CURRENT RESEARCH INITIATIVESFestiVersities: New, 3-year, HERA-funded project with four other European partners exploring European Music Festivals, Public Spaces and Cultural Diversity http://heranet.info/projects/public-spaces-culture-and-integration-in-europe/european-music-festival...Global Irish Musics: Folk and Popular musics, past and present, of Ireland and its diaspora, along with the globalisation of Irish music forms and performers, with a focus on identity, including ethnicity, (white) nationalism, (anti)racism; explorations in the relationship between Irish music studies and Irish studies more broadly, examine multimodalities and materialities. Recent publication: Dillane (2019) 'Crossroads of Art and Design: Musically Curating and Mediating Irish Cultural Artifacts in Chicago', Éire/Ireland Special Edition, Notes/Notaí on Music and Ireland (54)1and;2: 82-109.LimerickSoundscapes An multidisciplinary, citizen-facilitated, collaborative, sonic and ethnographic-based mapping of the city in interactive, web-based form (Founder, Co-director and Applied Project leader). Forthcoming publication: Dillane and; Langlois, 'Sonic Mapping and Critical Citizenship: Reflections on Limerick Soundscapes in Transforming Ethnomusicology Social Activism and Applied Research, ed. B. Diamond and S. El Castelo-Branco. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2019) Popular Music and Popular Culture Research Cluster @ UL An interdisciplinary research group working on a variety of popular music and culture projects, including, most recently, the social and political efficacy of protest music. (Co-founder/director). Recent publication: Power, Devereux and; Dillane (2018) Heart and Soul: Critical Essays on Joy Division. New York: Rowman and Littlefield International.Associated book series: https://www.rowmaninternational.com/our-books/series/popular-musics-matter-social-political-and-cult... Power, Discourse and Society Research Cluster @UL An interdisciplinary research cluster in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Limerick. (Co-founder/director). Recent publication: Recent Publication Dillane, Power, Devereux and Haynes (2018) Songs of Social Protest: International Perspectives.New York: Rowman and Littlefield International. Associated book series http://www.rowmaninternational.com/series/discourse-power-and-society

The modules I coordinate and the lectures I deliver all come out of a deep passion for the various subjects and disciplinary areas with which I am engaged, and from years of critical thinking and performing in my areas of expertise, including ethnomusicology theory and practice; critical Irish music studies; folk, popular and traditional musics of Ireland, UK, North America and Australia; music, affect and cultural intimacy. I aim to deliver engaged, critical and up-to-date lectures that draw on the latest research while acknowledging the particularly contributions given by different thinkers, writers and performers to the materials under scrutiny, over a longer historical trajectory.  I also always strive to take on teaching that informs or pushes my research in particular directions. As an ethnomusicologist, academic, and performer, I take a broad view of what is meant by 'performing'. Students on the BA in Irish Music and Dance tend to enter the degree with relatively high levels of skills in their respective performance practices but often will less critically engaged models of learning through reading and writing modalities.  One of the key roles I have identified is in helping to break down perceived barriers between the performative and the academic and assisting each student in discovering his or her critical voice as a performing thinker and thinking performer.  For this reason, it is imperative for me that I engage with both reading and writing-based modules and practical performance-based models to help demonstrate how one informs the other.  Students are therefore guided to engage more critically with a text (be it a book, a choreography, a tune, etc.) by generating a series of reflective questions to the presentation of student-defined products through enquiry-based and skills-based learning group work. To allow the students to best perform we must be attentive to the learning context and to maximise their access to and understanding of available resources (including the library; online databases; virtual learning environments via Sulis, staff expertise, and music and dance tutor expertise, drawn form the rich hinterland of the University of Limerick). For students outside of the BAIMand;D taking a class with me, I endeavour to help students develop a critical framework and vocabulary for talking about music and its place in cultural, political, economic and social life and to take ownership of ideas that directly engage music as process and product. Finally, I am very interested in interdisciplinary approaches to teaching, therefore I welcome invitations to collaborate on modules and have given guest lectures and presentations to students in other subject areas (English Literature, Sociology, Architecture, Medicine, etc).