Workshops

Futures in the Making: Identity, Speculation, and Digital Representation [Feb 10, online and in person, @12:00 GMT]

Futures in the Making: Identity, Speculation, and Digital Representation

Date & Time: 12pm, Tuesday 10th February

Location: Studio 3, O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance, University of Galway

The Masterclass Series continues with 

Aisling Phelan, an Irish multidisciplinary artist exploring digital doubles, speculative futures and human-machine interactions and entanglements.

In this masterclass, Aisling will present an overview of her artistic practice, tracing the research, processes, and technological explorations that shape her work in relation to identity, corporeality, and digital representation. Drawing on recent research into DeepFakes, doppelgangers, and robotics, the session will also invite participants to engage in speculative thinking around possible futures shaped by emerging technologies, using fiction and open-ended questioning as tools to reflect on contemporary technological anxieties.

Speaker Bio
Aisling Phelan is an Irish multidisciplinary artist exploring digital doubles, speculative futures and human-machine interactions and entanglements. Through 3D animation, AI, video, sculpture, and live interactive technologies, her work explores what it means to be human in an era of rapid technological advancement and pervasive algorithmic influence. 

Drawing from a transhumanist and speculative fiction perspective, Phelan explores how far we are willing to go in the pursuit of self-optimisation and the potential costs of such advances. Fusing the intimate with the artificial, her practice confronts the seductive promise of transcendence and enhancement, creating space for reflection on the role of current digital infrastructures in shaping how we understand ourselves and others.

In person: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-aisling-phelan

Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fb4r-VXCTAOFEkSJdwm8iw

Upcoming Workshops:

Liing Heaney  – Tuesday, 17 February

Róisín Berg – Tuesday, 24 February

Tara Jaye Burke – Tuesday, 3rd March

Claire Healy  – Tuesday 24th March

Jane Cassidy – Tuesday 31th March

Immersive Storytelling in 360° [Feb 12, online & in person, @12:00 GMT]

Immersive Storytelling in 360°

Date & Time: 12pm, Wednesday 4th February

Location: Studio 3, O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance, University of Galway

This 2 hour workshop will explore 360° storytelling processes. Drawing on the artist’s experiences with making 360° pieces in multiple languages and within different contexts, James will share what he has learned while referencing his work along with other international artists making work in this realm. No experience needed, this workshop is for anyone interested in telling stories, and how you might go about it in the digital space – touching on narrative structure, plot, character and the use of text and audio.

James Riordan is Artistic Director of Brú Theatre. His work in the digital space includes Ar Ais Arís (2020) – a merging of Irish language literature on immigration and VR, which recently toured to the US and Canada. In 2024 he directed No Tempo por Agua, A 360° VR piece for Portuguese company Teatro Do Silencio which premiered in Lisbon. Ologon, a 360° musical experience shot throughout Mayo premiered in 2021. 

He was Digital Artist in Residence with University of Galway’s Centre for Creative Technologies in 2024 and has presented his work and facilitated VR workshops for multiple companies including Prime Cut (Belfast) and Central School of Drama (London) and Galway International Arts Festival.

Registration:

In person: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-james-riordan

Zoom: https://universityofgalway-ie.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ddeqz_QWR12QOhQ-sX4gJA#/registration

Upcoming Workshops:

Aisling Phelan – Tuesday, 10 Februaury

Liing Heaney  – Tuesday, 17 February

Róisín Berg – Tuesday, 24 February

Tara Jaye Burke – Tuesday, 3rd March

Claire Healy  – Tuesday 24th March

Jane Cassidy – Tuesday 31th March

Technical Writing in the Humanities: a facilitated writing sprint [Dec 15, online, 13:30-15:00 GMT]

Technical Writing in the Humanities: a facilitated writing sprint

The Digital Skills in Arts and Humanities Network (DISKAH) is organising a webinar on “Technical Writing in the Humanities: a facilitated writing sprint” in collaboration with the Programming Historian to support interested colleagues in developing a publication targeted to this journal, and more widely in communicating your technical workflows within Digital Humanities research to relevant audiences.

Webinar date and time: Monday 15 December, 13:30-15:00 (GMT)

Please register here for the webinar: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/diskah-webinar-technical-writing-in-the-humanities-tickets-1976718137160

Further information about the webinar: https://culturedigitalskills.org/webinar-diskah-programming-historian/

iFrame Project – workshop exploring research data management [Dec 5, in person, HEAnet Dublin]

Join the iFrame project for a workshop exploring research data management in Irish Higher Education Organisations (HEOs) and Research Performing Organisations (RPOs).


📍HEAnet 93/94 North Wall Quay, Dublin
📅 5 December 2025, 11am-4pm

The iFrame project is a NORF-funded investigation into the support for research data management in Irish HEOs and RPOs, which will conclude with the production of a National Framework for supporting RMD in Ireland.

At this workshop, iFrame will present the collated findings from the individual investigations of RDM support conducted in several Irish HEOs so far.

Drawing on examples of good (and best) practice, they will discuss how to learn from one another across institutions and how to improve RDM support in all institutions and on a national level. The ideas and thoughts generated and discussed in this workshop will inform the development of the framework document.

Register for the workshop online: https://ul.libcal.com/event/4460199

Funeral for Ashes: Combining Art, Ecology, and Immersive Technology [Nov 18, Online and in person, @12pm]. University of Galway Centre for Creative Technologies.

Funeral for Ashes: Combining Art, Ecology, and Immersive Technology

Date & Time: 12pm, Tuesday 18th November

Location: Studio 3, O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance, University of Galway

Join artists Conor Maloney and John Conneely for an in-depth masterclass on Funeral for Ashes, an immersive installation honouring Ireland’s endangered ash woodlands. Blending TouchDesigner, Bitwig Studio, LiDAR, and photogrammetry, the work transforms ecological data and human movement into a living, responsive environment of sound and light.


In this session, the artists will unpack the creative and technical process behind the piece — from 3D scanning native trees to synchronising generative audio and real-time visuals — and discuss how digital art can serve as both ritual and environmental reflection.

Register to Attend: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-funeral-for-ashes