Before coming to NUI Galway, I was involved with film and film education in a variety of roles and contexts. After graduating as a secondary-school teacher I spent several years teaching at international schools in Japan, Paris and New York and began including film in my curricula. In New York I also worked on a number of independent films and then for Miramax Films (International) before returning to Ireland to work in a number of capacities in film production and film culture. I was senior education officer at the Irish Film Institute from 1996-2000 and central to the development of a pioneering film education programme for second-level students that included the introduction of film in the Leaving Certificate English curriculum. I spent several years developing and delivering teacher training programmes for the IFI and Department of Education and have continued to offer workshops and write study materials for use with school students. Alongside my academic research and teaching I remain passionately involved with the development of film culture in the public sphere as a director of the Fresh Film Festival (www.freshfilmfestival.net), through frequent guest lectures, school visits and public interviews, and as a regular radio broadcaster.

Producer: Blazing the Trail: The O'Kalems in Ireland (feature length documentary directed by Peter Flynn) www.blazingthetrailfilm.com

Co-Producer: The O'Kalem Collection 1910-1915 (Irish Film Institute 2011).

I also wrote the booklet for the DVD release and co-wrote (with Peter Flynn) the ‘Kalem Trail' guide for South Kerry Tourism

'When Disney Met Delargy: Darby O'Gill and the Irish Folklore Commission', Béaloideas: Journal of the Irish Folklore Society, Vol. 78, 2010.

‘The Musical Melting Pot: Edgar Ulmer's Carnegie Hall as Immigrant Text', Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row. Ed. Gary Rhodes (2008)

‘Caught Between a Rock (Hudson) and a Raparee: Captain Lightfoot's textual heritage', Screening Irish America: Representing Irish America in Film and Television, Irish Academic Press. Ed. Ruth Barton (2009).

‘This Tempting Indulgence: William McGivern's Rogue Cops', After the Flood, Irish America 1945-1960. Irish Academic Press. Ed. Matthew O'Brien and James Rodgers (2009).

'Adapting McGahern: Cathal Black's Wheels' (1977), The John McGahern Yearbook, Volume 2, Galway. Ed. John Kenny (2009).

My current research centres on Irish cinema and the history of Irish American cinema across all periods, with an emphasis on considerations of masculinity.