The National CollegeVisual Culture Staff
Dr. Sorcha O'Brien, BDes ANCAD, MA(Middlesex), MIDI, PhD(Brighton)
Lecturer, History of Design
obriens[AT]ncad.ie
Sorcha O’Brien has a background in industrial and graphic design practice, and has research interests in the material and visual culture of technology and design in Ireland. She has degrees from NCAD, Middlesex University and the University of Brighton, as well as a number of years experience teaching design history and visual culture. Her PhD thesis ‘Representing the Shannon Scheme: electrical technology, modernisation and national identity in the Irish Free State, 1924-32’ looked at the visual representation of the Shannon Scheme hydro-electric power station in relation to Irish identity, ideas of progress and new technology in the early years of the State, and was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
She has published articles such as ‘Technology & Modernity: The Shannon Scheme and Visions of Progress’ in Ireland, Design and Visual Culture: Negotiating Modernity 1922-92 (Cork University Press, 2011), as well as in one of the first editions of Thought Lines and in Circa and Room magazines.
Her teaching focuses on issues to do with technology, both analogue and digital, and the relationships between the technical and cultural; issues of national identity, particularly in relation to Ireland; DIY design and the practice of making; technology in science fiction and design fiction; social networking, online worlds and the crossover between physical and dematerialized design; green and environmental design; contemporary product, furniture and interaction design.
