Five grants have been awarded in the second of two grant cycles of 2022. 

The intention of the awards is to support museum professionals and researchers who wish to investigate a subject relevant to the understanding, management or development of museum practice across the island. 

The five grant recipients are:

• Suzanne Freeman

Collections Manager – Dublin City Council Culture Company. ‘The Whispering Walls of 14 Henrietta Street’.   To assist a practical research project to explore new ways to approach museum exhibition related conservation in situations where the artefacts are restored, replicated or interpreted.

• Aimee Levey

Museum Docent & Tour Guide, Artist -The Hunt Museum. ‘Objecte Del Dia: If an Object Could Show and Tell a Story’. For a research project to develop a novel approach to curating and interpreting museum objects, culminating in three performances in May 2023 narrating the stories of museum objects through literature, dance and music.

• Margaret McCabe

PhD student at University College Cork: ‘Repatriation and Restitution Claims to the National Museum of Ireland: An in depth look at museum practice’. To facilitate in-person interviews with curators in Irish and British museums who can shed light on current repatriation practices and opinions for the return of cultural material to its original custodians.

• Dr Olusegun Morakinyo

Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin. ‘A History of Africa in 100 objects in Irish Museums’. To support the publication of an accessible scholarly publication on African collections in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin and National Museums, Belfast in Northern Ireland.

• Eithne Verling

Director -Galway City Museum. ‘Museums and Mental Health’. For research travel to two European sites to research new approaches to the role museums can play in improving mental, and overall health outcomes in the lives of their communities.