer review panel)

Ailbhe's practice, writing and research has been exhibited and published both nationally and internationally. Her work is held in the collections of the School of Visual Arts New York and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and has been contextualized within institutions such as:

• Aperture Foundation New York (one of 50 pieces, out of over 700 international submissions selected, as part of Photography Is Magic curated by Charlotte Cotton)
• Belfast Exposed
• Belfast Photo Festival
• Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) Paris
• EVA International
• Fast Forward Women In Photography (one of 15 speakers from over 250 international submissions at Tate Modern Inaugural Conference)
• Format Festival
• Golden Thread Gallery Belfast
• PhotoIreland
• Photo Museum Ireland
• Society for Photographic Education (SPE)
• Tate Modern
• Tate Liverpool

Prior to her appointment at UU Ailbhe worked in New York as:

• Public Affairs and Curatorial Intern, under Jennifer Blessing Senior Curator of Photography, at the Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Editorial Assistant at Blind Spot Magazine
• Advanced Digital Imaging Artist with Lux Imaging
• Gallery Assistant + Print Manager with Here Is New York Exhibition, 116 Prince St, New York
• School of Visual Arts Digital Output Centre Manager
• School of Visual Arts and Graduate Teaching Assistant, under the mentorship of Sarah Charlesworth, Anna Gaskell, Collier Schorr, Stephen Shore, Charles Traub and Randy West

Ailbhe holds the following external positions:

• Board Member and Sub Finance Committee Member for Young at Art (YAA)
• Board Member for the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Derry
• BIG IDEA Mentor
• External Examiner Falmouth University
• External Examiner Munster Technological University (MTU) Crawford College of Art
• External Examiner Atlantic Technological University (ATU) School of Design and Creative Arts
• Expert panel reviewer Fulbright Commission of Ireland Student/Scholar Award

A fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and member of the Ulster University Art & Design Research Institute (RIAD), Ailbhe sits on the Ulster University Art and Design Ethics Filter Committee. She was External Examiner for the Revalidation of the Technological University (TU) Dublin Photography Programme. Ailbhe was Ulster University’s inaugural Fulbright Ambassador 2018 and has been an expert panel reviewer for the Fulbright Commission of Ireland Student/Scholar Award since 2013.