Selected Work
3 case studies. Different people. Different places. Ambitious work brought to life together.
A new museum function. A poem sent into space. Young people shaping the places and services they use.
MoLI — Building an institution
What happens when Learning and Community are built into a museum from day one?
I joined MoLI's founding senior team before the museum opened, establishing and leading its Learning and Community function.
From the outset, I worked to make access, participation and partnership part of the museum’s way of working. In a fee-paying museum, that meant creating free-to-access routes into the museum and developing programmes with public audiences and targeted communities.
I worked with staff, volunteers, interns, participants and partners to understand what would make participation possible and meaningful. Programmes were shaped through those relationships, with evaluation built in and room to adapt as the work developed.
Over seven years, I built and led teams, managed budgets and resources, contributed to securing funding, and established the systems needed to deliver, evaluate and develop the work.
The work in numbers
35
Interns supported through partnerships including Trinity College Dublin, the University of Notre Dame and University College Dublin.
100+
Volunteers recruited and managed through MoLI's Volunteer Programme.
16,500+
People participated through Learning and Community programmes.
Programmes included the Edna O'Brien Young Writers Bursary in partnership with UCDALL, MoLI in the Classroom in partnership with AerCap, Shut Your Eyes and See in partnership with Maples, and the Ukrainian Creative Hub funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.
I also chaired MoLI's EDI work and co-led the process that secured Investors in Diversity Silver accreditation from the Irish Centre for Diversity in 2023, including the staff culture and engagement survey, assessment and action plan.
In 2023, the museum was awarded the Europa Nostra Grand Prix for Citizen Engagement and Awareness-Raising, recognising its democratic and participatory approach to arts and culture.
How the work lives on
Free-to-access Learning and Community programmes continue at MoLI, supporting literacy, creativity and access to the museum.
Young participants progressed into MoLI’s Youth Advisory Group, where they help shape and deliver public programming.
Six interns moved into paid roles at the museum.
“Jennie actively contributed to the fast and effective development of the museum’s strategic vision, and delivered on that vision both for her department and for the museum as a whole… Jennie’s work was recognised as central to the mission of the museum.”
Simon O’Connor
Founding Director, MoLI – Museum of Literature Ireland
A UCD student team designed, built and tested EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first satellite, with support from the European Space Agency.
EIRSAT-1 — A poem in space
What happens when young people become part of a national scientific achievement?
EIRSAT-1 was Ireland’s first satellite mission, led by UCD’s Centre for Space Research. As part of its education and public engagement work, UCD approached MoLI to explore how young people could participate in the project through literature and creativity.
I developed the partnership with the JCSP Demonstration Library Project, creating a route for students from participating DEIS schools to take part. Together with JCSP librarians and UCD colleagues, we shaped a five-week online space poetry project during the pandemic.
The work depended on aligning different institutions, timelines, responsibilities and expectations around one clear route for participation.
The challenge was to create a meaningful way for young people who might not traditionally see themselves connected to astrophysics or space science to take part in a complex national research project and contribute something of their own to it. They used words and creativity to explore the theme of home — a theme made even more resonant by lockdown and learning from home.
With the support of school librarians, twelve students took part in workshops with poets, generating ideas and writing around the theme. UCD MA Creative Writing students then worked with the material to create All Ways Home, a collective poem that was etched onto the antenna of EIRSAT-1.
On 1 December 2023, the satellite launched. The poem went with it.
How the work lives on
In September 2025, as EIRSAT-1 approached the end of its mission, it transmitted seven lines from All Ways Home back to Earth. Amateur radio operators around the world received and decoded the young people's words.
The satellite's mission came to an end. The poem had found another way home. Read the European Space Agency's account of EIRSAT-1's mission and final transmission
“Jennie’s expertise in leading ambitious initiatives involving diverse groups resulted in a truly inter-generational and cross-disciplinary success — a collaborative poem etched onto Ireland’s first satellite — that significantly broadened the reach and impact of the mission.”
Professor Lorraine Hanlon
Director, UCD Centre for Space Research
Sphere 17 — People and place
What becomes possible when young people help shape what happens in their communities?
I was part of the founding team of Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service and spent twelve years working alongside young people, youth workers, communities and agencies across Dublin 17 and Dublin 5.
Sphere 17 had a clear mission and strong values. My role was to help turn those into practice.
As resident artist and youth arts worker, I developed creative and participatory ways of working. I designed and facilitated processes that enabled young people to shape programmes, projects, spaces and decisions.
The result was tangible: programmes delivered, spaces created and young people influencing decisions about the services and places around them.
What that looked like in practice
A dedicated youth arts space
Designed, developed and programmed within the regional youth service.
A Youth Charter
Through a regional creative workshop process, young people translated Sphere 17's values into practical actions and expectations.
Seen and Heard — Liberty Hall
A multidisciplinary exhibition exploring mental health among young people using the service in 2016.
A new youth resource building in Priorswood
Young people formed a committee, worked with local representatives and advocated for a new facility, delivered in 2014.
How the work lives on
Twenty years later, the Youth Charter remains on display in every Sphere 17 space.
In Priorswood, young people’s advocacy contributed to the development of a new youth facility.
The work shaped both the everyday practice of the organisation and the places in which it operates.
“Jennie’s capacity to both imagine and deliver on projects, which reflected the lived realities of the community we served, but were not bound by them, made her a terrific resource.”
Mick Ferron
CEO, National Youth Council of Ireland; former Service Manager, Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service.
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